Dipping toes in water

Hi Everyone.

I have just joined the 'Eye on Spain' community and thought of asking some of you out there for help.

I have been going to Spain and sundry parts, with my family, for over 40 years and at times was tempted to put my 'toes in the water' and buy, but resisted the tempation. I have then been free to go wherever the notion has taken me but I now seem to spend a lot of time in the Canaries, particularily Tenerife, going out 2-3 times a year as it is honest and in your face. What you see is what you get, but apart from las Americas, it is surprisingly attractive. Maybe I am just familar with it.

I took early retirement and now spend more and more time going around my local community here in Northern Ireland as a story teller, writing my own material or stealing other people's and pretending it is my own. (That's what story tellers do) I find myself with more time to spend travelling and would like to wander around the Costa del Sol and other parts for a few weeks or months  just watching and writing and possibly telling stories to the ex pat community. It is a very old fashioned form of entertainment and fills and hour for different groups. I spend more time now doing after dinner entertainment with a lot of diverse groups and clubs. This is a different thing to do during siesta if you do not want to sleep. Some of my stories will soon send you to sleep if you want but I hope I am not that bad.

I do not know the best way to go about doing this and thought of just flying out and renting hotel rooms or perhaps a small apartment for a few weeks and seeing what happens. Anyone any ideas?

Hope to hear from someone

Stephen: The Storytellerman

Hi Stephen,

Well, it'd be an interesting few months, and everyone loves storytellers :-)

As an Eu citizen, there are no restrictions on you regards length of stay, so it's really just a case of driving over. You would probabaly find it a lot easier to do between October and May, as during the school summer break accmodation is hard to find and overpriced, and it's just too damn crowded IMHO. You really won't see the place at it's best.

Going through the shoulder seasons you will probabaly find it is chepaer to get a studio or small flat than hotels. You get more priavcy, and more of a feel of if you want to stay, and given the current economic situation, the differences between eating out and having you own kitchen are quite significant. Having a hotel gives more flexibility on locations (move as you wish), but if your staying within Andalucia you can get around most areas quickly enough if you pick a reasonably central location to the areas that interest you, and you can always move at the end of the month if you want to.

Driving yourself down is a long trek, but for your idea, having the car will be a huge bonus, and you'll easily save the cost of the journey on the cost of hire, especially if you are going to rack up a lot of miles.

Hi Neb81

I postponed my trip to Spain as my daughter is now getting married in September in London where she works and we live in N Ireland. Now all the women in my family seem to be going on "Girly Weekends" to London or arranging "Hen Nights". Because London and N Ireland are involved they have to do 2 of everything as well as 'flying visits to 'check things out'

Bored and with little interest in the arrangingexcept for paying for it,,  I decided to book the cheapest and handiest hotel or apartment just for me to expolore the Costa del Sol. My base had to be close to Malaga and environs as there should be lots of accomadation there.  Sure enough I found what I wanted but the holiday company, after following the links, told me they  had no accomadation availabe on my dates. I then tried a search engine using a 'compare' type company whose name I cannot remember who had exactly the accomadation I wanted. I booked and gave them my credit card details(No choice nowdays) and even my passport details(Same comment) They do not make it easy.

I was phoned in 15 minutes to be told that

• They could not meet my dates.
• I must pay substantially extra if I want to take a suitcase with me. For 2/3 weeks I think I might need one.
• The double room with a sea view for single use was not available but generously I could have a small single at the rear for £100 extra. Air conditioning was not available.

Hello??

Surely there is a recession on and business is slow? What happened to customer service?

What is wrong with people.? Needless to say I cancelled in a rage and got my money back.

Out of curiosity I went to Easy Jet site and found a user friendly web page. Followed down the links and found what I wanted. Clicked the necessary buttons and was sold what I wanted, what I booked and at the price they quoted £200 cheaper than the other crowd and no hassle.

Only snag is I am going to Majorca but I have not been there for 30 years so it should be interesting.

I had not thought of the 'shoulder season' idea because my wife works but if this trip is succesful I might just go myself after this wedding. Thanks for the idea.