Fairly Odd Fashion: Portugal

Okay so Portugal was such a last minute holiday! We booked it like 2 weeks before hand as we really fancied a hot holiday in the half term, plus it was to celebrate Mia's first birthday and first trip away.

There wasn't much left to book as obviously it was a very popular time to go away, so we found a quiet village in the Algarve. I was so excited to take Mia on her first holiday and also nervous to put her on the plane. We booked with Easy Jet and to fly from Southend Airport as it was much closer so easier with Mia, however the holiday started out as a disaster. When we got to the airport we looked at the screen and saw everyone's worst nightmare: "Flight Cancelled." We were devastated and of course couldn't believe it, along with the rest of the other families who were just left stranded.

It was Easy Jet's fault yet they sent no member of their team down to explain to us what had happened. They explained there would be no other alternative flights from any airport that day to go to Faro Airport, Portugal. In fact this was a Sunday, and this man explained there would be no flights until Wednesday! We were due to fly home Thursday! This left us heartbroken and just furious for answers, as you could imagine. In the end, after having to travel to Southend, Stansted and Gatwick Airport, we were finally on a plane to Portugal! Not just a plane, we ended up with first class ironically! However we had been up since 3AM for our early flight and by the time we got to the apartment, we had missed a whole day, as it was around midnight. We were exhausted but glad to finally be there. Luckily, Mia was so good throughout this whole day of unexpected travelling, otherwise we probably would have given up! Cut a long story short, Easy Jet promised they would pay whatever the cost it took to get to Faro Airport as we confirmed with them 3 times before booking the last flights there were from the UK with British Airways. However, now we are back, of course they have come back on their word and we are awaiting the payments back. This will clearly be a long process as they do not reply to any emails and every time you ring them they say something different and are just ridiculous communicators. Every time they promise to email/call back they never do! I have flown with Easy Jet quite a few times and never seemed to have any problems, but now I know how unreliable and unhelpful they are in a bad situation, I will not be flying with them again! They did ruin the whole beginning and atmosphere of our holiday but we didn't let them stop us having fun.

Now to bore you with my holiday pictures. But seriously Portugal is lovely and very family friendly.