Family Holiday in Albufeira: Nine Seats, One Empty Pool

It’s 7am. I’m on the sofa of an Airbnb in Portugal and Reuben, all two years of him, is asleep against my leg. A bad dream woke him a few hours ago. Kathy took the sofa shift first, but I’d been tossing and turning anyway and sleep wasn’t coming back, so we swapped. She got the bed. I got a sleeping toddler and a laptop. That’s where our family holiday in Albufeira has landed me: eight of us in a nine-seater van, a pool with no water in it, and back home, the motorhome getting new brakes.

So I’m using the quiet to write this, and to chip away at the website and the new side hustle. More on that later.

Why Albufeira

This trip was about family. Kathy’s brother John lives in Australia with his wife Paula and their son Taloh. Paula’s family are originally from Portugal and were over visiting, so rather than wait for the next time they’re in our half of the world, we came down to meet them for a few days.

When I say “we”, I mean:

• Me and Kathy
• Gemma and her partner Dylan
• Their two boys, Reuben (2) and Darragh
• Michelle, Kathy’s sister
• Veronica, Kathy’s mum

Rebecca was meant to come too. Then her course started back after the summer and she decided her education was more important. Very mature. Very sensible. It also meant an empty seat next to me on the plane, so I’d like to formally thank the education system.

Nine Seats, Eight Passengers

We hired a nine-seater van, which sounds like plenty of room until you realise you’ve basically started a taxi firm.

Most days have looked something like this:

• Hotel to hotel
• Up to John and Paula’s
• Over to collect Michelle, who’s in a different hotel from everyone else
• Off to whichever restaurant we’d booked
• Back again

I live in a motorhome. I thought I’d left the school run behind years ago.

The Pool That Wasn’t

The complex we’re staying in picked this week to do maintenance on the pool. So it isn’t a pool. It’s a blue hole in the ground. A deep one.

I was annoyed about it for about a day. Then I spent some time watching Reuben. He’s two. He has no survival instincts whatsoever, and he’d have launched himself into a full pool at the first opportunity and every opportunity after that.

So maybe it was a blessing. I’m choosing to believe it was a blessing.

Darragh, meanwhile, has had the best deal in the building: a cot we paid extra for, parked right next to his mum and dad.

The Food, Honestly

The biggest let down of the trip has been the food. Not one bad meal, a run of them.

One stands out. A Grelha do Ti-Manel in Albufeira gets plenty of love online, with lots of people calling it a place worth going back to. I wrote my Google review before we’d even left the table, just so I wouldn’t forget anything:

• My grilled ribeye: very dry
• Kathy’s grilled chicken: also very dry
• Drinks: one round offered, nearly 30 minutes after we sat down, and nothing after that. No top ups, no second offer
• The unused wine glasses that had been in the way all night: finally cleared as we were getting up to leave

I’m someone who likes leaving money on the table on a night out. They made that very difficult.

I don’t know why so many people rate it. I simply don’t see it.

Meanwhile, Back in Greysteel

While we’ve been away, the van’s been with Alex in Greysteel for its service. We always time the servicing around trips away, so the van’s in the garage while we’re not in it.

Alex doesn’t advertise. He doesn’t need to. A fella put me onto him a few years back when I still had the VW T4, and I’ve been sending friends his way ever since.

He rang to say the service was done, but he’d had a look around beyond the job sheet and a few things didn’t sit right with him. The big one was the brakes. The discs need replacing.

The van passed its MOT recently without a single issue. Brakes. On an MOT. You’d think they’d be fairly high on the list. There’s always something those lads miss, and this is exactly why you want a mechanic who looks past what he’s being paid to look at.

He asked if I was happy for him to go ahead with the discs. I was very happy.

What’s Next

We fly home tomorrow. I’ve a few bits of day job to tidy up, then we’re off to Benone on Thursday night, and back into Derry on Friday for my work’s leaving drinks.

Yup. Told ya. Things are changing, big time.

Which is why the side hustles matter more than ever. AI Automation Solutions is the new one, and it’s what I’m building on this sofa while a two-year-old snores into my ribs.

There’s also a new media empire to build for Kathy. Her book is close to launching, and there’s a podcast on the way too. The names are still under wraps for now, but even Rebecca (18) is getting involved. More on that soon.

Then Tunisia

After a short spell back in Northern Ireland, we’re off to Tunisia for a week of actual rest. This nine days has been lovely, but it’s been hectic.

Kathy’s cousin Lisa, who made an appearance in the Benone post, is coming with her husband Gerry and their daughter Kelly (23).

Kelly came with us to Greece for Kathy’s 50th, after Gerry got his holiday dates wrong and couldn’t make it. She stepped in, and apparently she liked our chill vibes, because she wasn’t for missing this one.

Our chill vibes, for the record, look like this:

• Morning strolls to little coffee shops
• Perching ourselves for some hardcore people watching
• Kathy having a long sleep in, because Kathy is NOT a morning person

Speaking of mornings, Reuben’s stirring. Kathy won’t be up for hours. Laptop’s closing.