W L
TRAVEL
GRAB A LAST-MINUTE BARGAIN
By Nicola Palmer, Perfect Getaways
I have literally just landed from a short break to Turkey with
the family, where the weather reached up to 42 degrees at its
hottest and the experience was amazing. We booked it as a lastminute
package holiday through Jet2 Holidays who Perfect
Getaways are a preferred partner with. As well as wanting to
get away and enjoy some sun, I also wanted to experience firsthand
how safety is playing a key role whilst also ensuring the
holiday experience isn’t affected. We chose Turkey as the prices
are currently amazing (our holiday cost less than half the price
for the same dates next year) and it has an airbridge agreement
with the UK so no quarantine is required.
Our flight was scheduled for 11.30am from Manchester Airport
with Jet2 on Thursday 6th August. We arranged a taxi to take us
to the airport for 7.30am so arrived with plenty of time to spare
as normal. You are required to wear a face mask once inside the
airport terminal apart from when you are eating or drinking
although our two children didn’t have to put them on as Under
11’s are exempt – although they chose to a lot of the time because
they thought they looked like bandits! We were straight to the
front at check-in as there were no queues and then literally walked
straight through security with the whole process taking less
than 10 minutes. Once through security most shops were open
in Manchester airport and the main bar was open. It was tableservice
only, however, it was easy to get a table and then we could
just relax after ordering rather than the usual queueing. Because
it was so quick we had nearly three hours to kill before our plane
took off.
The plane was pretty much full apart from a few empty spaces and
all passengers were asked to wear a face mask apart from when
eating or drinking. The only other restriction was being asked not
to stand up and queue for the toilets but, rather, wait until free
before going. It was a normal service from the cabin crew with all
food and drinks being served and the usual duty free etc. When
we arrived in Turkey it was literally straight through passport
control whilst handing in an entry form that I had filled in before
departing.
We stayed at the Adalya Elite Resort in Lara Beach which is in the
Antalya area of Turkey. First impressions when we arrived was that
it was spotless. All of our cases were sprayed with a disinfectant
before being taken to our rooms and we had a quick temperature
check whilst checking-in at reception. Once in the hotel grounds,
there were no restrictions requiring us to wear face masks either
inside or outside the hotel so you could enjoy yourself as normal.
There were lots of hand sanitisers across the hotel and you were
asked to keep 1.5 metres from people not in your party.
All of the food restaurants and cafes throughout the hotel were
open as normal with the only big difference being that it was no
longer self-serve. There were plenty of staff to help you find a table
and get you a drink and then there were staff serving at every
food point. To me it made for a better experience and queuing
times were far lower than what you would normally expect.
Staff constantly disinfected any area where a guest had been and
displayed a green sign at all tables showing it had been disinfected
after previous use.
The hotel we were staying at had lots of facilities and all of them
were open. The sunbeds around the pool were spaced out slightly
more than normal but this was compensated by the fact that the
capacity of the hotel had been reduced from 2,000 to 1,500 guests
meaning that it was at 75% capacity and there was plenty for
everyone. All of the pools were open, as were the water slides and
the wave pool.
We went out into the town on a couple of occasions and all the
shops, bars and restaurants were open and all implementing the
same safety restrictions whilst not impeding on the experience.
We bought lots of football kits for the kids as well as t-shirts, bags
etc. You are currently getting 10 Turkish Lira to the pound so
there were bargains a plenty.
All in all the whole family had a great time. I spoke to lots of
people whilst there and everybody spoke positively about the
holiday and found it a better experience than normal. Everybody
raved at the savings they were getting on booking a last-minute
holiday and a lot of people had upgraded to a better hotel simply
because it was so cheap.
We posted a daily video and update on our Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/perfectgetaways and plenty of people
followed the videos which gave them the confidence they needed
to book their much-deserved holiday.
To book your holiday, call Perfect Getaways on 0333 555 2223.
54 wirrallife.com