I'm going in a couple of weeks as you know Sanji I wish we had more posters in here too. It seems as though you, Mike and myself are keeping the CDS forum going all by ourselves. I've run out of things to ask about but you can rest assured I'll have plenty to say on my return.

Come on, apart from Sanji and myself who else is going?

hi there sanji, and shirley,

yes i too have noticed a quiet period on this and the costa dorada threads. I had intended going to salou on 3rd june for 2 weeks, but cancelled. Lost a little money with the deposit, but wasnt happy at all with the smoking ban policy of the " Best " group chain of hotels, one of them I had booked with. things as you will have read have tightened up in main land spain from 2nd January............i have been waiting to read how this is affecting some folks holidays on their return..........I dont think Spain needed this ruling at this financial diff time ...............For myself...........the balance of my intended spend has been spent on a new, up market yamaha keyboard...........the one i have is now 12 years old, and still in good nick so to speak, but wanted a new toy, new buttons/ sounds/ rhythms to play with

In closing i hope that the pair of you and family members have a good holiday

harry

We're going Wednesday 6th April for 3 weeks so I'll keep posting the odd snippet on here.

Weather looking very promising. http://www.eltiempo.es/benalmadena.html

Staying in the Bonanza area.

We went in February Sanji, but there was nothing I needed to know or ask about

In closing I hope that the pair of you and family members have a good holiday

Thanks gentleharry- I'm sure we will

Thanks Harry
Some of you know that I went to Australia for 7 weeks to see my youngest lad and came home (barring 2 rooms) to a wrecked and gutted house caused by a burst pipe, so I've been busy myself and making videos for the Australia forum, and trying to get a conversation going in there, that's like trying to get blood out of a stone too.

If it hadn't been for the house needing all our attention, we would have gone to La Carihuela for our 30th wedding Anniversay on the 11th April...I'm so peed off that we are not going to make it and we'll have to wait until July.
The ciggies have run out too.

Sanji x

Well we are going in June so am sure I'll soon have something to natter about

Hope all's well with the house now Sanji x

I agree it's very quiet on here at the moment......
We're going on 26th April for 4 weeks, to Fuengirola. It will seem like an age until you go away Sanji, as you usually go away in April, and you'll be more than ready for a break with all the sorting out of your house, and I hope you've got it all sorted now and your stress levels are down....
Hopefully we will get out and about more on this visit to Fuegirola than we did last time, as the weather was terrible, it should be better this time of year lol, then I will have something to put on here about our stay.

We are going in early June. Does anyone know the date of the Dia del Pescaito please? So looking forward to going back to la Carihuela.

Good to see you back on the forums Sanji, I love reading your posts. Glad you had a great time in! Oz, sorry to hear about your house hope you are all sorted soon. You will be ready for the rest in la Carihuela in July!

Thanks Susie.

Does anyone know the date of the Dia del Pescaito

It's usually the first or the second Thursday in June, which will be the 2nd or the 9th this year.
It's a bit early to get a confirmed date.
For years we always went to La Carihuela around the 5th-8th June and stayed in the Pez Espada and we dropped on this fiesta, then we started going a bit later in June and dropped on the San Juan fiesta (23/24th June), and now we've ended up going on the 1st July this year because somebody else booked the apartment before me.....boooooo.

Sanji x

Seem to be following you about sanji

We will be back about June 1st for 3 months - hope the weather has improved by then.

Hey guys

I go to Fuengirola 6 weeks on Thursday staying at Las Piramedes - stayed there last October and really liked the location.

We usuall go in April but with it being Easter had to delay it a bit

Am sure it will be just as good and can't wait - 6th year in a row

Just back and heading out again mid-July for family hol... the financial squeeze is certainly becoming more constrictive... tough for the Spanish on the home front and the reduction in visitor numbers thru our own woes doubling the impact on the local economy out there.. also found among the Spanish and Brits, directly dependent on bookings for their livelihood, a deep sense of annoyance and frustration at the continual flagging up in the media here of air traffic strikes that haven't happened but no mention of efforts to prevent these happening... all in all not boding well for a prosperous summer out there... something needs to happen to restore confidence so maybe a bit of drum beating on here will reach the right ears... Ok, we haven't as much dosh to throw around as before but it is still the same coast with the same appeal that attracted us all there in the first place and the same good times we all remember can still be had... better to go and try to make our pound go further than not go at all would be my shout

Thanks Sanji - Any idea when and how I will get a confirmed date please? We are going earlier this year but, for the last two years have been there for the San Juan Fiesta so, it would be nice to catch the Dia del Pescaito this time.

Sunnysusie

can't believe hardly anybody's posting in this thread. I for one will be off to the sunny coast in precisely 4 days Just done the packing. I'm sure I'll have loads to add to this forum on my return.

It's really quiet here at the moment. We took the train from Arroyo to Torremolinos yesterday and walked back along the Paseo. Have done this many times over the years but I have never seen it so quiet. The temperature got up to 28 degrees yesterday but it has been a bit dull today.

Think this thread is a barometer of the economic climate here and there... here's hoping the mercury rises soon

a deep sense of annoyance and frustration at the continual flagging up in the media here of air traffic strikes that haven't happened but no mention of efforts to prevent these happening

Totally agree, and not only the efforts to prevent them happening, but also no in depth reporting in the British tabloids of what exactly is/was the problem, and instead whipping up a headline by the usual 'slap happy' reporting from journalists who wouldn't know the difference between a Valencian Paella and a Paella de Marisco, or have any idea of the employment rules and regulations in Spain.

For example, the Air Traffic Controller's dispute wasn't as black and white, or just about the ridiculous amounts of money some were getting, as was reported in the British Press, there were more far reaching issues involved.......
Issues that had been created in the past by the practices of the Spanish Government themselves, it was a political move, a political move to help sell off AENA and impose a 5% wage cut right across the board, and to achieve this the ATC's were made the scapegoats, but of course it's deemed too political to express a different point of view on these subjects and instead we have the usual dribble bandied around, even in here in the form of 'news bulletins' posted from the 'travel people'.

Then we have the likes of O'Leary forever whinging and threatening someone to feed the publicity he obviously craves, when he would be wise to remember that he wouldn't be able to sell cheap flights and he might be out of business if it were not for the likes of the Spanish and other countries paying his company subsidies.

On a recent survey undertaken by the Post Office and their 'travel barometer' department, putting 10 items into the shopping basket in popular destinations, Spain has achieved the first position for being the cheapest in 2011...and the research in Spain was carried out in the Costa del Sol.

Sanji

I wish, wish, wish that things were better on the CDS but we do need to be realistic about how bad things really are. Overall, the Spanish economy is in crisis with 20% unemployment and that rises to 40% for under 25's. In terms of British tourists then, anyone who knows the area well, and I've been down here for over 10 years, will tell you that things are as bad as ever they were. The number of British tourists is down. The OAP's who come for the winter have all but disappeared as have the families who come in the summer. It might be a cheap place to be, based on a basket of prices, but that doesn't make people come.

Many Spanish places have soldiered on due to the "staycation" of Spaniards and it has to be said, increased visitors from other European countries, but the lack of British tourists has hit the British run bars and apartments very hard. I've lost count of British friends handing in the keys to their bars and workers who no longer can find work and are returning to the UK. Interestingly, many ex-British bars have re-opened with Spanish owners which is not exactly a bad thing and is starting to redress a balance which needed looking at.

I guess this summer will be make or break for many other business owners. Hopefully, things will improve but sadly, there are few signs that they will. I'd really like to talk things up but that won't improve the personal tragedies that people are currently suffering.

Yes, things are a little cheaper when compared to the recent past but with continuing poor exchange rates that negates these efforts and means that the days of cheap living in the sun are long, long gone.