Happiness is a pile of clean holiday laundry!

So there we were on our last morning of the Kurumba Maldive holiday.  Stuffing down our last Champagne breakfast and musing on the success of the whole trip.  "Pity we didn't see nay more dolphins at breakfast" said Sally.  On queue a whole pod of spinner dolphins spread over a distance of about 150m  glided gracefully past and the holiday was complete. 

We crossed to Male on one of the resorts speed boats after saying a few goodbyes and explaining that we would not be returning next year but maybe some time later. 

VIP lounge entry was free courtesy of KUONI our travel firm and at the appointed time we shuffled along to our departure gate.  The flight was late taking off but the consolation was that the seats around were empty so we had 3 each. 

We landed 10 hours later at Gatwick at 1800 having made up some of the time due to tail winds and all in all the flight wasn't as bad as some we have had to and from the Maldives.  In true BA fashion though the flight attendants were the most miserable bunch of reprobates I have seen running a plane since we flew BA back from LA last year. 

Bus G4 at Stop 8 our instructions said, free ride to the hotel, we were walking to the stop and I was commenting that 1 would have just left the bus stop when i spotted it coming along.  I dashed to the side of the road and managed to flag him down. We had organised parking and an overnight stay over the internet. 

So 1 hour after landing we were wandering into reception of the "Gatwick Europa" hotel.  We booked in to be told the lift had just broken down.  our room was on the the top (3rd) floor and strangely enough farthest down the corridor from the stairs.  We saw another couple by the lift who commented "The lift has never worked all the times we have stayed here"  I didn't bother to ask how many times that was, Sally and I shared a knowing glance. 

The 3rd floor was hot and stank of "Chlorine" I discovered that some kind of vent from the swimming pool seemed to be venting into the stairwell and then along the corridors.  The room which thankfully we had upgraded from a "standard" to an "Executive".  Was small and hot and had no A/C it did however have a good shower, plenty of hot water and clean bedding! 

The whole hotel is, well lets just say "a little tired" and could do with pulling down and rebuilding. 

We had pre booked a dinner so after a quick drink in the "very full" bar we ventured to the dining room.  Sally noticed on the menu there was "Tie (yes Tie) Green Curry.  We shared another knowing look and quickly had a go at the carvery. 

After another drink we scurried off to bed having already decided to get up early skip the pre booked breakfast and try to beat the rush hour back up to Darley Dale.

"Jet Lag" kicked in at our "holiday" getting up time, and I pressed the button on my watch to illuminate the time at 0230 to hear a little voice say "what time is it".  After a very brief conversation we were up showered and packed, "after opening the windows to let some air into the room and listening to the traffic thunder along the M23". 

We passed on booking out due to the "merry" band of patrons slurring their way through some rhetoric whilst leaning on the reception desk.  After adding a little air to "Cyrils" tyres we sped away into the night just an hour after making the decision to leave. 

Gatwick Europa Hotel score out of 10.
Bar staff 3
Dining room staff 5
Food 2
Bedding 7
Room 3
Hot water 8
Lift 0
Recommended "No"

So having sped up the motorways we arrived home just as dawn was breaking and immediately, as we always do unpacked and started washing all the holiday clothes!

We picked up the cats from the cattery "Stankirk".  I'm always worried about our old cat Tom as he just seems to curl up in a ball and sleep once he's in the prison!  This time we decided to take along all their own food and bedding so they wouldn't feel "too far away from home"  We left written instructions for feeding which was ignored and their bedding was removed because the staff spotted some flea dirt on it!  They are 2 outside cats they have fleas!  So after we paid the bill we whisked the 2 of them away back to the cottage. Note to self: Change Cattery! 

After a good 8 hours of sniffing around the house, garden and anything else sniffable they appear back to normal.  Sainsbury is in front of the fire and Tom has decided that "Happiness is a pile of clean holiday laundry"

BLESS!