5.20am saw us frog marching our way, dragging our little weekend wheelies behind us, to Bedford Station….the world might be in turmoil but we’re still off on our travels again regardless !!

The train to Luton Parkway was on time….note to self – if your ticket says Luton Airport on it, it includes the cost of the ‘dart’ up to the airport. The cost of the ticket was £17.50 each….no railcard discounts at that time of the morning. Unfortunately while walking from the Dart to the airport entrance the strap on my beloved handbag broke….i guess it wasn’t a fair contest with the amount of wallets, passports, etc stuffed in it, it didn’t really stand a chance of survival….I bundled it into my tote bag …well at least it will give me something to buy at the markets we’re visiting tomorrow.

We passed through departures protocol with speediness never before witnessed at Luton Airport and we even got a few smiles from the staff. I had a close and personal pat down by the security staff after setting off their bleepers….but all was good. By 7.30 we were sipping a very hot Starbucks Americano and munching on a piece of stale cardboard, which had been advertised as a ‘butter croissant’ …..job done breakfast over ….

The Ryan air app pinged to tell us that our original plane had been swapped and we were to proceed to gate 11 where we would be allocated new seats….we did as we were told, a jolly attendant informed us we had been allocated the same seats and on we boarded.

We took off on time and landed 20 minutes early. We had to register our passports by visiting a machine which took our biometrics. There were plenty of staff on hand and it literally only took a few minutes. We queued a short while before going through passport control but it was all easy and relaxed…

We found our way to the Centauro car hire desk……a couple of pointers here…if you book via a third party don’t get seduced into buying their comprehensive insurance…I had bought AXA insurance through our booking agent, Holiday Autos. AXA isn’t recognised by Centauro and they wanted us to leave an £1800 deposit and if we had an accident we would have an access of another £1800….and they couldn’t provide us with the paper work for us to claim it back from AXA….but we could take their own comprehensive insurance for £140 for 4 days…..by the time we’d finished the cost of the two insurances were greater than the hire of the car!!!! Hey ho….They made a great thing of up grading the car … to a bigger SUV…a MG….its ok apart from it looks as if someone’s been playing bumper cars in it…..I don’t think it has a panel which isn’t dented…the paper work accompanying it says ‘significant damage’…..but as they said it was the only one they had we took it….note to self -don’t hire a car with this company again…looking on the bright side, if I do hit a pole or kerb no one would ever know it would just join the rest of the dents..!!!! With the help of good old ‘waze’ we set off and arrived in our destination – Dna Monse Hotel Spa and Golf, 35 minutes later…..so far so good ..

Our hotel is very pleasant….the reception staff quickly booked us in…our room is like any other hotel room…a huge bed and a massive bathroom. The view is that of various apartment blocks. It is quiet and airy.

A quick rest before my son and future daughter-in-law came to pick us up. We went back to their apartment. It is delightful….2 en-suite bedrooms a bright airy kitchen, lounge and dinning room, a balcony and stairs up to a massive solarium roof terrace which has wonderful views across the salt lakes. We were greeted by a welcome party…The Boys…Marvin took a few minutes to remember his ‘grandma’ but soon realised non-stop tummy rubs were available and CJ soon became reacquainted. How perfect can life be – my wonderful son and DiL and the fur babies…..only the growling tummy reminded me that I wasn’t in heaven.. Even John was in heaven with his camera in the warm sun…..

They then took us out and along the promenade in Torrevieja. Very pretty….we stopped at a restaurant, sitting outside in the sunshine and had a very much needed roast chicken and salad late lunch….

After our growling tums had been quietened we headed off to see the sun set over the lagoon. A spectacular sight.

A quick trip to a supermarket…what a magnificent array of fresh fish…huge aisles and generally a much nicer experience than the hustle and bustle of our UK supermarkets. Shopping done we headed back to the apartment for a rest with the boys.

Sometime later my multi-talented boy cooked us a braii ( barbecue) like no other braii….we had prawns, octopus, pure meat burgers, chicken kebabs, chicken fillet, asparagus and peppers accompanied by some crispy potatoes and a superb salad with mango and all the usual salad bit in it.

We munched, chatted and laughed the evening away.

Returning to the hotel, we had thankfully borrowed two pillows and by midnight we fell into our huge bed…..what a wonderful day…but for us oldies we were ready for some much needed shut eye…..more fun tomorrow…