Blue Bay Apartment Hacks...

...and goodbye to the island...when we got back to the resort that evening the skies were looking decidedly nasty -

- the wind was really picking up, so much so that the pool bar had been completely abandoned and black plastic bags attached securely to anything sensitive with gaffa tape -

- and all the pool umbrellas were down and tied with rope, in the end the wind got so strong that the balcony furniture was being blown over, so I turned it all over and stacked it in the corner -

- it's only worth watching the first second or two of this video we took using Flyingpops camera, but it gives you an idea of the spectacle and the mood in the resort as our paradise turned angry, the next morning I went around and shot the apartment, just to tell you one or two essentials you will need (if you choose to visit the same place)-


- number one, there are no bath plugs...so bring one if you think you are going to fancy a soak (we did)-

- and number two, while there *is* air conditioning, the remote controls are behind perspex shields, luckily I happened to have packed my Leatherman Wave (although a screwdriver will do just fine) to rescue them from bondage...the only hack we didn't manage was to keep the power on when you leave the apartment (as the minute you take the key from the slot everything turns off), so if you wish to be even more organised than us, my *guess* would be that you will need a disc magnet about the size of a ten pence piece and about the width of a pound coin, glue it to a lolly stick and insert that instead of the key fob (I did try with various other objects and eliminated pretty much every other possible solution), I would be interested to hear if it works! ;)

Another thing to note is, before this blustery night we went to (and in my experience the only ever) leaving meeting with the reps...they had tried (and succeeded) to get most people to pre-book their seats home at the welcome meeting (we couldn't as we needed extra leg room) in order to reduce the queue for check in...but it was a colossal waste of everyone's money, as it turns out the queue to actually check in is really short anyway (loads of desks considering the number of people on the coach), so there was absolutely no need to skip it, the *real* problem is the queue for passport control (and *what* a queue) -

- if we thought Gatwick was bad...this queue runs the entire length of the *outside* of the airport!! Hack-wise though, you actually don't need to even queue up, while we patiently waited in line a succession of reps came running up the line calling for all the people trapped therein and whisked them to the front so they didn't miss their flight! So, if you feel like being cheeky, just go and have a pint in the bar above passport control while everyone else gets grumpy in the queue and then act all surprised when they call out your name and take the fast track... ;)

The only last thing to say, James, the First Choice rep did confess that we had got extremely lucky with the weather coming as out of season as we did, so perhaps travel out a couple of weeks earlier if you want an absolute promise of sunshine, as we probably should have had thunder storms and rain for the whole break!

Anyway, we couldn't possibly have asked for anything better for £200 a head, so thank you lady luck for smiling upon us (for once)! ;)