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Bifta · 19-11-2004, 16:53

I'll go into mine in a bit more detail....

Arrived at the airport at 4.30am to check in, huge queue, Air Tours insisted on us being their 3 hours early, flight was due to leave at 7.45am, after checking in, was told by check-in staff that there was a "technical fault" with the flight and they wouldn't have an update until 9am.

At 9am they tell us that it's still not fixed (I can see two men sitting in the engine from out of the window) and that we should expect an update at 11am

At 12 noon, they've apparently fixed it, and tow it down the runway for testing

At 12.45(ish) we're finally on the plane, 5 hours late.

We arrive at Arrecife, get told by some rep what hotel we were staying in, he waves in the general direction of a coach. The Spanish driver asks us which hotel we're in, we tell him, he laughs knowingly ....

We arrive at the hotel which is adjacent to a building site, we sit outside for hours waiting to get the key to our room, they take away our passports for 24 hours for some reason.

We get to our room, there's no phone, the TV picks up 2 channels instead of the advertised 8, there's dead cockroaches on the floor (not many, and they were quite small). I put the TV on, it's got a meter on it, costs around 2 cents a minute to use, the sound on 1 of the two working channels (channel 4) is too distorted to hear anything.

The next morning (one of the only day's we actually had sunshine) we decide to go to the beach, we get a map from reception, apparently it's a good 30-45 minute walk!

We eventually get a taxi back (3 euros) and I decide to take a bath .. the bath is MASSIVE, but the tank only holds 30 litres of hot water, which turned out to be more like 10, so I bathe in about 2 inches of hot water.

We then decide to buy a phone card, 6 Euro for 25 minutes, I go to the payphone and get told I've only got 13 minutes, the receptionist tells me I should use the phone in my room ... the pretend one obviously.

Summing it up .. every restaurant we tried was grim and most of the waiters were VERY rude, the food is rancid (with the exception of some Canarian soup we had on a day trip). The landscape looks like the face of the moon (it's a volcanic island), there's a weird smell about the place, the wind at times is unbearable, the beds in the hotel were two single campbeds, very uncomfortable, very noisy and were only supplied with what could be described as "prison blankets".

On the upside however, fags and booze were dirt cheap (and I did get a picture of what I think is some kind of meerkat) ... but that wasn't enough to make it enjoyable, I'd probably never visit any of the Canary Islands (or Spain) again. Next year I'm driving down to Cork, I don't care if it's snowing!

19-11-2004, 16:53	#6
Bifta Inactive Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Eglinton, Co. Derry Posts: 7,640	Re: Holidays from hell I'll go into mine in a bit more detail.... Arrived at the airport at 4.30am to check in, huge queue, Air Tours insisted on us being their 3 hours early, flight was due to leave at 7.45am, after checking in, was told by check-in staff that there was a "technical fault" with the flight and they wouldn't have an update until 9am. At 9am they tell us that it's still not fixed (I can see two men sitting in the engine from out of the window) and that we should expect an update at 11am At 12 noon, they've apparently fixed it, and tow it down the runway for testing At 12.45(ish) we're finally on the plane, 5 hours late. We arrive at Arrecife, get told by some rep what hotel we were staying in, he waves in the general direction of a coach. The Spanish driver asks us which hotel we're in, we tell him, he laughs knowingly .... We arrive at the hotel which is adjacent to a building site, we sit outside for hours waiting to get the key to our room, they take away our passports for 24 hours for some reason. We get to our room, there's no phone, the TV picks up 2 channels instead of the advertised 8, there's dead cockroaches on the floor (not many, and they were quite small). I put the TV on, it's got a meter on it, costs around 2 cents a minute to use, the sound on 1 of the two working channels (channel 4) is too distorted to hear anything. The next morning (one of the only day's we actually had sunshine) we decide to go to the beach, we get a map from reception, apparently it's a good 30-45 minute walk! We eventually get a taxi back (3 euros) and I decide to take a bath .. the bath is MASSIVE, but the tank only holds 30 litres of hot water, which turned out to be more like 10, so I bathe in about 2 inches of hot water. We then decide to buy a phone card, 6 Euro for 25 minutes, I go to the payphone and get told I've only got 13 minutes, the receptionist tells me I should use the phone in my room ... the pretend one obviously. Summing it up .. every restaurant we tried was grim and most of the waiters were VERY rude, the food is rancid (with the exception of some Canarian soup we had on a day trip). The landscape looks like the face of the moon (it's a volcanic island), there's a weird smell about the place, the wind at times is unbearable, the beds in the hotel were two single campbeds, very uncomfortable, very noisy and were only supplied with what could be described as "prison blankets". On the upside however, fags and booze were dirt cheap (and I did get a picture of what I think is some kind of meerkat) ... but that wasn't enough to make it enjoyable, I'd probably never visit any of the Canary Islands (or Spain) again. Next year I'm driving down to Cork, I don't care if it's snowing!