Forward Planning - Don't Look Back!

For next years holiday, I felt that instead of the usual Disneyland Paris/British holiday park route that I’ve inflicted on my family, I’ll take them to a European holiday camp. I’m not big into butlins and the like, in fact, I hate that kind of thing but Kirsty loves it and Elizabeth is at the age where she’ll find it mildly amusing. This is why I’ve been looking abroad, but not too far. Finally I found somewhere that sounded promising. Center Parcs.
I looked into taking the family into a UK Center Parcs last year, but the combined cost for four days in a wooden hut 60 miles from home was actually MORE EXPENSIVE that a break in New York City. So that was the last time I looked at a Center Parcs. Until I thought about Center Parcs Zandvoort.


Zandvoort is about half an hour away from Amsterdam. I was taken there once by one of my Dutch friends and his dad. We spent a great afternoon just walking around sand dunes and drinking coffee. I didn’t have kids then so I never thought of it as a family holiday option.
Surely, Center Parcs Zandvoort isn’t going to be more expensive than rip-off Britain?
Using my pidgin Dutch, I browsed the site to get a quote for a two-bed roomed chalet for a Monday-Friday stay in May 08. The cost? 349 Euros.

Not bad I though, so I went to book only to find my booking was not to be. You could only book if you lived in Holland. I thought about contacting Mark from Amsterdam, but I still feel guilty for being a bit of an idiot to him once, even though he accepted my apology over pizza and soup. It’s a long story, but to be quick, I was in a perma-drunken haze, lonely, and had been single for an AGE. Anyone female who showed me any interest at all I considered as ‘falling in love with me’. I was so out of touch it was embarrassing. Mark was a flat-mate of someone I that I was deluded enough (courtesy of booze and low self esteem) into thinking liked me. (Just think, I've been practically tee-total for four years now!)

Anyway, I digress……………….

At this point, I noticed a ‘booking from other countries’ link, so I suspiciously typed in the same requirements (imagine me with one eyebrow arched, and maybe wearing a fake beard), for the same chalet, for the same week. Result?
799 Euros.
DOUBLE the cost of booking from the Netherlands. Another example of rip-off Britain.

Shame on ‘family firm’ Center Parcs for taking advantage of Rip Off Britain. They can stick their wooden cabins up there Augustus Gloop Vessel (leave a comment if you understand that).

I eventually found a house to rent in Zandvoort, and have book marked it for May next year. And for a lot cheaper than the Dutch booking of Center Parcs. Add to that the fact that you can fly to Amsterdam from Coventry for around £40 return each, and at last Kirsty will get to go on a plane, something she’s been banging on about for quite a while, with the whole week for four of us coming in at just under £350.
Now I’ve got to get my manky arm up and running so I can get back to a bit of graft. Damn NHS Physiotherapists…………….

(Incidentally, Microsoft Word’s spell-check keeps trying to change the above sentence to ‘Manly’ arm. That programme knows me well!)