ONE LAST VACATION WITH RON – MAJORCA 1999

Summer 1999 found us firmly ensconced in Scotland. I was busy at work, Ange busy with her circle of friends, Deysi busy shepherding us and Ron was enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. Life was good. One day Deysi decides that we needed a family vacation while we were in Europe. Somehow she gets Ron to agree “one last vacation” together, before she no longer wants to be seen associating with us. I was surprised when Deysi announced that we were going to Majorca, Spain. And further, that Ron had agreed to join us. Surprised because she was still pissed at me for not buying her the “rocket fuelled jet dragster” for her daily run to Uni.

In any event plans were made, details worked out, clothes packed and we were off. My contribution, as usual was zero, nada, nothing. All I ever had to do was come home from work, change clothes, load the bags and drive us to the airport. Deysi was, by this time, a wizard at organization! We jumped a charter flight from Edinburgh and a few hours later were plunked down on the Isle of Majorca, off the south coast of Spain. It must be added that this was our first charter group vacation flight. All previous flights were commercial scheduled flights with the “full monty” of services. The girls loved those flights, which provided them with snacks, food, movies, magazines and entertainment options. However, our first charter flight had none of these. We were given a dry “crumpet” on boarding and told to find a seat, sit down and “shut it”.

On arrival in Palma, Majorca we were packed into a shuttle and whisked away to our hotel, a few miles up the coast. It was a lovely hotel Deysi had found, right on the beach, with a huge pool below our room. Aaaaahhhhh! The girls had not changed much over the years. Although they now fancied themselves completely grown up, they still scrambled for their bathing gear and ran screaming to the beach. Let the fun begin. As was always the case, once in the water, Ron would “duck” Ange, hold her until the bubbles stopped and then release her just in time. Of course, Ange would then reward her with an ear piercing, blood curdling shriek, which Ron would silence by dunking her once again. We never worried about where our girls were, you could hear them for miles. If they ever went silent our antennas would pop up.

Like this, we passed the first couple of days, playing in the sand, lounging and making sure we did not let people know we were a “group”. After all, these young adults needed to maintain an image, which did not include adult supervision. Ron quickly made friends, and joined the daily beach water polo event. It seemed that, this afternoon event attracted all of the vacationing college age girls and many of the local beach boys. Ange was still to shy to join, although she was by this time, a great swimmer. Spirits were high and the competition was fierce. They seemed to have a great time. Deysi and I continued our practise of sightseeing and touring. Often we were joined by Ange; but by Ron, not so much. It appeared, that is where she drew the line, for family vacations.

As was usual Deysi had everything planned to the minute and one fine morning announced that we would be going to visit the Caves of the DRAGON. Well the name alone, got mine and Ange’s juices flowing. We piled into our rental car and headed straight east, across the middle of the island. Majorca was beautiful with the centre of the island filled with lush farms and plantations. There was not much traffic which provided for an idyllic drive, in search of the famous caves. I must say, these caves did not disappoint! They were extensive and contained a huge underground lake which we rowed across. Ange and Deysi were quite comfortable in caves and bopped around looking at everything. However, I still had a slight claustrophobic, apprehensive, edgy feeling while underground.

This series of caves had the largest underground lake in any cave system discovered to that time. The lake was big enough to require small row boats in order to cross. There were millions of, needle like, stalagmites hanging from the roof. Once inside, the caves opened to huge vault like rooms, making the feeling less confining. We spent a couple of hours touring this magnificent cave system, ate our lunch, purchased some token souvenirs and then returned across island to our hotel. Deysi and I loved it, Ange loved it less, but was resigned to her fate. Ron, I think, loved it most of all. She was quite happy at poolside with room service bringing her bonbons and fruity drinks.

As is obvious from many of my earlier articles, Deysi and I loved to look at the sights everywhere we went. Majorca was no exception. We spent many hours touring along the coast, while the girls enjoyed there beach time without us. During this time we come across some very interesting sights. It became apparent that some very famous people spent time on the island. Among these we were able to catch sight of Micheal Schumacher’s beach house. It was high on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean and was reputed to have an elevator from the beach up through the cliff rocks, into his house. Apparently there were no stairs for him! During our snooping around we also came across the mansion of Claudia Schiffer, who was a very famous super model. There were many more, but these are the ones I remember.

We spent an idyllic week playing on the beach, eating exotic foods and enjoying our time with both of our girls. As it turned out, this was the last family vacation we had until December of 2015 when the girls joined us for a trip to Peru. Sighhhh! I know everyone will protest and point to our time in Houston, Ron’s wedding in Austin and other times that we were together. However, I’m speaking to real travel vacations! Soon enough though, all good things must come to an end, and return to Scotland we must. The girls had school to attend, Deysi had things to organize and I needed to bring in some funds for her next adventure.