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Holiday Snaps!

by InvisiblyMe

I thought I’d share a few pics from my recent holiday. It feels like so long ago now, it’s gone in a blur. I’m sorry for the delay; I’ve had a few things on, then I ended up making a taxi trip to A&E over the weekend due to a stoma problem, and time has gotten away from me. It’s a reminder to savour the good times, not to dwell on the bad, to learn and to grow and to make it count. Yes, it’s far easier said than done and I’m a total hypocrite in this regard!

I’ve never been on a ‘proper’ holiday before. Of course the idea of going for myself is nice, but I wanted to make sure my mother went as she’s never been abroad like this either and I knew she dearly wanted to. My dad would never go so if I didn’t, they she never would either. There were times I didn’t think I’d make it out alive after my first op in 2015. When I was told I’d need a stoma, I thought that was it again, too. But I’m still here, and yet I can’t see a future given how many health conditions I seem to be developing and how much pain I’m in. I don’t want to add not being able to make sure my mum went on a proper holiday to my list of regrets.

Going away with illness, a stoma and chronic pain is not easy. You do have to make a lot of adjustments, and I did miss out on quite a bit because I wasn’t well enough. But you can still do small things, enjoy a little relaxing, see a loved one happy and know that it was worth it.

The Hotel & Entertainment

What can I say? The evening entertainment was second to none. The staff were incredible, especially Genis, who must have had Duracell batteries constantly running until the end of the night because he also took a lot of the daytime entertainment (aqua aerobics, bingo, pool slides).

I was so proud of my mother because after a lot of prodding and encouragement I got her in the pool for aqua aerobics. I knew she wanted to try it but she’s terrified of the water, even with me trying to keep her afloat. Without being able to swim or tread water, she’s sure she’ll drown. But she did it, she went in, she watched one of the staff dressed like a female instructor with boobs and wig, and she had a great time (I, of course, sat uncomfortably on the sidelines taking photos).

Flamenco!

Trying out a scarf around a dress to camouflage the bag!

Absolutely incredible acrobats, even though they did put my nerves through the roof.

Aqua aerobics.

Genis. And me, with no time to pose when a gorgeous girl jumps on your lap!

Bar staff that knew what I wanted to order before I even ordered it.

Going To Town

On the road of my hotel were a few smaller shops, souvenir stores, supermarkets and bars. The main town was about a 15-20 minute walk and the main road that takes you there was packed with gift shops, accessory and clothes stores, eateries and people. Sadly even this walk was a bit too much for me given the pain so it was slow going. We’re always told that walking is good and we need to keep moving, but it’s another matter entirely when you’re exhausted and in agony, desperate to just sit down (in my case with my legs up to alleviate the hip pain). Not ideal!

Yes please!

If only all pubs and bars had sofa seats. Much more comfortable for my painful hips and bad back!

It was so interesting to see the variety of people and languages and generally the way of life in Spain. In a lot of the shops, for instance, sellers would stand near the store fronts to sell you products, literally popping a hat on your head and doing you a ‘deal’ to try to get you to buy it. Yes, I bought one. I grew to like it despite not being a huge hat person. I find pushy salespeople in England to be both rude and frustrating, yet this is how things are done here and I enjoyed it, it was fun, it was intriguing, and it made me converse with more people that I perhaps otherwise would have.

I made one proper ‘treat’ purchase. I didn’t really believe in love at first sight until I saw this purse! Ended up going back about 4 times because I couldn’t bring myself to spend the money, but it was a practical purchase too as my purse had succumbed to overuse (having to show my ID every time I needed to prove I was over 18 in the UK probably) and I ended up resorting to a small make-up bag to carry my pennies.

Love at first sight.

There are so many bars and places to eat, with numerous ‘British style’ joints too promoting the likes of bacon sandwiches, steaks and Guinness. One thing that made me chuckle, after spotting it once and realising it seemed to be on every English version of menus, was that cheese toasties were always called “bikinis”.

On The Way To Barcelona!

I can hear Freddie Mercury singing Barcelona already. I took the Plana Bus for around €25 to Barcelona, which included a tour and 2 hours of free time in the middle of the day for lunch and general mooching around.

I was able to take plenty of pics from inside the bus and a couple of videos, wander around the shops at lunch, and then look out over the city at the Palace at the end.

By the time we got on the bus ‘home’, however, I’ll admit I had a little cry because the pain, especially in my hips, was so bad. Sitting on the bus to go back to the hotel was a nightmare and the 1hr 30min journey seemed endless, even with fidgeting.

Such a stunning and amazing building.

  

The Long, Long Night …

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been out at night, let alone since I’ve had anything to drink. I really wanted to push myself this week to do things that a. I don’t usually do, b. that may cause me a lot of pain but that I can say are worth it. A night out with the guy from the hotel plus a few other guests from there, with a few drinks, meeting lots of different people and some awful dancing in a club definitely met those criteria.

It was embarrassing at first to need to sit down, to feel tears in my eyes because everything hurt, but I tried to make the most of it where I could and not let on that I was struggling. That’s all we can do. I bet most people can’t see the struggles when they look at pictures of people that look energetic and happy.

I also ended up with a huge bruise. Clumsy me..! Got a few mozzie bites from the holiday as well, despite thinking ‘nah, no mosquitoes in Spain’ before I went.

Ouchy.

A Lot Of Cocks…

This isn’t for those of a sensitive disposition, but there were a lot of cocks in Spain –

Glorious Beaches

The ‘small’ beach was a 5 minute walk downhill from the hotel, which had rocky sides to frame it in such a beautifully picturesque way. Taking my sandals off to walk on the sand was a bad idea that day though as it was so hot the sand literally felt like it was burning your feet.

The main Salou beach was a 15-20 minute walk, which I got to by taking the seaside stroll from the smaller beach so I could soak up the views. We would have loved to have done this trip numerous times, but just the one was enough to tucker me out completely. This one was very busy with sunbathers, kids building sandcastles, people hanging out in their inflatables, and boats and such being launched into the water.

One fellow traveller I met over there staying in the same hotel, who travels almost constantly for work and returns to Salou and this hotel regularly because they have a place in his heart, shared some wise words when I said how I’d love to go back. A holiday is the only thing that can cost such money, but where you will come back so much richer. Very true.

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17 comments

hopelessblog July 26, 2017 - 4:14 pm

Glad you had the best time and super candid photos <3

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Natalie | Surviving life's hurdles July 26, 2017 - 4:50 pm

It looks like you had a fantastic time, despite your illness and it’s so lovely to see you enjoying yourself! I’m going away in just over a week and I definitely need to take a leaf out of your book and just go for it! xx

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Ultimatetravel8 July 26, 2017 - 6:04 pm

Great pictures! Looked liked you had an amazing time.

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Margaret from soulfood101blog July 26, 2017 - 6:08 pm

Your holiday looks amazing!!!! Well minus the bruise :):) but you had to be having fun to get that kind of shiner and not know how haha. Thanks for sharing all your adventures and the wonderful photos 🙂

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InvisiblyMe August 5, 2017 - 4:06 am

I like to think I must have been having fun to not realise whatever happened to cause the bruise (better than it being my poor memory anyway!) Thanks for the comment 🙂

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Margaret from soulfood101blog August 5, 2017 - 6:32 am

My pleasure 🙂

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Debbie L July 26, 2017 - 6:16 pm

What a wonderful post and lovely pictures of you and the scenery, except for the bruise….but such lovely legs anyway! But perhaps you should put in a rating of PG-13 or even X for sensitive eyes on the “trinkets!” LOL
Love the ending quote – oh so glad you pushed yourself to the limits. You’ll never regret it!!!

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InvisiblyMe August 5, 2017 - 4:07 am

Hah yes, definitely a guidance rating should have gone on that post! 🙂

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yellowfuzzyduck July 26, 2017 - 6:30 pm

Wow, that sounds like so much fun!! Gorgeous photos, too ?

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Ipuna Black July 26, 2017 - 8:40 pm

Thanks for sharing the pictures! Ouch on the bruise! Some of your pictures were so funny too! What a wonderful vacation/holiday!

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Vessels of Vision July 28, 2017 - 10:05 am

Great Photos

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Christy B July 28, 2017 - 11:02 pm

From the photos to your words, I can tell what a great time you had! Thanks for sharing more about the trip with us xx 🙂

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Joraffe July 30, 2017 - 5:50 pm

Salou looks lovely, I really like that last photo!!

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mostlyacousticsteveSteve August 4, 2017 - 4:40 pm

So glad you had a good time, despite the challenges, and it was clearly worth the anxiety and preparation you had in advance!

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Wm. Allen August 8, 2017 - 12:26 pm

Barcelona is wonderful, I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited that city twice.

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InvisiblyMe August 8, 2017 - 7:43 pm

It really is. Did you have much time to walk around and explore? I was amazed at how big it is, how much there is to see and do (a bus tour, with some quick stop offs in one day, certainly doesn’t do the city justice). x

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ignitedmoth August 9, 2017 - 1:56 am

Fantastic pics! It looks like you had quite the amazing time. 🙂

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