Holiday;Heat;Healing ....

I'm just back from our first holiday abroad since i got ill almost four years ago now , we went to Gran Canaria The Hotel Sandy Beach and i can't praise the staff highly enough , nothing was too much a problem for them .

 And the hotel .......

Beautiful, simply stunning

 And for wheelchair users.. ramp access , wider doors, the option of walk-in shower or bath ; accessible easy to use taps with heat control ; lifts ' I found my stay at the Sandy Beach so relaxing and good for both my emotional wellness and physical being .

The perfect holiday for me and my condition, it was hot , very hot and i was concerned at first about how i would cope with the heat , all in all i was fine although i had two days when i was pretty ill with a touch of heat stroke which was entirely my own fault for sunning too much in one day periods. The heat however was brilliant for my Fibromyalgia condition, my stiffness wasn't so bad and my pain was definitely less intense with only a few occasions when the pain was really bad,  I found that i had a much better tolerance level for sure and i put it down to the heat and the relaxed environment. 

The flight from Glasgow was 4.5hrs , I was concerned about the flight and scared that my pain would increase with the air pressure or seating that had me in the one position for too long , i can't even sit in the car for over 30mins or so before the pain gets to me. The flight was easy with no real problems for me except for the flight times that had us on a late flight out and a late flight back home which meant we didn't get into Glasgow until after 2am, i have been physically washed out since returning home, but i'm hoping for a better day tomorrow which will be my second full day since getting back . The flight itself went by fast, i even managed to doze off a few times :) the seating wasn't cramped and i will be happy to use Jet2 again for sure. so much so that we plan to go back next year.

 This time around we only went for one week as in many ways it was a trial and error situation. Also apart from myself i was worried about our cats, esp our 10month old kitten Keisha, she is so much a mummies cat that i was scared she would pine too much, and Kismet she's 3 , she is so timid and never been away from us since we got her as a kitten from the rescue centre in Fishcross ,  Nr Alloa . 

With this in mind we decided to use a local cat sitting service, 'Animals At Home, THEY WERE BRILLIANT!!! even Kismet took to Steven and that is definitely something :) 
Steven and Gavin took it in turns to visit twice a day to feed the cats , groom and spend time with them. They sent us regular email updates and pics, and they put our minds completely at rest to allow us to enjoy our holiday knowing the cats weren't stressed by being taken away from their own surroundings . We will definitely use them again and Highly Recommend them to anyone who is interested in Cat sitters at home, esp those who have never used such a service before. 

So home now, holiday over, but memories and friendships formed that will last a very long time. The whole experience has just been wonderful for me and broken that circle of 'should we go abroad? what if' .....However i cannot express enough that medical travel insurance is a Must :)

So to all my fellow sufferers i just want to say 'take that risk' have your holiday abroad, or even just go on that short break for the positives that will give you pleasure rather than displeasure are plentiful :)
 Gran Canaria The Sandy Beach Hotel 6/10/14