Sun, sea and sex on the beach

Like a lot of it. Too much in fact. So much so that I don't think I'll be drinking anything remotely peach flavoured in quite a while. You knew I was talking about the cocktail right? Well the holiday blues are well and truly kicking in, especially after the typical English downfall that we've just had, and so as promised, I thought I'd write my zante blogpost. Lifestyle posts are always my favourite to write and I'm pretty sure this is going to be a good one. Although despite my best efforts to cut it down, it still contains 43 photos - enjoy!

After going to magaluf last year, it was a toss up between zante or ayia napa, with zante eventually winning because ayia napa seemed to be more expensive. Although this holiday was still a hell of a lot more expensive than magaluf. We decided to go all inclusive again (because it worked so well last year) so we paid £730 for a package holiday with Jet2 (www.jet2holidays.com) and we stayed at the Anastasia beach hotel which was literally on the beach (from our pool, it was 5 steps down and then you were on the sand) and was really pretty. The fact that the building's pink is a plus in my eyes and it had a really nice pool that we seemed to always have to ourselves and it was only a 10 minute walk down the beach away from the strip (a walk that seemed to vary in how long it took based on how drunk we were). Oh by the way, 'we' was me, Katie, Katie and Lauren who all went last year, minus Sian and Staci who couldn't come because Staci was buying a car and Sian moves out in a month so neither could afford it. I actually preferred the zante strip to the one in magaluf aswell which kindof surprised me. I liked the fact that everything was more compact so you didn't have to walk as far to get to the bigger clubs and there were no run-down pubs like in magaluf, all the bars were pretty decent. In fact all the bars were practically the same - every night we kept being convinced we'd been there before only to find that it was somewhere completely different. And even though the holiday was really expensive, everything was dirt cheap while we were there!

One big difference between zante and magaluf was the fact that laughing gas was everywhere in zante and it was only 2 euros! I love that mid-balloon action shot that katie got of us, it's cute.

All the drinks were ridiculously cheap too! Everywhere was basically the same; 5 euros for fishbowls, 2 euros for drinks or cocktails (which were all made at a 50:50 ratio of alcohol and mixer) and 50 cent for shots. And then sometimes we got deals on drinks which was mostly because we're girls; we were spending about 15 euros a night because we pre drank at our all inclusive hotel bar, got free entry everywhere and got cheaper drinks. But one guy I was speaking to said he was lucky if he came home with change from 60 euros each night! They're openly sexist towards the guys too - guys had to pay entry to clubs and girls got in free and there were even signs in some of the bars saying 'only girls can dance on the bar'. We have feminism to thank for that ladies and gentlemen.

We decided that after doing a paint party last year, we didn't really feel the need to do one again this year but we did go to a UV glow party (no paint throwing involved). So suddenly having a face covered in glitter doesn't seem so strange right? We didn't actually get any photos inside the party so I thought I'd show you some others from the night - these were taken in our favourite bar 'cocktails and dreams' which played the best mix of music (although it did have an annoying siren that went off like every 5 minutes and I still have no idea what it was for). The song of the holiday was definitely 'trap queen' because it was played multiple times every night and so I think it will always remind me of the holiday, the same way that 'waves' reminds me of magaluf.

The coolest concept ever which someone should definitely bring to the UK, is having a bouncy castle inside a club! Sabotage also has a revolving dance floor and a PR guy who has his family history tattooed on him in the form of a sleeve so we know the details of his mum and dad's life as well as what they look like. The bouncy castle maybe didn't help with how sick I felt the next day in hindsight, but it was so much fun! And surprisingly hard work! Jumping on a bouncy castle in heeled jelly shoes while very drunk is not as easy as it sounds...

Like last year, we wanted to make the most of the 38 degree sunshine in the day so we battled through our hangovers by the pool or on the beach rather than in our hotel rooms. We also bought lilos while we were there because tanning while splashing yourself with water is much more enjoyable than sweating it up on a sun lounger. The lilos also doubled up as drinks holders which was handy. We tended to go on the beach later on because during the hottest part of the day, the sand was so unbearably hot that you couldn't walk on it. Even in sandals it still got everywhere and burned like crazy. So on one of the days we had a nice evening walk where we got some really nice photos and found a random TV plugged into the sand? Greece is a weird country. In fact one of the big differences between this year and last year is that magaluf is basically just 'brits abroad'; everyone is english. Whereas this year, we were apparently the only english people in our hotel. We met some guys from switzerland, a DJ from Australia and some guys from Scotland (which is almost england but not quite). There was also loads of Greek and Spanish people there, aswell as loads of English people of course. We met some people from Essex and some guys from Coventry who actually said we sounded really posh, which was weird because everyone else seemed to think we were the opposite. Even the greek locals had heard of "shottingham" and it's common reputation. I sounded the poshest apparently and he even said I sounded like the queens daughter (I'm taking that as he basically called me a princess).

The best day by far though was when we rented a speed boat; it was amazing! It was only 90 euros for 4 of us for 4 hours and then we got a free lesson on how to work the boat which didn't eat into our time. I was nominated the main captain (I was also nominated the boss whenever the bill came round at a restaurant, I'm not entirely sure if my friends were just being cheeky and trying to get me to pay) so I did most of the driving, but we all had a go at it. There were certain areas you couldn't go in, and there was a speed limit in the area between the bay and turtle island, but then once you got past that, you could go as fast as your boat could. We were really lucky to see a giant sea turtle (the caretta caretta which is apparently the biggest kind) in the shallow waters as we first set off and we got some really nice photos for sian, who has a turtle obsession and so we were really sad she missed it! Then we anchored at turtle island were there was a lovely beach and the sea was so clear and perfectly turquoise it was like being dropped straight into a photo. Our boat was the perfect size for all of us because there were 4 benches plus the drivers seat so we all had space to sunbathe when we turned the engine off and there was a cooler on board so we took some drinks with us. The best feeling ever was when we'd been sat for a while with the engine off and then went straight from 0 to 60. I'm not sure how good of a driver I'll make when I finally get around to learning but if that doesn't work out then I think I'd make a pretty good banana boat driver. On full speed, I steered as far to the left as possible and then swung all the way to the right (repeat 20 times) which created the most ridiculous amount of sea spray and was so much fun; the other 3 were squealing as they got thrown around and drenched at the front of the boat (I wasn't being mean; I got drenched too). While we were chilling with the engine off, me and Katie went in the sea although I was the only one who jumped in. The other two got some pretty good going-going-gone action shots and then once we were in the water we wanted a hands-up photo like the last one. Which took about 1000 attempts to get because the other two had screamed 'jellyfish' so Katie was thrashing around in a panic and I was laughing so much I was finding it hard to tread water.

My favourite night was the white party (which was also our most expensive night, so it seems that my spending problems apply overseas too) which was a party on a private island where everyone wears white. We also got painted with white UV paint and watched the most amazing fire show which a guy performed on a floating stage. Then as it got dark, we went up to the top of the island were there was a DJ playing and everyone was dancing under a kind of tent thing. We also bumped into our PR friend who worked at the bar closest to our hotel so we went past him every night and despite the fact that there are technically only 3 names to remember, he spent the whole holiday trying to get them so little katie was often referred to as 'the one who didn't want to come in on the first night', although she changed her mind about that bar as the holiday went on. Then after watching the firework show, we went back down and listened to Mark Knight's set. The theme of the white party is great in theory, but when the only white that the guys wear is their t-shirts and then they take them off 5 minutes in, the dress code gets a little lost. Regardless though, it was still my favourite night of the holiday.

We had literally the best holiday ever and I've now got serious holiday blues, but I don't think I could've lasted much longer on so much booze and so little sleep. When you compare our energy levels from the day we got there and the day we came home, you can see that the holiday took it's toll. Soppy moment: I want to say thank you to my amazing best friends for such an incredible holiday! Until the next one girls...