A Family Friendly Holiday to Majorca

It has become a bit of a tradition in our house to get away for a holiday in September - last year it was Florida and the year before that Cyprus. This year has been slightly different as I'm pregnant so a long haul flight wasn't really an option!

We decided to try somewhere different and opted for Port de Pollenca in Majorca. Not only is it just a 2 hour flight from the UK but we were able to fly from our local airport Bournemouth which is a real bonus and much easier for families travelling with children.

Accommodation - Playa Mar

We booked with Thomson and picked the Aparthotel Playa Mar due to it's brilliant reviews on Trip Advisor and location. The hotel was very family friendly and perfect for us - and it certainly lived up to the glowing reviews! Our apartment had a large bedroom with two single bed, plus a double sofa bed in the lounge. There was a large bathroom, kitchenette and a balcony overlooking the pool. We were situated quite close to the bar so I was concerned it might be too noisy in the evenings but we needn't have worried. The entertainment finished at 1030pm and Elliot was so exhausted each day that he fell asleep with no interruptions from the noise! There was different entertainment each night including a magic show, acrobatics and Jackson 5 tribute - Elliot got picked to be in the magic show which he loved!

The hotel had a brilliant splash park for children and Elliot spent lots of time in this over the week. There was also several waterslides which were really popular with him! The swimming pool had a large shallow area for children and was lovely and clean. The water was absolutely freezing but soon warmed up once you were in! Plenty of sunbeds to be had, we never had an issue finding somewhere to sit although I imagine this might be different in peak seasons. We travelled in late September so the resort wasn't as busy as it had been through the Summer Holidays. 

Although the hotel had a Thomsons kids club, we never actually made it to this! The hotel had a separate entertainment team who did lots of activities for the children - we took part in water polo, tshirt making, face painting, discos and even a birthday party for the hotel brand mascot! 

We went all inclusive which I think is so much easier when you have children. Before Elliot we would never have booked all inclusive, preferring to explore our local surroundings and finding local restaurants. But now I find it so much easier  - drinks and ice creams whenever you like, plus the variety of the buffet! The food was brilliant at our hotel - lots of choice and everything lovely and fresh. Each night there was a different theme such as Mexican, Asian and traditional Spanish. We all certainly ate very well! 

Port de Pollenca

Our hotel was situated on the outskirts of town but it was a pleasant 20 minute walk along the famous Pine Walk to reach the Marina. All along the Pine Walk there are shallow coves and the water is so clear. It was a really nice place to stop for a paddle and Elliot had lots of fun splashing about looking for fish! There are lots of restaurants situated along the Pine Walk and this would be a perfect spot for a drink and watching the world go by.

You might even spot the seaplane whilst walking along the Pine Walk - several times a day it takes off from the military base and scoops up water to drop on the scrub lands in the mountains to reduce fires. We didn't see it take off but we saw it fly over the hotel - it made me jump out of my skin as it was low!

Food

We didn't eat out a great deal but on the occasions we did, it had to be tapas! We found a great little cafe one lunchtime which was tucked away on one of the side streets in Port de Pollenca. We ordered a mixed tapas and I wasn't really sure what to expect but it came out in a big dish with lots of yummy things like mushrooms, omelette, vegetables and potatoes. It doesn't sound very exciting but it was lovely! On another occasion we had tapas in Port de Soller and Elliot really really enjoyed it, but especially the squid. Personally one of my favourite things about eating out in Spain is fresh bread and aioli - I would have that with every meal!

Day Trips

We decided to hire a car on our holiday so we could explore a bit of the island. Majorca has so much to offer and we only really scratched the surface but here are some of our favourite things we discovered: 

Cap de Formentor

Cap de Formentor is the most Northerly point of Majorca and the views on your way up through the mountains are breathtaking. But not good for those of a nervous disposition...! We drove up from Port de Pollenca stopping at Mirador es Colomer. The views from this look out point are spectacular but I'd definitely recommend going early or late to beat the crowds - there's not much parking and it was a bit crazy with cars trying to pull over at every opportunity.

Mirador es Colomer

Mirador es Colomer - looking back towards Port de Pollenca

Leaving here and heading up to the Cap de Formentor, the roads were some of the most narrow and bendy I have ever been on. Combine this was lots of tourists in cars, plus lots of cyclists and it was a nerve-wracking drive. I felt my blood pressure rising! 

When we rounded the corner and saw the lighthouse at the Cap de Formentor in the distance, we were faced with a massive queue of cars all winding along the road up to the top. Rather than wait in line where it looked to be one in, one out of the car park we decided to turn round and head back. Pity, but maybe we will make it up there next time!

You can see the queue...gulp!

Port de Soller

Port de Soller is a pretty coastal village that we visited almost by accident. We had taken the scenic route through the mountains towards the town of Soller where the plan was to catch the train to Palma (a trip we had read about prior to our holiday) but ended up stopping off in Port de Soller and staying for a few hours! You can actually catch a tram from Port de Soller to Soller and Elliot had lots of fun waving at everyone who went past and shouting "Hola!"

The seafront has lots of bars and restaurants so we stopped for tapas at a place called Restaurante Mar y Sol, it made a nice change not to be eating at the hotel! We had a wander round the marina and sat and watched the world go by for a bit. It was a really bustling little area but it looked like there were a lot of organised excursions passing through - we spotted a fair few Thomson uniforms!

A visit to Alcudia's Old Town

One afternoon we drove down to Alcudia which is a little further on round the coast from Port de Pollenca. Alcudia is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Majorca and we were keen to have a look round the old town which we'd heard great things about.

Much of the old town is surrounded by a wall dating back to the 14th Century and we were able to climb and walk along some of this, with some great views across the beautiful houses and winding, narrow streets. Elliot was fascinated with the arrow loops in the wall!

The old town was really pretty and fortunately when we visited it wasn't too busy. I read that market days can be extremely busy and hectic but by visiting later in the day we missed the crowds. We stopped for a quick snack in one of the many cafes dotted along the streets and Elliot was tempted by all the lovely ice cream shops!

Exploring the Coast by Boat

I love going out on boat trips when on holiday and this time we decided to rent out our own boat, something we hadn't done before. We found a company based down at the marina in Port de Pollenca called Sea Adventure who were really helpful and we even got an upgrade on the boat to a slightly larger one! Elliot had a life jacket to wear and they even provided us with a cool box for our drinks so that was useful.

We had the boat from 9-2pm and this gave us plenty of time to make our way along the coastline and we were able to moor up for a swim in the sea which was refreshing! I was a bit wary and didn't really like not being able to touch the bottom however Elliot had no fear and jumped in several times!

All that swimming tired Elliot out and he actually fell asleep on the way back!

Spot the sleeping boy!

I feel like we have only really scratched the surface of what Majorca has to offer but we were so impressed with what we did see. It is the perfect location for a family holiday and I am pretty certain we will go back again!

The Longest Day - 4339 Miles from London to Orlando (with a toddler!)

You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet here on this blog recently. An organised blogger might have scheduled some posts to keep things ticking over but nope, not me! That would be too organised! We were actually away on our family hols and travelled to Orlando, Florida for Elliot's first American holiday and his first long haul flight.

Our flight wasn't until 1.30pm so we didn't have to do any mad driving through rush hour traffic to get to the airport - we actually booked a local taxi firm to take us which was SO much more relaxing, especially for my husband who would have been doing the driving! The taxi dropped us right outside the departures area so we were able to head straight over to the check in desks. Apart from a short wait at airport security while our buggy got scanned, we made it through to departures fairly quickly and it was a lot less stressful than our last holiday! We flew with Virgin and we'd decided to book into their V-Lounge.....so glad we did and it was definitely worth the money. We were able to help ourselves to hot/cold breakfast items (unlimited), plus hot/cold drinks (unlimited) and there were cakes....also unlimited! There were loads of tables all over looking the runways and also a play area for children which also had a tv showing CBeebies - brilliant! Another benefit of the V-Lounge is that they call you when your flight is boarding so no need to keep an eye on the departures board, you can just relax and wait for the announcement.

Our flight was called and we made our way down to the gate and onto the plane. I started to feel a bit nervous at this point because I was about to spend 9+ hours in a small confined space with a toddler - eeek!! I recently blogged about flying longhaul with a toddler  and had a lot of things in my hand luggage to keep Elliot amused for the duration and we also had the i-Pad so we were keeping our fingers crossed he'd be ok!

As it was, Elliot was good as gold on the flight. He didn't sleep a wink despite being tired but was quite happy to wear his new headphones and watch films and Peppa Pig on the seat-back tv! In fact, the only activity I used from my bag of goodies was the play-doh and that was put away within minutes as soon as he spotted the ice lollies being handed out!

Bum change time was....interesting. Elliot is yet to be potty trained (despite our best efforts!) and so I knew changing his bum might be a bit of a squeeze! Elliot isn't a small toddler so he was too long (and probably heavy) for the pull down baby change shelf thingy so I had to change him while he stood on the toilet. This was a mission in itself because he wanted to touch everything!! Taps, flush, tissues, tampons, soap...you name it, he had his grubby mits all over it! We then had the issue of me needing a wee too so he had to stand up against the wall whilst I used the toilet - but then he kept sliding the lock open and shut - arghhh!!!

I wondered if Elliot might get sore ears on the flight but it didn't seem to bother him. I had boiled sweets just incase but they proved too much of a temptation and he'd munched his way through a bag of rosy apples before the midway point ;)

Before we knew it, my husband and I had both managed to watch 2 films (a luxury these days!) and it was time to land in Orlando. No issues with the landing and Elliot was excited to get off the plane, he even high fived all the nice Virgin flight attendants on his exit!

We landed at around 5.30pm local time which was 10.30pm UK time - way way past Elliot's bedtime and I could tell he was flagging by the time we'd got off the plane and reached passport control. We have travelled to Orlando Airport before and have always always had to queue - I understand this bit takes some time to get all the passengers through and check passports etc but it's such a faff. Especially when you have a sleepy child and your buggy is waiting for you with the luggage. There were a lot of grizzly children at this point and the heat definitely did not help matters! Finally we made it through customs (he was a stern man - they scare me!) and we picked up our cases and buggy were on our way. Well, on our way to the next queue at the car rental desk. Eventually we exited the airport and we found our car....only to have to spend the next hour struggling to fit the child seat! My poor husband, it was like a sauna in the car and it wasn't very well lit so he had a bit of a mission on his hands, Luckily Elliot had dozed off in his buggy by this point so at least I didn't have to keep him amused!

Finally, feeling very sweaty and tired, the car seat was in properly and we were able to actually start our holiday! We did a quick supermarket stop for the essentials (fried chicken, lucky charms and beer) and so by the time we got to our villa and sat down with a cold drink, it was 11pm (4am UK time). I had never wanted to jump in a pool so badly as this moment! What a long day!

We squeezed so much into our two weeks so I have lots to blog about over the coming weeks. First up will be my review of "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" so look out for that...spoiler, there was ALOT of candy!

Linking up with the following...

Flying Long Haul with a Toddler

We will be flying to Florida in a few weeks time and aside from the excitement, I'm a little nervous about the 10 hour flight with a toddler! We've flown with Elliot before (last year) but he was under 2 then and sat on our laps. It was also only a 4 hour flight and he slept most of the way. I think this flight may be a little different!

We are flying to Florida with Virgin so we know there will be plenty of things to watch on the seat-back TV but I have a bag of tricks that will hopefully keep Elliot entertained for most of the journey...

Books

The most important items for a long journey - sticker books! I've packed three but I might add to this, they are just such a great thing for entertaining kids. Elliot likes the ones such as the Usborne ones where you have to stick the right items within the right scenery. 

"Let's Play Diggers" book - these magnet books are great for travelling and it's a bit more exciting than a standard book which will get read once or twice and then forgotten about! 

"The Rabbit who wants to fall asleep" - I've heard lots of things about this book so I had to buy to see if it actually worked. I tried it once and it failed spectacularly - Elliot was more interested in leaping off the sofa! We may need to take drastic measures to get Elliot to nap on the plane so I'm willing to give it another go...

iPad and Headphones

I'll be loading the iPad up with various CBeebies programmes which I'll remember to download a few days before we leave (not on the morning we're due to leave!) and I've also got a couple of albums on standby on my iPod which Elliot likes to listen to in the car. The headphones are a real novelty for him so I'm hoping we can whack on some bedtime stories and he'll doze off ;)

Games

It's a bit tricky with games because Elliot isn't quite 3 yet so alot of games are far too complicated or he just loses interest quickly. I picked up dinosaur top trumps and thought although he's too young to play properly, he might enjoy looking at the pictures of the dinosaurs!

"100 Things for little children to do on a journey" - Picked this up from Amazon and thought out of 100 things, there will hopefully be a few that Elliot enjoys!

Activity Flash Cards - Elliot loves to learn and these flash cards are wipe clean which means we can use them again and again. 

Snacks 

10 hours is a long time and I'll be packing enough snacks to tide us over until the next mealtime. Nothing that can melt or will get messy but healthier things such as Bear Paws, biscuits and oaty bars. Humzingers are a perfect snack for taking with us - individually wrapped with no added sugar and they also count as 1 of your 5 a day. 

Cartons of juice - I'm going to try and time one of these with take-off so it will stop Elliot's ears from popping. 

Arty Fun

Play Doh might seem like a crazy thing to take on a plane but we can get at least half an hour of entetainment from these little pots! I've packed a couple of cutters too but I'm sure we'll end up making multi-coloured sausages.

Crayons - an obvious choice but looking at all this stuff I realise I haven't packed a colouring book, doh!

Bribery

If all else fails, I have three of these bad boys to break out!! A plastic egg containing a little packet of jelly beans, some stickers and some kind of plastic tat - Elliot loves them! 

What are you essentials for keeping little ones amused on long journeys?