Aquashow Park Hotel trip report by Froggee (paterfamilias)

[Froggee]

I have never seen the boys as happy as they were last June when we inadvertently took them to Aquashow Park in the Algarve. Shortly thereafter, in a moment of weakness, I thought it would be a fun thing to take them back during May half term. This was a bit of a squeeze as the boys’ May half term break is fundamentally flawed with their school believing that three days off is enough. This left me with a Saturday to Wednesday window. But because I am an idiot, I booked it anyway.
 
It is against my religion to take flights at antisocial times so I did not even consider the direct flight from Edinburgh to Faro with Jet2 which goes at 6:45am. This left us with the Heathrow hop as the only legitimate option. Unfortunately, it transpired that half term this year coincided with an English bank holiday and the Avios seats had long gone by the time I got round to looking. Therefore, I booked Avios seats using a gold priority reward from Heathrow to Faro for a highly spirited 102,000 Avios + £2 for the four of us. This was still much cheaper than paying cash as apparently Londoners like going away for bank holidays. Flights from Edinburgh to Heathrow were a much more reasonable 19,000 Avios + £70. A few months later, I was pinged by SeatSpy and, lo and behold, someone had cancelled two Avios seats to Faro. I immediately booked the pair for 16,500 Avios + £35 and then called British Airways. Ironically, I was put through to a Portuguese lady from Faro. She split the PNR on the original booking and cancelled two of the seats, all while telling me about visiting her mother back home and getting her fill of Piri-Piri chicken. This resulted in a net cost for four seats from Edinburgh to Faro of 86,500 Avios + £106. And me wanting Piri-Piri chicken. As our Faro flight left Heathrow at 11:50am on Saturday, getting a 7:05am connecting flight down from Edinburgh would have been sacrilege, so I had booked us on the 5:30pm flight from Edinburgh down to Heathrow on the Friday. Kermit does not finish school until 3:15pm and Friday traffic starts very early in Edinburgh so this was possibly a bit optimistic. I can only assume the 6:20pm flight did not have Avios seats available.
 
Kermit now seems to struggle to sleep when he is excited and if Kermit does not sleep, I do not sleep. This is because he insists on visiting to tell me about his lack of sleepage. Therefore, I did the only logical thing and lied to the boys about the holiday plans. We told them we were going to Aviemore. I told myself this was a white lie as, like Aquashow Park and Algarve, Aviemore also starts with the letter A. The boys actually used to very much like Aviemore but the last time we went there was in February 2020. Having the memory of walking through driving sleet to get to a crowded swimming pool did not do much to help carry us through Covid times.
 
Because our tickets were booked separately, British Airways would be unwilling to check our bags through to Faro. Therefore, I had declared that we would be travelling hand-carry only which got me two demerits from Mrs Froggee. Freddo, being a smart cookie, questioned why our suitcases were so small and asked why he could not take several large squishmallows if we were driving. We just dodged the question every time it came up. The reason we were not checking any bags was I would sooner take only one pair of underpants for five nights away than wait for luggage at Heathrow with Kermit whining at me again.
 
Mrs Froggee and I had the gift of being able to finish packing uninterrupted on Friday morning and we left the house at 2:30pm to try and get a prime parking space near the boys’ school. Mrs Froggee went to collect Freddo wearing a lightweight hoodie. Because we live in Edinburgh, it started lashing down with rain minutes later so I thought I would cover myself by messaging to ask if she would like me to bring an umbrella to her. Mrs Froggee never sees text messages so I felt this was a low-risk manoeuvre. “Yes” she replied seconds later. Which meant I got to walk in the pishing rain shielded by a black IKEA Family umbrella, carrying a matching pink one for Mrs Froggee. She and Freddo were leaving the playground as I arrived and I received a bonus point for effort from one of Mrs Froggee’s best mummy friends thereby cancelling out one of the two hand-carry-only demerits.
 
We then went back to the car and got Freddo changed and waited for Kermit. Kermit is allowed to find his own way to the car which, to me, seems like a big ask for a kid with the sense of direction of a spinning top. I was looking in my wing mirror at 3:13pm, which is two minutes before the school bell, and saw a kid that looked like Kermit. The telltale sign was a child carrying a tennis racket (without a cover) above his head for shelter. It was Kermit. Well played son! Because the rain was so heavy, the namby-pamby school ceased tennis classes early. The PE teacher told the children they all had to wait until 3:15pm at which point the whole class ran off. At least it is nice to know that Kermit does not listen to teachers either.
 
Kermit got changed while Freddo told him there had been a change of plans and we would be flying to London, spending the night in an airport hotel, and then flying to Aviemore in the morning. To save a 2½ hour drive. I explained that the roads to Aviemore were flooded which may very well have been true given there had been two inches of rain in the prior 24 hours. Does Aviemore have an airport? Sure boys. One of these airports that trains land at.
 
There was indeed quite a lot of traffic and it took about 40 minutes to get to Edinburgh airport. The rain briefly stopped during the drive but it came on properly again as we pulled into FastPark. I had booked FastPark as unlike the other parking options you do not have to waste precious time trying to find a space. And it was a bargain £35.99. The parking lanes were absolutely rammed, probably because the muddy fields were inaccessible. But we got parked in lucky lane number 8. I escorted the family to the reception area with the IKEA Family umbrellas and then took the umbrellas back to the car. This meant I had to run back to the reception area without an umbrella. This was a pointless effort as none of Mrs Froggee’s friends were there to see the gesture and therefore no bonus points were forthcoming. I booked the car in, and, after a couple of dashes in the rain, we entered a surprisingly quiet terminal building.
 
We used the family Security lane which was deserted and channelled us to the front of the normal queue which was also deserted. Three wheeled bags, two rucksacks, four liquids bags, four iPads and a kindle yet nothing was selected for secondary screening and none of us made the beepy machine go beep. We sure are getting good at this Security thing. We made it to the lounge at 4:15pm which I considered a small miracle. We then had a very early dinner which should probably be called tea. Kermit announced that the lounge felt very familiar. Bad news Kermit – my silver status expires at the end of September and Mrs Froggee’s goes at the end of November. After a strategic peepee we went to Prêt a Manger and spent £19.20 on fruit pots and ham sandwiches to sustain the boys on the flight. We then headed to gate 10 so I could, yet again, despair at British Airways’ boarding protocols. We timed the run perfectly for Group 2 boarding and I safely stowed our three wheeled bags to Mrs Froggee’s satisfaction.
 
Yet again Mrs Froggee chose to sit with the boys despite me being ready and willing. I guess that is why they love her more than me. I am not sure how, but boarding was complete with all luggage stowed at 5:29pm and it did not take too long until take-off. The flight was uneventful and we landed at Heathrow on schedule and we were at the gate at 7:10pm. I praised the Lord as we exited right, bypassing baggage reclaim and we made our way to the sweetshop at terminal 5. As we went down the escalator, Kermit ducked down to see if the sweet shop was open. It was. I was shocked that the boys asked permission before running into it.
 
I went to check in at the Sofitel which is attached to the sweet shop at terminal 5 and was delighted to find out that the email I had sent the prior afternoon had worked wonders and they had kindly swapped the two classic twin rooms I had booked at a total cost of £313.50 for a king and a twin luxury room connecting arrangement. After marrying Mrs Froggee, buying Accor gold status at £65 for almost two whole years is possibly the second wisest thing I have ever done. This was a double upgrade so yay free minibar that I wasn’t going to touch. I chose to prepay for breakfast at £54 (one kid free per adult) as apparently if we waited until the following morning it would be £60. And I thought inflation was abating. I then went to the sweet shop where Freddo had successfully chosen 107 grammes of sweets vs his 100 gramme allowance but Kermit was being his usual indecisive self. Eventually Kermit committed and managed to wangle 114 grammes. The lady working in the sweet shop could not have been nicer. She kept calling the boys darlings and sprinkled a few bonus cola drops into their bags for free. Because they totally needed more sugar. The lady asked where we were off to and, because she was so nice, I could not bring myself to lie. I made her sign a non-disclosure agreement and whispered in her ear that we were off to a water park in Portugal but we had told the boys we were going to Scotland otherwise they would not be able to sleep. The lady found this funny.
 
We headed to our rooms and sure enough two bars of James Cadbury chocolate were awaiting us and the mini bars were fully stocked, each containing four cans of Diet Coke, one sparkling and one still water, two miniatures of gin, one tonic, one soda water and two bottles of orange juice. I might have been tempted by a beer but none was present. I had however been given four free drinks vouchers by reception. I had commanded my former best friend Mr McToadrick to come to the Sofitel and say hello but he claimed he was only getting back to St Pancras at 7:30pm, having spent the week in Paris working, and therefore he could not come to see me. Yet again he chooses his wife over me. The four drinks vouchers went unused and I mentally relegated Mr McToadrick to dead-to-me status.
 
After three chapters of the Worst Witch Strikes Again and a decent amount of bouncing, Freddo went to bed at a not unreasonable 8:30pm. Kermit then sat reading in our room and blowing his nose which was annoying. Mrs Froggee wanted to go to bed. I kind of wanted to go to bed too. Eventually we chased Kermit away at 9:30pm but not before he had taken a pee in our toilet, obviously leaving the seat up. Kermit then went to his bed and proceeded to blast his nose repeatedly to ensure Freddo was roused. Mrs Froggee and I were knackered and were asleep shortly after 10pm which was lucky as the boys woke us before 6am. Kermit had clearly decided to be allergic to something and was sneezing so much Mrs Froggee got up to track down antihistamines which involved opening every bag in the room and needed all the lights to be switched on. Still much better than a direct 6-something in the morning flight though. We eventually got up proper at 7:30am. Kermit then had a hissy fit as I had now said we were not going to fly to Aviemore but the day’s plans were still unknown to him. Kermit was told the day’s plans and wisely concurred that keeping him in the dark had been the right thing to do. We made our way to breakfast which was a pretty good selection. It was also on-theme as they had exactly the same pancake machine that is in the lounge at Faro airport.
 
We left the Sofitel at 9:45am, and I popped the key cards and sleeves in the fast checkout box, which always feels wrong, and made our way to terminal 5. The check-in area seemed pretty calm and we decided to check in two of the wheeled bags to make our lives easier. Security was pretty quick other than my jeans setting off the metal detector (again) and one of our liquids’ bags being selected for swabbing. The terminal itself was rammed and after failing to get four seats in Galleries North, we opted to spend £28.75 getting lunch from Prêt a Manger much to Kermit’s consternation as we had to queue to pay. I scored a tuna and cucumber sandwich which was a big upgrade from the usual egg mayonnaise. We then went to the B gates. I looked on FlightStats and was pleased to see our allocated plane was at gate B32 so we were nicely in-situ. Our flight then disappeared from the screen in the B gates lounge and, on checking FlightStats again, I saw that they had changed planes and we were at A15. Oh goodie. Extra steps. Time to go.
 
I went to make strategic peepee and, as I exited my cubicle, Susan shouted in a panicked tone to Marlene asking if she had her purse. Marlene did not. Susan then started shouting at Steve saying he must have it. Steve did not and committed the cardinal sin of suggesting that it might be in Susan’s bag. After giving Steve an earful, Susan (who was blocking my way) started rummaging through her bag so I squeezed past. Americans, eh?
 
Freddo arrived back from his strategic peepee a minute later and told us that he had helped a lady find her purse. Mrs Froggee questioned this to be told that he had heard a lady asking about her purse and there was a black purse in the cubicle he used. So be told the lady this fact, and she went to get it. Being seven, Freddo then ran off before she could offer him a reward or indeed thank him. I do hope Steve and Marlene received a full written apology from Susan. I told Freddo how proud I was of him whilst wondering how many crisp 100-dollar bills had been in Susan’s purse as she looked quite prosperous. I then made myself laugh by thinking how lucky she was that Kermit had not been taking a dump in that cubicle.
 
We made our way back to the A gates in plenty of time and boarding was remarkably civilised – probably because we were some of the very few passengers who did not need extra time boarding. The flight was like a crèche facility. It turned out that Mrs Froggee does not love the boys that much after all, as she chose to sit on her own and promptly made friends with the two women sitting next to her. As we taxied towards the runway, the cabin crew desperately used the PA system to plead with parents to ensure that their children were sitting with seat belts on and, to also keep the aisle free. It was reminiscent of Ryanair albeit without the drunks. We took off at 12:10pm and I watched the child diagonally in front of me alternate between picking his nose and eating the bogies and then using the same finger on his iPad.
 
Kermit wanted his lunch after take-off and then decided he actually was not hungry. He managed one cheese and ham sandwich with the cheese removed. Freddo pretty much refused to eat his because the butter tasted “bad”. Eventually he ate the ham from the middle of three sandwiches that had not touched the bad butter and one piece of bread which had not been buttered. Both boys then had half a fruit pot and one British Airways issued chocolate digestive biscuit. Kermit also had the “fish and chips” offered by British Airways which were salt and vinegar flavour, fish-shaped snacks.
 
I could not hear anything the boys said on the flight on account of the cacophony of toddlers. I think it mainly involved repeatedly asking if we could go to the water park today. Logistically this was impossible as last entry was at 4pm and our flight was not due to land until 2:45pm. But we landed early and on disembarking, a miraculous thing happened. Faro airport was quiet. Our wait to clear Immigration was about one minute. Then our bags, which I regretted checking in on seeing the lack of Immigration queue, appeared within minutes. Our driver from Yellowfish travel (transfers prebooked for €67.50 return) was waiting for us. The conversation in the car mainly revolved around whether we could go to the water park that afternoon. It was much like this:
 
https://youtu.be/s_E0CR01laQ
 
We pulled into Aquashow Park hotel at 3:30pm which I had booked for €941.87 for four nights including breakfast and unlimited outdoor water park entry. The driver got €10 as I did not have change. I checked in. The receptionist was very friendly and politely, but assertively, told me I would be taking my children to the water park that afternoon and called the boys over to put on their access bands. I have no idea how the boys had nobbled her. We went to our family room (two connecting rooms), got changed, initiated sun screen protocols and left for the water park. We arrived there at 3:58pm.
 
And that was the holiday. We went to the water park. We mainly ate at the hotel with the not too bad buffet dinner coming in at €80.20 for as much as we could eat, 1.5 litres of water and 200ml of beer. Lunch from the bar was in the €40-50 range. We ate at the water park once at a cost of €39.50 but found it quite traumatic as food quality was not high and for some reason, they were unable to produce it very quickly. The half roast chicken actually looked quite good but after queuing for 15 minutes for the privilege of ordering it, Mrs Froggee was told it would be half an hour. She had a burger.
 
On the second afternoon Mrs Froggee pretended to be asleep so I would take the boys waterparking by myself. I took the hint and the boys were removed. The fact that I did not get a bonus point for this shows where expectations now lie. Our hotel had an outside play area and a decent sized swimming pool. On our last visit I had wondered who stays at a hotel with free entry to a water park and goes to the hotel pool. On the third afternoon we went to the hotel pool area. It turns out that there is too much of a good thing after all.
 
My memory of our prior visit to the water park was the pure joy it brought Kermit and Freddo. And the resulting good behaviour. Normal service was quickly restored. Kermit decided to be highly allergic to his surroundings. To be fair to him, it transpired it was the middle of tree pollen season and this is his nemesis. Antihistamines barely made a difference so we had the constant accompaniment of him straining to clear his nose followed by “can I have another tissue”. The boys did not listen. They fought. At one point, Kermit pushed Freddo so hard in the face that I saw Freddo whiplash as he fell over. Thankfully into shallow water so he did not smash his head for once. Kermit would not go to bed at night, instead choosing to sit in our room and blast his nose while reading. When he finally went to bed, it seemed he made a point of waking up Freddo.
 

@JDB probably would not have approved of the clientele at Aquashow Park Hotel with people attending breakfast and indeed dinner in boardshorts, t-shirts/vests, flip flops and the like. Mrs Froggee got a hair braid and a temporary tattoo but we still did not fit in on account of not smoking around our children. And we chose to listen to the evening entertainment, which went on until 11pm, from our bedroom, rather than sing along at the bar. Everyone else seemed to let their kids stay up until midnight based upon the corridor noise. The fourth afternoon was our final one at the water park. Freddo wanted to go on the rollercoaster right at the death which he and I did. I was very impressed as he did not cry. On leaving, I then proved, yet again, that I am an idiot as I did not have the locker receipt with me and thereby was not entitled to the return of my €5 deposit when I returned the key. And I had been told to keep the locker receipt safe. I had done so, but it was safe in the hotel room which was of zero use.
 
We ate early on the final night (which necessitated eating at the bar rather than the restaurant which only opened at 7pm) and got Freddo to bed at 8:30pm, Kermit then went to bed at 9pm. This was brilliant. Kermit then appeared at 9:45pm by which time Mrs Froggee was almost asleep. Apparently, he could not sleep because he was choking on the gallons of snot he was producing. Go to sleep Kermit. Surprisingly he did not come back. But Freddo did. At 2:30am because, for the second time ever in his life, outside of nappies, he had peed himself. He chose to share this information with me. I wonder if this was a delayed reaction the roller coaster? Unfortunately, I in turn, had to share this information with Mrs Froggee as she had hidden Freddo’s spare pyjama shorts in one of the suitcases and I was in no mood to start rummaging.  One demerit duly issued. The next morning, the sheets were thankfully still resolutely white. It must have only been a dribble.
 
After three and a half days of water park, we definitely felt like we’d had a holiday but I was not upset to be heading home. Pickup was arranged for 8:20am and we were at Faro airport shortly after 8:45am for our 10:55am flight. The driver commented it was very quiet as he dropped us off. I had now secured change so he only got €5 for his troubles. I think the airport seemed quiet because all the morning’s passengers had already arrived and were waiting to check in for Jet2 flights. We were flying Jet2 on account of it being the only viable option home. The last (and only) time we flew Jet2, we sat near the back and Freddo screamed and thrashed relentlessly for approximately two hours of the three-hour flight. I spent most of that flightus horribilis by the rear galley area, trying to stop Freddo hurting himself, and apologising to the cabin crew and people going to the toilet. The whole experience cost me thousands in counselling and resulted in a self-imposed ban from Jet2. But hey, that was six years ago and Freddo is now sentient and can be bribed with sweets and an iPad. The flight cost €724.52 for the four of us with €64.52 of that being spent on choosing seats together, near the front to avoid being my being triggered by the rear galley area.
 
We were hand-carry only but because Mrs Froggee has a dodgy non-British passport, she needed to get a “visa check”. The instructions were to do this at check-in but she wisely asked at the little Jet2 ticketing kiosk, thereby avoiding the check-in queue. They gave her the gift of a stamp that said “visa checked”. This made me very, very happy. Then at Security, despite there being a few belts with perfectly decent queues we were called to a belt with no queue whatsoever. It was as if we were blessed. We then walked to Immigration. Except we did not, as we had to stop at the top of the steps that lead to Immigration as the tensile barriers downstairs had reached capacity. I did not time how long the Immigration experience took but it was not too bad. Obviously, Kermit was raging but for normal people, it was tolerable. Maybe twenty minutes? We did get to see the queue for arrivals Immigration and it looked scary. I cannot imagine it would have taken less than an hour and possible a lot more. We were in the CIP lounge just after 9:30am which was excellent going and all was well again as the pancake machine was present and correct.
 
The boys had many pancakes. We did not stay in the lounge for too long and made our way to the gate 40 minutes later, first stopping by Europe’s premier boulangerie, Paul, to buy overpriced food for lunch for €30.30. I had memories that Paul was reasonably priced but at €7.50 for a cheese and ham baguette and €2.60 for a pastel de nata, not so much. I was delighted to board our plane via a jetway and apart from ensnaring the wheels of one of our cases in the net thingy Jet2 seem to think is an enhancement to the overhead lockers, all was well.
 
Clearly Mrs Froggee’s child free flight to Faro had been transformational as I got to sit with the boys again while she sat next to a retired couple who ignored her. In their defence they had strong bladders as did not get up at all during the flight. Perfect middle and window seatmates really. We were told that there was an air traffic control hold and we would be delayed but the pilot happily came on shortly thereafter with some great news and we were off.

The boys bonded with their iPads, Freddo annoyed me and, despite my pleading with him to be gentle, Kermit continued to blast his nose having finally been bestowed his own box of tissues. The baguettes were acceptable except for the cheese. I ate lots of cheese (which was fine) and little ham. As we started the descent into Edinburgh, Kermit’s sinuses started to hurt and he started sobbing in a manner I have only seen once before when he was at peak Covid headache. I administered a couple of Calpol fastmelts, and otherwise felt helpless while he whimpered away. As we came into land, the pain dissipated and Kermit celebrated by blowing his nose.
 
I was shocked when we were told we would be disembarking via a jetway. Jet2 really were spoiling us. And having seats near the front was icing on the cake.  We disembarked via the jetway. I was quietly rejoicing at not having to climb the stairway to nowhere and walk along the corridor of doom. But… we took two steps into the terminal and were promptly directed down some stairs which led us onto the tarmac. Where two buses were waiting for us. Now sometimes what happens in this situation is they load one bus with half the passengers and set it off on its own merry way. Not Jet2. Oh no. They waited until every single passenger was off the plane and we had all “budged up” several times before both buses were allowed to head for the terminal in tandem. Kermit was unamused. Because I had paid money to sit towards the front of the plane, Jet2 made sure that the bus that us early-departing passengers had been put on was the second bus to alight at Immigration. However, the fact that there was one bus ahead of us was the least of our worries as it appeared that several other planes had beaten us to it also. We joined the back of a very long queue. Yet again we were asked to budge up, this time so they could unload more buses into the terminal. I looked at the posters advertising Immigration fast-track and wondered if that would have been £28 well spent. And would I have had the gall to queue jump to get to the actual fast-track queue? As the queue snaked forward, we encountered families with buggies exiting the elevator. They had no choice but to squeeze in as they could hardly walk out onto the tarmac to join the back of the queue. Then we met up with the lucky passengers who had avoided being bussed by walking along the corridor-to-nowhere and were queuing down the stairs. Edinburgh Airport management had obviously foreseen this situation and so had wisely given us double width for the first lap of the tensile barrier so we could walk parallel with the corridor-to-nowhere lot whilst obviously avoiding making eye contact. Mrs Froggee’s inner 惊输 manifested itself through the dozen or so spots we picked up as she raced round the corner while everyone else waited to merge. I think this could be justified on account of Kermit being apoplectic by this stage.
 
All in, it probably “only” took about half an hour to clear Immigration plus about half an hour of being disembarked and bussed to get there but it felt a lot longer. We cleared Immigration just as our flight’s bags appeared which was of no consolation whatsoever for those of us lugging three wheeled carry-on cases and two rucksacks around.
 
Us boys went to make peepee but Freddo got scared by the urinals and I refused to wait for the one cubicle so he could pee in privacy. Mrs Froggee kindly took him while I efficiently spent £58.80 in M&S Simply Food.
 
My car was in one of the closest spots in the FastPark lot which saved us seconds. And the car was not muddy. Yay. Maybe they had left it in lane 8 for five nights? I then drove home and decided to avoid the City Bypass as it can be unpredictable at that time of day. It turns out that we had somehow missed the Western Approach Road being closed which meant we spent as long sitting on Roseburn Street as it should have taken us to get home. Mega grrrr. And I got a final demerit from Mrs Froggee as apparently, she would have done a u-turn and gone via Chesser
 
Oh well – pretty much nine hours door to door which does make me wonder whether we would be as well taking connecting flights back home with British Airways which tend to be marginally more civilised. Although, of course, the last time we did that was an epic fail.
 
I think maybe next year we will just go to Aviemore.

Happy Father’s Day!

The end.

[yorkshireRich]

As usual, great report.
I’ll reply quickly and I’ll probably forget as it’s a Sunday and the footballs on (and I’ve had a few pints).

I remember going on a school trip to Aviemore and going through some caves. I was around 14 and the slender female swimming instructor with Curley brown hair from Glasgow was lovely from what I recall. I do wonder what she may look now.

I’m impressed with your strategy of letting the wife sitting with your children. I was on Ryanair last night and was stuck in the middle between the wife (and infant), and a young lad who was too tight to pay 9 quid to sit with his GF. As soon as the seatbelt sign came off I stood at the back and my Yorkshire charm must have worked a treat, as the FA offered me a jam donut and some chocolate. They did offer me some hot food but I declined as I genuinely think they thought I was undercover by the end of the flight. I declined the offer of hot food as I stated to them that I was looking forward to spending £5.50 on a sandwich at Donnington Services.

I’m with you on unsociable flights. That’s what BA are very good at. However, as I experienced when I travelled Dalaman to LHR to MAN, if it goes wrong, you really do question why you didn’t just go jet2 or easy Jet. I’ve just had 2 terribly unsociable flights. The first one was taking off at 05:45am from
East Midlands and landing at Murcia and then taking my hire car to Murcia in the opposite direction in torrential rain to get a high chair for the baby, to realise we may should have checked if they were actually any in stock.

Glad you sorted the avios as 100K+ does seem excessive, but I’m starting to realise I may need to stick with one world, the points game and silver status just to avoid excessive air fares when my child is in school.

Accor Gold is pretty valuable (not quite Hilton due to the breakfast) imo.

I did mean to keep this short, damm I’ve missed a goal. Glad you had a great trip and Keep the reports coming.

[ankomonkey]

“The telltale sign was a child carrying a tennis racket (without a cover) above his head for shelter.” This was my highlight of the trip report 🙂

Have you tried Slide & Splash (Lagoa, Algarve) yet? We went a couple of years ago and our highlights were going to First Aid as my son managed to walk into one of the metal bars to help you launch yourself at the top of the slide, giving himself a bloody nose, and me struggling to get to the end of a slide due to insufficient current flow and then being catapulted into the catch pool by a perfectly round slider who’d been allowed down despite me not having cleared the slide.

[The Savage Squirrel]

Having been to Aquashow and Slide and Splash – like probably 90% of the UK’s quite-middle-class-and-have-kids-but-still-a-bit-common-really population segment – I can only agree with the lack of current flow at S&S for those of us not shaped like a Weeble and also admire Mr and Mrs Froggee’s fortitude in spending 4 days at Aquashow. The idea of JDB staying there did make me laugh a lot and should be an HfP crowd funded review, I feel.

[Peter K]

Ha ha ha. Just read this review. I agree @SSS, that is a review worth reading!

[Misty]

Great report and fun as usual. I have vague recollections of going to Slide and Splash plus another waterpark (Aquashow Park?) in the Algarve when my kids were of an appropriate age to enjoy such things. But think we managed to slot this into the middle of a couple of two week stays, so that as adults we weren’t too traumatised by this.

I still admire your total dedication to not take flights at antisocial times. Speaking as someone who came back from Mallorca yesterday, having to get up a stupid o’clock, and all of us feeling exhausted and in need of another holiday today,, I think I could learn something from you.

[Man of Kent]

Not sure why I’ve only just caught up with this but thanks very much – very entertaining as usual.

I’m sure there are a few hardcore HfP’ers who are aghast that 4 drinks vouchers were left unused!!!

[Supergers49]

Those that can do.
Those that cannot teach.
Those who cannot teach become MPs.
And those who are so truly incompetent that they cannot become a MP, well those people work for Edinburgh Airport management.