Worldwide vacation Spots

We are only two weeks back from our vacation in Thailand, and we haven’t really stopped thinking about next year.

As our children[2] are in secondary education at a private school funds are limited, so we have decided to book a villa in Spain preferably on a golf course.

Sounds simple, but goodness me, what a struggle we have been having. It seems that OwnersDirect.com have the most comprehensive choice of accommodation, and so we have spent hours on either side of our dining room table, poring over our laptops, trying to find something suitable.

Initially our thoughts were to look at places like La Manga, preferably front line to one of the golf courses. The reason for this, and we have looked at other golf urbanisations, is one of security.

Three of us play golf enthusiastically whilst our teenage daughter would rather lie by a pool and read. We wouldn’t feel safe if we left her somewhere remote, so that was our first restriction on where we booked.

The other challenge we have faced is the size of the villa, tied in with costs. We don’t really want to spend more than £2800 for 2 weeks, but it will be in July, and we want a four bedroom villa. The number of bedrooms is more to ensure a larger villa, than if it were three bedrooms. By that I mean there is normally more living accommodation, more chairs, more glasses, and just more space.

We have been using Google Earth to try to locate villas we liked, and that created a problem as well. I hadn’t realised that some of the views were over four years old, and as many of the golf complexes in Spain are still work in progress with new villas, new courses springing up, the views we got were inaccurate to say the least.

This in turn brings me to our next set of problems using Owners Direct and that is the fact that not all of the owners are totally honest in the description of their property. As I said previously we wanted to overlook a golf course, and one villa we really liked looked terrific and the views fantastic. When the owner was asked which of the villas in the photo was his, he sent more photos. after about four emails he finally admitted his villa wasn’t golf course frontage but in a street behind villas that were.

Google Earth made us realise that villas on a golf course complex were somewhat similar to living in the suburbs of London.
Street after street of almost identical villas, indeed almost my vision of hell, to live cheek by jowel with people on holiday.

As you can gather we were having great difficulty taking all things together, and Google Earth was about the last straw. I was very disappointed when we saw all the villas lined up together. I don’t know about you, but my idea of a Spanish Villa, is a view, local bars nearby, and at least 50 metres to the nearest villa. Not only that, but a garden where you can stretch your legs, lie under some trees, and of course a decent sized pool with a built in old fashioned BBQ.

The tall and the short of it was to keep looking because the other very irritating thing about Owners Direct is you cannot book through their website, you have to contact the owners. This proved difficult, and at least one promising villa was lost because our dates had already been taken although the website indicated availability.

Faint yet pursuing we enlarged our net and began looking for a secure villa close to golf, and we have finally been successful. Not a villa but an old farmhouse. Not on an urbanisation, how I hate that word!

It is five minutes from a golf club, completely surrounded by a fence, and a secure gate, with local bars a few minutes away, and views of the hills. Additionally a large garden with fruit trees to pick, the four bedrooms, and a large swimming pool, all at £2600 so within budget.

If there is a moral to this tale then it is to keep searching, and widen your parameters.

We are very pleased with our choice, and I will keep you posted about how we will travel to the south of Spain in the most economic and comfortable manner as the time gets closer.

Ian