We finally did the Bladerunner after having lived here for almost six years! It was well worth the wait!

We booked the trip for 2pm on a Sunday so we had time for some brekkie at The Scotsman and a few drinks to calm the nerves!

We arrived at the bladerunner kiosk about half an hour before the trip. The kiosk is situated in fron of the Sol Wavehouse on Magaluf beach. We were given our life jackets and were able to put our belongings into a dry bag to be taken onto the boat. We left our flip flops at the kiosk and headed out along the jetty to the boat.

We left the shore slowly past the boats etc in the beach then the boat picked up speed and we crashed along the waves. The waves crashed over the side of the boat and soaked us but it was a good laugh and the loud music was great too.

We stopped in the cove of Portals Vells which did have a few boats in at the time, maybe on a week day there might not be so many. We were given some refreshing drinks and were able to get into the gorgeous clear water to cool off and use the snorkel masks and the paddle boards. There was also the chance to swim along to the nearby caves for a look around.

About an hour later it was all back onto the boat for the trip back, again seeding over the waves and getting soaked at the water splashed over the side of the boat.

The staff on the boat and at the kiosk were brilliant and everyone felt very safe. There is no alcohol allowed on the boat anymore so it was soft drinks and non alcoholic beer for the refreshments. There were seats for 12 on the boat and we all laughed and chatted with each other on the trip.

All in all a great few hours on the water!

Something we wrote in August last year, just a little insight into our summer.

For the most part, living in this community is much like living in a little village. People will know your business and the old saying still stands.. ‘of you fart in magaluff, you’ve shit yourself by the time it gets to son caliu!’

Winters are great because you catch up with everyone and socialise with people properly instead of being so tired and fed up. Okay there aren’t many places open and its usually only the weekend you go out but thats what makes living amongst tourists in the summer that bit more bearable!

I have nothing against tourists. At the end of the day they are what i go to work for and the reason i live where i live! However, of course, i get frustrated when i cant get on the bus to go to work because its stuffed full like a can of sardines, or i cant walk down the street without being surrounded by people with a million bags and all the inflatables!

There are also the bad parts of magaluff which everyone knows about, mostly only what the media tells you.

You might be shocked to learn that the lookie lookie men and ‘prostitutes’ don’t distinguish between tourists and residents, every other day you will hear a story from a worker/resident having everything stolen, including their wages, on their way home from work. Most places pay in cash here, which these leeches know all too well. They will watch for the right time when you have your weeks wages, and take them from you. And what can you do about that? Absolutely nothing. You have to live on handouts from friends, hope your employer will feed you and that your landlord will understand.

However Thats another good thing, everyone looks out for each other here. If you need something there will always always be someone to help, all you need to do is ask.

As residents we are very protective of our community and its hard when there are reports every other week about how people shouldn’t come here because its dangerous. I, personally, generally feel safer here than in newcastle city centre. I know which ways to walk when its dark and i always have my wits about me. But this would be the same if i was still in the uk. So, when you come on holiday, please don’t leave your sense of safety at home.

You can have such a great time and see some amazing places on this beautiful island. Its not all about ‘the strip’ and drinking till you cant stand up. Although, if thats what you want to do, theres plenty places that will help you out! But if you do this, please don’t complain and slate our community when the shit hits the fan.

Remember, if you wouldn’t do it in England, don’t do it here!

Stay safe and stick together. Don’t let friends wander off, make sure you know how to get back to your hotel. Don’t walk along the beach at 3am. Drink plenty water and eat all the food!!

But most of all, enjoy it, after all, you’re the reason we’re all working hard this summer and we want it to continue as long as possible!!

Evening everyone!

Now we’re into the second day of our countries lock down, here’s the low down on what its been like up to now.

Residents in our country seem to be adhering to the rules which have been set out by the government over the weekend.

Basically we are all to stay within the confines of our own homes, no visitors allowed.

We are allowed to leave to go and pick up any shopping; most supermarkets are open and are now implementing measures to ensure people are sensible. We know from personal experience that our local Aldi is asking customers to put on a pair of gloves when entering the store, they only let a certain number of people in at a time and its on a one in one out basis. The shelves appear to be stocked properly and in the morning there is plenty to go around. Some of the smaller independent shops are also open. We are allowed to go to the chemist as well, incase we are feeling unwell and need medication.

We are told we can go to work, but if working from home is an option, employers need to help facilitate this. The reality is a lot of places of work around here weren’t open yet, therefore people are still claiming their paro or ayuda benefit as per the normal winter procedure. Unfortunately many of our restaurants and bars where people work, were due to open within the next two weeks, meaning this is put back without a perspective date for opening. This is a scary prospect but we all remain optimistic for at least an early May start of the season rather than the usual end of March.

Public transport is still running but as mentioned, if you haven’t got to make a super urgent journey or go to work then you shouldn’t be on the bus anyway.

With regards to visitors to the island, as I am writing this we have been told that from this evening, no one apart from residents of the country will be allowed to enter. How long this will last we don’t know, and unfortunately this means that our summer is of course, uncertain. However we do remain as positive as we can of the summer opening. We have a good two months until the season does officially usually start so we have some time to get this all worked out.

We really hope we will see the summer season start as soon as possible. In the meantime we will keep you up to date and let you know when and who is open as soon as possible!

DG

The Summer is well and truly upon us now, and we’ve been taking some photos to show you how beautiful this island is.

These were taken at 6am on a weekday morning, it’s Palmanova Beach, and that’s the sun just breaking the surface of the sea. Absolutely beautiful and such a peaceful sight. Listening to the birds tweeting and there wasn’t a person in sight apart from the odd resident taking their dog for a walk.

We are so lucky to be able to live and work here!

We haven’t posted anything for a while but we are working on content today and have lots of lovely places to tell you about. Stay Tuned!!

Now that Mallorca have been given the green light from the UK government, we are updating our posts to reflet any changes that have happened over the last 18 months. Be sure to check out the most up to date government advice for travelling to and from Spain by clicking here.

Many of you may be on the fence about spending your summer holidays in Mallorca. So we’ve taken a little bit of the leg work out of it for you!

Here is some flight and hotel information to get you started.

As you know from our ‘about us’ pages, we are based in Magaluf and Palmanova so most of our information is for this area.

Of course, we would be happy to provide a little more information for other areas if it’s needed 🙂

We are advocates of booking your own holiday. We’ve done it for years; booked the flights then used a third-party booking site or contacted the hotel themselves to find the best rate available. But of course, this is only our preferred method and we highly suggest booking through a travel agent if you are unsure of the area!

We like to use skyscanner to compare flight times and prices. But of course there are many other sites out there that you could use as well as going straight to the airline.

During the normal summer months there are numerous direct flights from all major UK airports to Palma de Mallorca airport. We hail from Newcastle and have used most of the ‘budget’ airlines on offer. Flights usually become more regular from 1st March and you can expect the regular service to continue until at least 31st October.

During the winter the flights become less frequent. For example there are next to no direct flights to Newcastle between the beginning of November to the end of February. However you can fly directly from Manchester and Gatwick. It just takes a bit of looking around!

There are so many hotels available in the Magaluff and Palmanova area. A range of hotels for both families and adults only. Generally all hotels have lovely pool areas, some have views of the beach others have great spa facilities.

We like to book directly with the hotel, you can google the name of your chosen hotel and you can book via their website. Doing this may earn you points and rewards with the company who owns the hotel such as Sol and Globales group. There are tons of these hotels in this area, many are recently reformed and are all in great areas for bars, restaurants and activities.

It is always best to check with the hotel directly as to when they will be taking bookings for the rest of the summer. Although there are many open at the moment, lots are not opening their doors until the beginning/mid July. Remember the hotels will be on skeleton staff so your query may not be answered straight away but it is highly unlikely that you wouldn’t be contacted before your stay if they aren’t going to be open.

And of course if you are unsure then its always best to travel with a package holiday. Most of the major companies will have protection in case the restrictions come back into force. I know it’s hard to be patient when you have sent your hard earned cash and then the government changes their advice on a whim, but it is such a stressful time to work for these companies too. The guidance changes daily at the minute and it can be so hard to keep up. Your customer service reps will help as best they can.

Remember to check your insurance policies for every detail as you never know if you will need it or not. Check whether you are covered if you take ill while on holiday and are not able to fly. Check where you will be able to get medical assistance if needed. Check whether you have COVID protection. If something happens at home and you need to go back to the UK early you will need to speak with your travel insurance, you package holiday company may be able to help with some of the costs but its unlikely they will be able to change your flight (this is if you have booked a package, flight only will be different and you will need to contact the airline)

As mentioned, there are of course many other beautiful areas of this side of the island. Including; Portals Nous, Santa Ponca, El Toro and Port Adriano, and a little further along the coast Port d’Andratx.

We hope this post has been helpful to you! And as always we love any feedback or suggestions so send us an email or find us on our social media pages!

Welcome to Dougys Guide.

Thanks to the new green light that was given to Mallorca yesterday, we are bringing back Dougys Guide!

We hope you will find what you are looking for within our pages here.

Let us know if there is something in particular you want us to share.

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