Check in was smooth and efficient. The Medpalya Esmereldas certainly deserves more than its allocated 2 stars. Our room was in fact a studio apartment with its own mini kitchen and dining area. At last somewhere to chill our beers and water. Early impressions of the staff were good, they all seemed friendly and welcoming... Quite different to our experience of the neighbouring hotel some two years previous. As welcoming as the pool looked we were hungry after our long journey

I'd like to start by issuing an apology to lloret de Mar, Malgrat de Mar and Callella... In fact I'm sorry to Spain in general, but to these three beautiful coastal towns I issue a sincere apology for the rowdy rabble of Brits that were ejected from our transfer coach; ready to bring madness and mayhem befitting the sun,sea,sex and sangria reputation of the Costas. Seriously? When did the Costa brava turn into Ibiza on steroids, or any other drug that is openly sold along 'th

Having found the best flights to Barcelona before Vikki had a chance to say 'is it sangria time?' I'd paid for the flights and started searching one of the many accommodation apps on my phone. Before the end of play we had decided on our accommodation. The Medplaya Esmeraldas Aparthotel. The first time we stayed in Tossa our hotel was a near neighbour of the Esmeraldas, from the terrace of our most inhospitable hotel we observed guests coming and going all the time and they l

We planned a micro tour of Wales, a micro tour consisting of 6 nights. Those of you who have been with us for more than a year will know all about our abandoned camping trip to Wales last year and the 'stuck in the mud in a field full of cows capers' that preceded our abandonment of our tent in the early hours of the first morning in Pembrokeshire. Well it was that trip that prompted the purchase of a 13 year old Honda Step Wagon; a large 8 seat vehicle made specifically for

I have a love of writing. I usually only indulge myself when I am on holiday. Some people read when they are on holiday, instead I write. I write mostly observational stuff, it starts out a bit like a travel journal but usually ends up describing the nature of the people and things around us. Really bad photographs, of things unrelated, usually accompany my ramblings. I make no excuses for my lazy and mostly ungrammatical paragraphs and poor spelling (despite a good grammar s