How To Do Vacation

Morning panorama of mountains, Mediterranean sea, and the beach

We are home fresh from vacation. It's a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon so we plan to veg out the rest of the day to recover from traveling. A is in her bed napping, G is preoccupied with his laptop, and I decided to go ahead and post about our vacation. I remember how I'd promised to upload pictures of our sightseeing jaunt in the touristy part of Istanbul and of our trip to Prague back in January but I never kept my promise. I eventually lost interest as we plowed ahead with our lives without looking back. This time, I don't want that to happen. So, here is our vacation post.

Morning, before the guests descended...

We went and stayed in an all-inclusive resort on the Mediterranean coast. It was our first real family vacation and our first experience in an all-inclusive resort. I have to tell you, it was a wonderful experience. We were so well-taken care of that the only decisions we had to make were what dishes we wanted to eat and whether we wanted to go to the beach or the pool for the day. Ah, the simple life...

A's new friends, two British sisters.  G said it was like listening
to a Harry Potter movie.

Amy (Emmy?), dark-haired British girl from above picture
that A especially liked and cried when they parted.

Before we left, we were told that these resorts cater to Europeans and while I knew this, I hadn't really thought about it so I was unprepared to see so many blondes running around the resort. After living in a sea of dark-haired and dark-skinned nationals, the natural blond folks were a big change in scenery. It was strange to see the white-haired kids running around with white eyebrows and bright blue eyes standing out starkly in their deeply tanned faces. It was strange to see the European edgy clothes and hair styles after living among conservatively dressed people. It was definitely a lot of fun to "people-watch" in this cosmopolitan crowd of Europeans. Germans seem to make up the biggest portion of the guest list but there were many others who hailed from different countries. I even saw some Slavic faces, a sight familiar from my time in central Europe. We made friends with an Irishman whose wife was Serbian and they had a shy 2-year-old boy, whom A befriended and they played together in the beach sand. The Irishman gave us his contact information and told us to look them up in case we ever decide to visit Dublin and we told him that they were likewise welcome if they come to our neck of the woods.

Our slice of the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean water was pretty and fairly calm, changing colors as the sun made its trek across the sky. I have to admit that I never did swim in the Mediterranean; G and A did, the brave souls. The sun shone very hot, but the breezes were pretty cool and the water was cold but bearable. The temperatures hovered around 77-80 degrees all week. Just a little too cool for me, as accustomed as I am to hot Florida summers and the warm Gulf of Mexico. I even remember swimming in the Gulf in the middle of a big heat wave and the water gave no relief from the heat since it was as hot as the air itself. Anyway, here the sand was nice enough, considering that most of the beaches of this country are pebbly. It was similar to the darker, coarse sand of North Carolina beaches. Need I say that my heart belongs to the white, sugary sand and the clear waters of Florida? I still love visiting foreign beaches, though...

Running back and forth

Swimming with Daddy

Mommy actually got off the lounge chair 

Building sand castles

The resort itself was pretty cool. There were beautiful gardens and lots of palm trees - just the right tropical flavor. The facilities were very nice and very clean. The service was outstanding. They had a pretty extensive pool..."system" is the only word I can think of it. They had one area just for kids with a fun pirate ship, big slides, medium slides, and little slides for toddlers. There was even a fun moat around the ship, so shallow in some parts of it that it only came up to A's knees. This was pretty much why we chose the resort - all the fun places for A to play! There were a couple of Olympic-sized pools that were sectioned off alone but the main pool was a large, elaborate, connected system with waterfalls and meandering rivers without any real currents. The resort is called "Titanic" and is modeled after the actual ship, "Titanic." Even the hotel itself is vaguely shaped like a big cruise ship and had nautical themes throughout. The staff wore sailor outfits and the hotel had two channels (in addition to numerous European channels) on their TVs - one channel to announce hotel events and the other channel continuously showing the movie....you guessed it, Titanic. 

A section of the pool system at night

One of the waterfalls

Littlest slide

Sliding down with Daddy

Look of concentration as she swam without assistance...

The thing about all-inclusive resorts is the food. You don't have to go out and eat. You don't have to pay for a taxi and hunt for a restaurant. You can just saunter in from your room, the beach, or pool and just pick up a plate and fill it from the wide variety of dishes laid out for your pleasure. The choices can be overwhelming, but with my celiac limitations, it was only a small range of choices so I had it easier. There are snack bars throughout the pool area and on the beach (ice cream!). All that food was free, free, free! The dessert station at dinnertime would make your eyes pop with its gorgeous presentation and all the varieties. The fruit bar was also amazing - plump, deep red strawberries, delicious watermelon, sour green plums, sweet yellow plums, golden bananas, shiny apples, neatly sliced honeydew, perfect cherries, nectarines, etc. A ate her fill of watermelon day in and day out. I didn't gain any weight last month at my last prenatal checkup but I am positive that I more than made up for that during vacation! Who could resist such a smorgasbord?

A's favorite food: pasta and pasta galore!

There were many other perks like (free) clean beach towels daily, nice lounge chairs and umbrellas, free minibar in our hotel room restocked daily, numerous spa/wellness services (massages, etc), nighttime entertainment, playgrounds and trampolines, hairdressers, shops, etc. We never left the resort; we had plenty to do and see. It was nice not having to cook or clean all week long or do anything half-way serious. I think we all needed this vacation, especially before the baby comes in two months.

Cajoling A to take a picture with Mommy

The only good shot...

As I said previously, all our decision-making pertained to food and whether we wanted the beach or pool that day. We didn't loaf all that much, though, since A kept us busy entertaining her every whim. She was forever running back and forth between the water and our lounge chairs. I was forever hauling my big belly clumsily out of the lounge chair to do something for A. That was a lot of work by itself! :-) I'm only 7 months pregnant but feel much bigger than that -- I enjoyed swimming in the pool as it eased some of the strain and weight of the baby. G was the best husband and father: he endured the chilly pool and sea to swim with A most of the time, trotted back and forth to hotel room and snack bars to fetch drinks or some other item, taking A to the potty most of the time, etc. We had a grand ol' time, though, and thoroughly enjoyed our vacation. It cost a pretty penny to come to the resort but it was worth. every. single. penny. I can say that without regret.

So, here's how you should do vacation: go all-inclusive.

One of our increasingly rare self-portraits as a couple