My First Ever Business Trip

 

Since leaving school last July and joining what everybody calls 'the big world', I've had the chance to experience many new things, one of these being travelling by myself and visiting new places.

A few months ago I was told that I would be going on a training course. I then learnt that this would be in Nottingham, which is about 3 hours away from my hometown and a 360 mile round trip.

Immediately I was excited by the prospect of getting out of my town for a few days, it didn't seem real that I was going to be leaving all by myself. Then I did get a little nervous, especially because I would be driving the furthest I had ever driven on my own and would be driving on a motorway for the first time in my life. Added to this I would be driving to a place I had never been before, relying on only a sat nav and my own brain to get where I needed to go. I also knew that I would be facing even more traffic than I was used to and I later learnt that Nottingham is basically one huge one way system, which is not good for someone who got lost a few times! I would also be staying in an unfamiliar hotel with no-one I knew and in a room all alone for the first time ever.

 

The night before I left I packed my suitcase which was a task and a half as I packed way too much 'just in case I needed it.' The next day with my car checked over and with Bastille's new album to keep me company I set off. Once I had gone past all the familiar towns near me it was a bit like 'wow, I'm actually doing this all by myself.' I still believe to this day that it was a huge moment for me, and since then it has given me so much confidence and self belief.
Anyway, so I got about 10 miles away from Nottingham and suddenly my sat nav didn't recognise any of the roads and basically broke down on me. This was probably the most stressful thing that happened to me and it was all because the roads had been changed and the sat nav hadn't been updated to recognise them!
 At this point it was getting dark and I had no idea where I was, but I tried to keep calm and asked a lovely taxi driver at a fuel station for directions. When I hit the centre of Nottingham, the route was still not recognised so I had to stop some poor strangers in the street and ask them too. Luckily they were happy to help and I was so relived when I found the hotel at which I was staying.
  After I had checked in, I was overjoyed once I was inside my room. It was just what I needed after the three hour journey and I wasted no time in looking around, checking out the facilities. By this time it was nearly 6pm so after phoning my mum and dad I went down to the restaurant for dinner and had the most amazing burger followed by a chocolate dessert trio which was heaven!

Once I returned from dinner I unpacked a few of my things. I think the most surprising thing for me was how quiet everything was. At home I'm used to everyone talking and my music is usually blaring but here there was none of that. I think I turned the TV on purely because I needed to hear some noise, not because I particularly wanted to watch something.
 I loved the little features which were in the room, the chair near the window and the table where I sat and made myself a lovely cup of tea.

However, I did notice that the particular hotel I stayed at was rather fond of mirrors, there must have been at least 7 in my room, which compared to the two I have in my own room was really weird.
 That night after having the luxury of choosing between a soft or hard pillow, I slept really well. The bed was so comfortable and I didn't want to get out of it!
  After attending the first day of my course (which I got very lost going to because the sat nav was still not helpful and I ended up asking the loveliest man in Tesco, who even got the map up on his phone for me and wrote down directions!) I was exhausted and after dinner I seem to remember watching a Champions League game and then going straight to bed.
  The next day was quite strange as I checked out in the morning as after the course finished that second day I went straight from there to back home.
  Leaving Nottingham was a bit easier than arriving, and I managed to find my own way home in the dark, rain and fog with no sat nav and no other directions from anyone. Although I ended up driving a completely different way home, (primarily on the busiest motorway I had ever been on, the M1) I was so happy when I saw places and roads I recognised.

Since that, I've been back to Nottingham on another course and I'm happy to report that I didn't get half as lost as the first time. This was partly due to the fact I did recognise some parts and mainly because I took 2 sat navs and my iphone navigation system!
  The only thing I would change about my two trips there would be that I wish I had more time to explore the city. Aside from the road to the hotel, I didn't see very much and so I'd like to go back in my own time to see what the place has to offer.
  I am so happy that I stepped outside my comfort zone and did something which I had never done before. I learnt a lot about myself during that time and it has made me thing more about the bigger picture. The scariest thing I learnt whilst away was actually how big the world is, even though I had only gone 300 miles away, it really is a big shock when you live in a small town where everyone knows everybody. I only saw a small part of the city, yet it was probably bigger than the whole town I live in, it is crazy.

I learnt that I'm also not ready to leave my hometown just yet. Probably unsurprisingly, a lot of people where I live always say they cannot wait to get out of 'this town' or 'this dead-end town.' However, they have never actually left and I would say be careful what you wish for because like myself, you may learn that actually the place in which you live is better than you think. You may also find that you're not ready to leave and then start to appreciate the little things in life such as not having to use a sat nav every time you want to go out or even just not having to sit in queues of traffic every morning.

Majorca 2013: Part 2

The view from our hotel, looking down over the pool and sea

Once we had arrived in Palma, we quickly made our way to the baggage reclaim section of the airport and waited whilst our bags were put on the conveyor belt. Typically our bags were one of the last to come out, but we managed to find all of them. We then had to find our coach to transfer us to the hotel. 

  After a lengthy journey I think we finally got to the hotel at 4pm local time. We then checked in and collected our wrist bands from reception, which were a good indication to how tanned we were by the end of the holiday. By this time I had been awake for nearly 30 hours and so we were pretty tired! Luckily we were on the fifth floor instead of the ninth!

The view from the fifth floor lobby

 The location in which we stayed was beautiful. The views were amazing and really relaxing. We walked along the cliffs to the beach a few times and this was when I took the majority of these images. They are mostly taken during the evening too, which shows just how beautiful the place was. 

The main swimming pool in our hotel

 We spent most days just chilling out near the pool or the beach and it was just lovely to not have to think about all the stress and worries at home or during normal life. It was a chance to just relax and enjoy our time away for a week. 
  The main swimming pool was always busy and we often watched people wait around the pool at 8am waiting for the man to unlock the sunbeds. After about 10 minutes the pool would be packed full of occupied sunbeds and towels.

View from the hotel grounds of the cliffs and walkway 

 We also spent some time walking to the little shopping centre about 10 minutes away from the resort and brought souvenirs and trinkets which you wouldn't buy at home. I think most of us came away with sunglasses and t-shirts, a total novelty shopping trip!

Flowers found in the hotel grounds

 As well as the amazing views and scenery within the resort, there was also a wide variety of beautiful flowers and plants. There was a tree with lots of roots growing from it's trunk and hanging from the branches as well as some gorgeous flowers such as the ones above. 

Views from the hotel grounds

On our last evening at the hotel, a few of us went out to get some last photos of the island and we realised how much we were going to miss our holiday and how we did not want to leave. The scenery here was a complete contrast to the views that we are used to at home. 

Views from the cliff-tops near the beach

 I love this image taken near the beach. Although it looks like a panoramic shot, it is indeed just a single shot and the way the land is shaped makes it look like a panorama. The beach itself was beautifully sandy and the sea was so clear and blue, a complete change from the sea and beach in our home town. One day we enjoyed pizza on the beach, played bat and ball in the sea and some of us even explored some of the coves.

The swimming pool which we regularly went to

 Although the main pool in the resort was always packed, the hotel had many other pools which guests could enjoy. On our first night we discovered the pool pictured above, which was located near the second of our two rooms. This was also our usual sunbathing spot and we found that you could always get a sun bed at this pool whenever you went down to it. One day the entertainment team brought down a water carpet and allowed the adults to attempt to run across it which was extremely funny to watch!

The entertainment team performing their rendition of 'Grease'

 In the evenings we typically went down to watch the entertainment. Whilst we were there we watched a circus act, played bingo, watched the entertainment teams interpretations of 'Mamma Mia' and 'Grease' and some of us were even forced to participate in the children's disco! The entertainment team there works extremely hard and are thoroughly entertaining, making sure that everybody gets involved and they happily chat to you whenever you see them.

The main pool at night

Sunrise on the last morning

 We awoke on the morning that we left at about 6am because we were being picked up at 8.40. We had time to finalise our packing and take a few more photos and it was amazing to see the sun come up over the horizon. The photos do not do justice to how red the sky and sun was when they first appeared. We knew that it was likely to be hot that day, and knew we wouldn't be experiencing any of it.

The sun rising on our last morning

We left our hotel, boarded the plane and soon arrived back in England. It's been nearly a month since we went now and it was one of the best holidays I have been on. Not only did I get to experience a beautiful resort and island, but I also got to spend it with my closest friends that I will not necessarily see all the time next year. Going on holiday was one of the best decisions that we made and I would do anything to go again because it was truly a brilliant week. 

Oh and if you're wondering what happened to that group of lads that went to Magaluf... On the flight home one of them was sick, and they said that they 'were never going to Magaluf again' because 'it was a total sausage fest' according to them. Sounds like they had a brilliant time!

Part 1: http://tammypenton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/majorca-2013-part-1.html

Majorca 2013: Part 1

I love travelling and visiting new countries so when it was suggested that i should go on my first ever girl's holiday with my closest friends I was so excited!
   All seven (yes, 7!) of us piled into our local Thomas Cook and spend hours deciding on the perfect holiday. For us it would be our first holiday abroad without our parents and at the time it felt very surreal because all I had ever known was packing my suitcase and going. For the first time we were responsible for everything to do with the holiday, from booking it and packing to arranging transport to the airport and the best thing was we could go anywhere in the world that we wanted.
  Immediately we all agreed that we wanted to go somewhere hot and sunny, to have a break from the typical British summer. It was a cold January's day when we crammed into the travel agents and the thought of sun opposed to the snow outside was amazing. Although we decided sun and preferably sea were essential, we knew that we did not want to or had the money to spend fortunes, so we were looking for a reasonable deal. 
  After considering a number of countries and islands we set ourselves on going to a hotel on the East coast of Majorca, a mere two hour flight time away. 
  From the start of our planning, we all decided that more than anything we wanted a relaxing holiday and although we wanted the opportunity to go out if we wanted to, we didn't want it to be the focus of our holiday. For this reason we avoided the notorious Magaluf and went to a resort called Callas De Mallorca. 
  The best thing was that none of us had been to the resort before or even Majorca which meant that it would be new and exciting for everybody. There was even people in our group that had never been on a plane or abroad before! 
  We also knew straight from the start that we did not want to be buying or cooking food every single night that we were away, although we wanted the option to eat out for a couple of nights at restaurants if we wanted to. Therefore we found an all inclusive option at a resort which consisted of three hotels and although we were warned of a potentially long transfer time, we booked our holiday.
  Then the countdown began. At first I found that the weeks and months were going by so slowly and our holiday seemed ages away. However, once the holiday got closer and I realised that we only had 100 days until we flew the days started to go by quicker. By the time that it was one week until our holiday I had barely brought new holiday clothes and sorted out my travel insurance.
  It was a strange sensation knowing that you would be leaving the country, yet all of your family members would be left behind. I think the whole experience has made me realise that I am growing up quickly and that I am going to be doing more and more things without my family around all the time. But more than anything I was excited, and I was ready to see a new island. 

As our flight was scheduled to leave Gatwick airport at 8.20am, we knew that we needed to be at the airport for 6am at the latest. It took us about 2-2.5 hours to get the airport from our home so we were leaving our small town at 3am, whilst everybody else was still sleeping. Luckily for us, there were no accidents or delays on any of the motorways or roads that we travelled on so this made our journey much more enjoyable. None of us had been to sleep either, and in fact I was still putting last minute items into my suitcase at 10pm! High on excitement, we arrived at the drop off point and said goodbye to both my dad and my friend's dad and we went up the lift to the main terminal. At this point the fact that we were leaving still didn't feel real, although now we were alone in one of the country's biggest airport. 
   Overall our journey to Majorca was fairly straightforward, we checked in with no problems and all our suitcases were underweight, we boarded the plane without problems and there was no delay in our flight. So far so good. The only problem we had with the plane was that 4 of us were sitting in row 32 and the other three were sitting in row 7 so we couldn't really speak to them much, if at all.

  The flight itself to Palma was rather interesting. Behind us we had several rows of boys going on a lads holiday to Magaluf and so the whole journey there they were singing 'Maga Maga Magaluf Magaluf' which after about 3 minutes got rather annoying. Directly behind me was a family obviously not travelling to Magaluf with a young girl who decided to throw the Monarch seat cover type thing onto my head, which admittedly was rather funny.
  Not to be left out, the other three in our group also travelled near groups of lads going on a holiday to Magaluf. However instead of the singing, they decided to congratulate our pilot Alistair when he successfully landed our plane and then proceeded to give him a round of applause. Brilliant. 

At around 11.30 local time we landed at Palma airport. As we were coming into the airport it almost feels as though you are going to be landing in the sea because of how close you are to the ground when you come across the island and you are slightly shocked when you realise that you are actually going to be landing on the ground. 

  We walked off the plane, with the sudden heat hitting us, knowing this is the place we would call home for the next week...