It was some months ago that I booked a small cottage with private pool in Andalucia, Spain. We had experienced a lot of illness during the early months of the year and were looking forward to this trip. We had never visited mainland Spain so it was exciting in prospect.
Our first holiday this year was Anghistri in Greece and we had not been home long before I received an urgent email to say that the cottage was not available because there was a serious problem with the drains. However, the good news was that a farmhouse owned by the same couple just happened to be available and we were offered it on the same terms. This was arranged and we looked forward to it.
We were due to fly out to Malaga on 5th September to start a fortnight's holiday. It was late afternoon on the Friday that I went into the garage to get some food from the freezer and found the central heating boiler leaking copious amounts of water! We looked at the water and realised we were not going to be able to fly on the Sunday. I asked a neighbour, who was a heating engineer to take a look and he advised that it seemed to be the heat exchanger that was leaking and that this was an expensive repair. However, he recommended us to ring the manufacturers and ask for help.
Help eventually came on the following Monday. It was discovered that the water was emanating from a split flow valve and this was replaced and the boiler generally checked out. Immediately we got on the world wide web and rebooked the holiday to commence Wednesday, 8th September and run for two weeks. The owner of the farmhouse had already advised that the place was vacant after our booking so we knew we could have the same period of time there.
Previously we had spent some time on the phone cancelling our flights, car hire and a night in an airport hotel prior to leaving on the early flight. We also set up a travel insurance claim through our bank.
For some years now we have been booking holidays independently and this time proved the value of working this way. With no package to deal with it is just like changing arrangements for any sort of travel. The cost of the rebooked travelling is also less than the original plan, so we gain once more.
So, today, 7th September we are getting ready to leave for Manchester and a visit to our children and grandchildren in Rochdale. One grandaughter starts at senior school today, so she can share it all with us. Her cousin will be really smiling because I am taking her my desktop PC complete with printer and separate scanner which are components she doesn't have! She even gets a full set of ink cartridges for the printer!
Wish us luck in getting of to Spain on the 7.45am flight tomorrow!
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