Back in the summer, I was lucky enough to win one of five places on a fear of flying course, led by loveholidays and celebrity psychologists The Speakmans. The prize comprised of a day-long therapy session aimed at curing my fear of flying, plus a travel voucher for a free trip with loveholidays. I don't feel like my fear of flying was cured, as I don't fear ‘flying’ itself; rather, I hate the feeling of weightlessness/dropping, and fear that happening through turbulence or during take off/landing. However, I very much welcomed a near free holiday (we topped up the voucher with some of our own funds too).
The trip would be a multi-celebration: our baby moon as I am pregnant, New Years, my uncle’s birthday, and unbeknownst to me when booking it, our movie-like engagement, which happened on Christmas Day.
I'm so grateful to loveholidays for the trip, but I must warn keen travellers that it wasn’t without its issues. The first issue was the hotel we originally booked. We chose one a little further out of the city centre for its spa facilities, as I can't drink or party too hard at the moment; however, 14 days before we were due to arrive, they advised us that the spa was closed for the duration of our stay. To loveholidays’ credit, they speedily sorted us new accommodation in the city centre instead: this was now to be a city break, rather than a spa break.
The next issue came when our airport transfer was not at the arrivals gate upon landing. What unfolded was a stressful hour-and-a-half-long wild goose chase through various phone calls and floors in the airport, being passed from pillar to post, which culminated in us booking an Uber instead. One would hope I had just a series of unfortunate events with them/their suppliers, but perhaps do your research before booking with them.
Fiesta: New Year’s Eve
Thankfully, the rest of the trip was far more smooth and enjoyable. I'll lead with New Years Eve as it was the main pillar of the trip - ushering in a new year in a new country, something I'd only done once before, in Edinburgh. December 31st also marks my uncle’s birthday, who was celebrating in Alicante with my aunt too. For NYE, we met them at their hotel rooftop, overlooking a packed Plaza del Ayuntamiento with the world’s largest nativity scene, and adhered to the Spanish tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight… Or, at least, attempted to! I do not know how the Spanish do it; I struggled to eat each one before each chime, and ended up in a fit of giggles. As the hotel didn't do any further celebrations, we headed to a bar to welcome in 2025 with dancing, reggaeton, and drinks: baby got their first clubbing experience, and Mama got her first sober clubbing experience too!
Fiesta: Of flavour… dining in Alicante
We ate well on this trip! One of our highlights was a lunch at El Canto, which held a Michelin Star in 2018. The amount of locals dining at this laid-back tapas spot was encouraging - and we were not let down. It was simple but tasty food; the gambas al ajillo was so juicy. We spoke with the friendly owner who gave us some other recommendations too.
Another lunch spot we visited was Tapas En Tablas; we adored the style of dining here. You sit down and they take your drinks order, while waiters come around with large trays of tapas and you simply take any tapas you fancy. Once you're full, the bill is worked out by how many little plates you have on your table, each costing just €1.50! Many of the tapas reminded me of the pinxtos in Bilbao, placed on bread.
We had more substantial meals too: one at Pepa, where we enjoyed one of their delicious Mediterranean set menus (and couldn't even finish all the courses), and another at El Gosto del Gourmet. The latter was our final meal of 2024, and was super tasty: I had sweet, well seasoned, juicy scallops to start, and our group shared a huge seafood paella for our main. The lobster in the dish was nice, as was the rest of the seafood, but the squid hidden between the rice was next level.
Fiesta: Sensational sights
Taking it back to the first day of our Alicante trip now. To unwind after the calamity with our airport transfer, we went for a stroll, unintentionally - but pleasingly - ticking off three key sights. We were staying conveniently by the Port of Alicante and the Explanada de España, the latter of which instantly made me feel like I was on holiday, with its market stalls, sea view, and palm trees. We also stumbled across Calle de Las Setas (The Mushroom Street), which we had no idea was a thing. We had bemusedly thought it was some sort of temporary ode to Alice in Wonderland!
On another day, we took the uphill hike from the city centre and through the old town (Santa Cruz) that leads you up Mount Benecantil to the Santa Bárbara Castle. We didn't go all the way up the castle, but got some gorgeous views nonetheless and it was a lovely walk (albeit hard in some places).
Despite it being mid winter, we couldn't pass up a leisurely walk along the beach - we were staying by the coast after all. Our return walk on the other side of the street unexpectedly took us past the breathtaking Basilica de Santa Maria, built between the 14th and 16th century, and still active today. I’d wanted to visit the day before, so this was a very happy accident. Although it was closed, the ornate, carved exterior was a sight to behold.
Siesta: A cultural experience
In the last few years, I've been striking more of a balance on my travels between relaxing and sightseeing, compared to my main travel style of my 20s, which was sightsee as much as physically possible. This has been even more important since becoming pregnant, as despite being well into the second trimester on this trip (I was very early into my pregnancy on my last trip, to Faro), I've remained plagued by the extreme exhaustion usually associated with the first trimester. Well, it's a good thing siestas are part of the Spanish cultural experience! I made sure to take a decent length siesta every day of this trip - and, actually, the change from out-of-city spa break to central city break meant we were only a short walk from the hotel at any one time.
Annoyingly, on New Years Day, I was struck down by a vicious cold, and compounded with my already low energy, it meant a full day in bed. However, all was not lost, as I opened the balcony doors and listened to the intermittent church bells ring out, and at times, enjoyed the side sea view over the port. The flight home the next day was a bit of a struggle, as I became one of the snotty, coughy people I usually side eye, but thankfully it was a super smooth flight and I was back in bed at home before I knew it.
This trip to Alicante was a perfect way to start 2025 and celebrate a life-changing year ahead. I feel we got a fabulous balance between sightseeing, siestaing, and fiestaing. This might be my last trip for a little while - at least by flight - and it was thoroughly enjoyable.