title A Trip to Lloret de Mar, Catalonia, Spain - 27th October 2024 intro Once again Isobel sorts out our annual holiday, and this time it's to Lloret de Mar and the budget-friendly Rosamar Garden Resort hotel. However, when we get there we find that our apartment isn't available on account of some flooding-related incident so we get stuffed into one room with a couple of double beds in it, although the upside of this is that Isobel trades the compensatory offer of an upgrade to full board for a week of free parking in the hotel car park - saving about £12 a day. The other thing we notice when we get there is that the weather's not brilliant, as it's lashing rain when we land and lashes rain the next day when we first head out to explore the nearby area. imgp7064 The long walkway to the terminal imgp7065 Bits of Stansted are curiously empty imgp7066 Isobel and Harry head off to departures imgp7067 Fred roams around imgp7071 We hang out in our usual secret seating area imgp7078 A Ruinair 737 taxis around imgp7089 A 737 is refuelled imgp7104 Stansted's fire-training dummy aircraft imgp7105 The fields of Essex imgp7106 Some amusing tractor tram lines imgp7110 The M11 motorway snakes its way to London imgp7115 A rainbow caused by a polarising filter imgp7131 A solitary cloud balloons up from the cloud deck imgp7133 Somewhere near Barcelona on the Catalan coast imgp7140 Barcelona's El Prat airport imgp7142 The weather doesn't look too promising on landing imgp7147 Fred heads off the plane imgp7149 Glass and tubes in El Prat airport imgp7150 We check the instructions for the car hire imgp7151 Isobel takes photos of existing damage imgp7159 We end up in La Cova bar for a drink imgp7160 Isobel tries to work out the drinks pricing imgp7161 Harry gets some food in from the buffet imgp7163 Some kids are sliding down the handrail imgp7165 Isobel tries out the hotel bar for the only time imgp7166 There's some sort of "entertainment" going on imgp7170 Some boys buy illuminated guff from Mr Goody-goody imgp7171 The view out of our temporary bedroom imgp7173 Fred and Harry wait around near reception imgp7177 Harry looks out at the Mediterranean imgp7179 The wide expanse of the almost-empty beach imgp7180 Fred's got his hoody up as it starts raining imgp7181 Lloret de Mar's seafront strip imgp7182 A leather good shop on the seafront imgp7183 The boys on the main strip in the rain imgp7185 It's raining in Lloret imgp7187 Fred near the hotel entrance imgp7190 Harry looks at legs of Jamón Iberico imgp7191 Isobel and Harry in the local supermarket imgp7192 Fred waits by the fruit and vegetables imgp7195 Harry looks at a closed-down hotel imgp7197 A framed view of the Castell de Lloret imgp7198 Love-locks on a rusty chain imgp7199 The deserted beach of Lloret de Mar imgp7201 Isobel near the fishing boat Jordi imgp7204 Harry's got an umbrella imgp7207 Isobel and Harry looks out over Lloret de Mar imgp7210 Castell de Llloret, actually built in the 1930s imgp7212 The bar is deserted imgp7216 A view over the sea imgp7219 Some dude stands on the rocks imgp7223 Harry hides behind his umbrella imgp7224 Another fishing boat on the seafront imgp7225 Hundreds of stones with messages on imgp7228 Café culture along the seafront imgp7229 The Hotel Rosamar Maritim is papered up for winter imgp7230 A Lloret tat shop imgp7231 Funky Vins graffiti imgp7232 A sewing machine embroiders a name into a teeshirt imgp7233 On the Avenida de Joan Llaverias imgp7234 A creperie dude does his thing imgp7235 A back street "eetcafe" imgp7236 We play Yahtzee in our apartment room