Rest, relaxation and a bit of rain in Spain COMPLETE 11/10 - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Sunday 11 October – part three: stormy skies, sun, swimming and sangria
We wandered back to the car, getting some photos on the way:
Then we headed back to the villa. There were some quite stormy skies over the mountains inland from Benidorm as we drove:
At one of the toll booths... ... isn’t it amazing what you see on the roads in Spain?
Dave and Barb had invited Geoff and Jan round for coffee and, again as yesterday, as soon as I got in, I changed into my swimming gear and headed into the pool. This time, I was able to do a bit more than yesterday, without getting too tired, which was a step forward. As well as some exercising, I was actually able to swim a few strokes, which I hadn’t felt up to yesterday.
After that, we all sat there chatting and enjoying some snacks and some of the wonderful hazelnut liquor that we’d bought last night. Boy, that stuff is good.
Geoff and Jan headed off after an hour or so and then we sat outside talking, reading and getting some more photos.
The living room The pool area Some of the flowers around the villa Trying to repair their fountain! Lemons – once they ripen! Some of the chopped down palm trees – they had been “trimmed” not long before our arrival
Eventually, the sun went down and it got cooler outside, so we headed in. The evening was spent watching the TV (thank goodness we could get one of the major channels in the UK! ) and having dinner, which consisted of very nice frozen pizza and cake and of course the obligatory sangria. Well, it wouldn’t be a Spanish holiday without sangria, would it?
The weather today was low to mid 80s and very sunny. The best thing today was our wonderful lunch. The worst thing today was what some people were – or should I say weren’t – wearing in Benidorm. Today we tried visiting Benidorm market. And the result was it was fun, but very crowded and not relaxing, because of the threat of pickpockets. The most magical moment today was being able to finally swim, after so many months.
Monday 12 October – part one: a swim with a difference!
We slept much better last night and, as a result, were much later in getting up. It’s always a more promising sign when it’s actually getting light outside when you wake up!
After breakfast, we sat around and worked out what to do today, bearing in mind that it was a national holiday and we didn’t know what – if anything – would be open today. There was certainly no point in driving any great distance, especially if there was the chance that we could turn up and discover that the place we’d come to see was closed. So, instead, the plan was formed to go swimming in the Mediterranean Sea that this entire coast feeds into. Before we headed out anywhere, I grabbed some photos from around the villa:
Looking through the new windows that were only put in a couple of days earlier – still no glass at this stage!
We headed a little further down the coast towards Calpe and found a beautiful, quiet beach called Cala de Fuestra, which only had about half a dozen people on it when we arrived at around 10.30am. It was the perfect place with beautiful blue sea and lovely sands and very few people to have to share it with. Now, I’ve never swum in the Mediterranean before, at least not that I’m aware of. To be honest, I’m not much of a sea swimming person, I’d rather swim at a hotel or apartment and I’d certainly rather not inflict myself half naked on too many people, if I can avoid it.
Therefore, it’s perhaps surprising that, after a couple of shots…
… within a few minutes arriving, I headed into the sea. Oh my goodness, this was a lot colder than I thought it would be! I had been told that it would be much warmer than the swimming pool, but I got a shock when I first stepped in it. It didn’t feel much warmer! : I kept going and, although it was a shock to the system at first, you did quickly get used to it and, once you did, it was absolutely fine.
The next issue was then persuading Mark to come in and join me. He ventured in a little way, still in T-shirt and screwing up his face at every chance he’d got. Yes, he was finding it pretty cold as well. After a lot of moaning, he did get in and, once he did, he loved it. He went out much further in the water than me, mainly because I was still a bit wary of how tired I might get and I didn’t want to be too far, should that happen. And just to prove we were both in the sea...
In total, I guess we swam and floated out there for about half an hour. We found there were distinctly warmer patches, where the sun was obviously catching the sea and warming it up and the water was also very salty. We knew that from the taste of it on our faces and also from the fact that we didn’t have to do too much work to float.
Finally, my body felt that it had had enough and I headed back to the beach, with Mark still bobbing away in the distance out at sea…
Yes, that really is Mark to the left of the shot! Seaweed on the edge of the beach
A few minutes later, he came back and joined the rest of us and we all sat or stood there talking, as we dried off. By now, the sun was a lot stronger than it had been earlier when we first arrived and, soon, despite the factor 50 suntan lotion I had slapped on, I was beginning to feel the burn factor, so we retreated to the shade of the beachside café. We sat there for probably the next hour or so, just enjoying the shade and our soft drinks. We did consider eating here, as the food looked pretty good, but couldn’t see any prices for any of the items marked up, which is never a good sign. Our instincts were right, as when Mark went to pay for the drinks, he discovered that even a sandwich was about €9 (about $13.50). Not the best deal somehow…
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The villa and beautiful flowers look wonderful, as does the un-crowded beach. The 4-course meal you had for under $10 looked amazing--a much better deal than the sandwich on offer at the beach cafe!
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
Just getting caught up...what a wonderful time so far!
Love your meals (and drinks!) Such beautiful photos, too. I think I want a Spanish villa. And I'm so happy you got some swimming in, especially in the Mediterranian. Mark is very brave to swim out that far.
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) and having dinner, which consisted of very nice frozen pizza and cake and of course the obligatory sangria. Well, it wouldn’t be a Spanish holiday without sangria, would it? 
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: I kept going and, although it was a shock to the system at first, you did quickly get used to it and, once you did, it was absolutely fine. 
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