Zante 2013 - Day 1

Our 2013 summer holiday took us to the beautiful Greek Island of Zante to an all inclusive resort in Tsivili called Planos Bay. The two boys had been eagerly counting down the days to their holiday with great excitement. They have become accustomed to travelling at ridiculous hours of the day which often meant waking up at the crack of dawn and getting carried to the car and then the airport still wearing their pyjamas. However for this holiday we actually had sensible flight times which departed from Gatwick North in the early afternoon.

 

Brandon in Gatwick North posing with an Audi R8.

In the airport we passed the time by having a bite to eat and watching the aeroplanes taking off and landing. Both Joshua and Brandon were full of questions and quickly picked up on the paint jobs of the main airlines, such as Easy Jet and BA.  

My little plane spotters in action.

We eventually boarded our Boeing 737 for the 3 hour flights to Zante Airport. Tina had treated the boys to a pair of Superman earphones so that they could entertain themselves with their Innotabs without disturbing everyone else on board. Unfortunately the plan backfired as the other 200+ passengers on board were treated to Joshua and Brandon singing at the top of their voices without realising everyone else could hear them!

Superman earphones hooked up to their Innotabs.

And Joshua singing at the top of his voice!

A very cheeky chappy who claimed the window seat on the route out.

Once we landed we were instantly hit with 30+ degree temperatures and very high humidity even at 7pm in the evening. We managed to get our cases pretty quickly and then got onto a nice air conditioned coach for the 20-30 min transfer to our hotel. I have to say my initial impression of the resort was not overwhelming, but then we were all a bit tired, hot, bothered and hungry. However my initial impressions were to be proven wrong as the resort was fantastic and very family friendly. 

Night view of the main hotel pool.

After checking into our room (number 206 as the boys soon learnt) we had an hour to get down to the restaurant (or cafe as the boys called it) to grab a quick bite to eat. The variety of food available in the restaurant was excellent and both Joshua and Brandon loved having the Independence to go and choose their own food and drink. All inclusive really comes into its own when little ones are involved. After dinner we watched a bit of the kids mini disco and then all four of us turned in for a good nights sleep.

Brandon sound asleep after a long day travelling. This was about the only occasion he wore his Spiderman pyjamas as he adopted this as a settling cloth for the rest of the holiday.

Joshua sound asleep with his favourite teddies, his Lion and his musical giraffe he has had since he was born.

Apart from our ac not working on the first night the only other hiccup was that half way through the night Brandon rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a bump. There was a small outcry but then he was so tired he would have stayed there sleeping had it not been for us hearing him from the room next door and going to make sure he was OK.

 

Read more tomorrow as we explore the hotel, the pool, the water park and take a nice walk along the beach.