The brief was “the best or worst Christmas you have had”. Well seeing as though I believe that Christmas is all about family then last year probably would have to be the worst. Being denied the ability of seeing our family without the freedom of choice was a tough one. We’d always said we would like to spend a Christmas in Mallorca but that would be by choice and not forced upon us. Don’t get me wrong it was nice to spend it together but we would have preferred to be in the UK. 

So when I think about it, it wasn’t the worst. All Christmas’s for us are fun, as we would normally spend time with our families and then fly off on holiday. “You’re always on holiday aren’t you?” Is always a question that we get asked. Well we know we are lucky to live where we do, but a holiday it definitely isn’t, particularly after the last two years. 

But there’s one Christmas that does remain unforgettable. We laugh about it now but at the time it wasn’t funny. It was 2010 and this particular story happened before we had even landed in the UK. We’d heard there had been bad weather in the UK and some airports had been closed because of snow. Our plane, although delayed by 5 hours had managed to take off from Stansted to Palma. It was quite late in the afternoon and at the departure desk the pilot came on the microphone to sat that if we didn’t board within half an hour, they and the crew would be out hours. You’ve never seen a plane load so quickly! As we sat down we breathed a sigh of relief as we were on our way. We had our two kids with us, Jake our eldest was 5 and Jude was 1 and a half. I remember the plane being full up, so we were that family that nobody wanted to sit with. Everything was fine until about half an hour before we were due to land the Captain came on to say. “Ladies and Gentlemen, as you know it was a bit of a struggle for us to leave Stansted earlier today and since we left the conditions there have worsened. So much so that unfortunately we are not able to land there right now.” So where would we be going, Gatwick, Luton or maybe Heathrow? He then said, “the weather is very bad down south and we have no other alternative than to land in Newcastle.” NEWCASTLE! The most northerly airport in England and about 250 miles from where we wanted to be in Bedfordshire. This was just the start, as it became apparent that when we landed the airport was over run with planes from all over the World. We were told that we couldn’t disembark from the plane because the airport terminal was too busy. Now you try calming a one and a half year old who is tired, hungry and after one hour on the ground has ran out of nappies. Not a pretty sight or smell to be perfectly honest. Luckily someone had some spare ones but this was now turning into a nightmare. Three hours on the ground and as you can probably imagine peoples tempers were going. A few people asked if they could get off the plane, not go into the terminal and try and get home. I tried to get a hotel room or hire a car but everything was taken. Luckily a fellow Pirate lived in Newcastle and his Mum very kindly came out to pick us up and put us up for the night. For which we were forever grateful. The next day we got a train from Newcastle to Peterborough where our family picked us up. When we finally got back to where we were staying, it was about 30 hours after we’d left our house in Mallorca. We found out that the people that were left on the the plane finally got off a couple of hours later. They were then put on a bus to Stansted the following morning. I still bump into people today who say, do you remember that nightmare Easyjet trip to Newcastle?

Funny that one of my favourite Christmas songs is by Dean Martin, “Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful and we’ve no place to go let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

Take care everyone and enjoy your Boxing Day!

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Have the lunatics taken over the asylum? This past week, there have been decisions and actions made by people in power or so called power, that have quite simply been some of the worst I have witnessed. It beggars belief that these people are in charge of these things and I’m not just talking about the Government.

But it’s a good place to start! I pretty much covered the partygate story last week, although it’s still hanging around like a bad smell. However I was interested to hear and watch an interview done by the Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Sky News on Monday. Firstly he was like a rabbit in headlights, mind you he was being interviewed by Kay Burley. 

Burley: How many are in Hospital? 

Javid: In England 10.

Burley: How many are on ventilators? 

Javid: I don’t have the answer to that question, I don’t know how ill they are in hospital.

Burley: How many people have died from Omicron in the UK?

Javid: At this point in time I can’t confirm a death. 

His lack of knowledge as the health secretary was alarming, you would have thought he would have done his homework. 
Now I understand this interview was on Monday and things have moved on. There are of course 1,000’s of cases but it is my understanding that the majority of them are milder because of the vaccine and therefore people are not having to go to hospital. Which is also the case in South Africa where this first started. It was naive to think there wouldn’t be cases in the winter but isn’t this flu that normally happens this time of year? Suddenly nobody has flu they all have the Omicron, or “Omicon” as I’m calling it. 

Professor Chris Whitty told the Health and Social Care Committee on Thursday that he did not wish to dictate to people what they can and cannot do. He added: ‘This is about saying to people, look, this is a period to prioritise. If the most important thing to them in the next 10 days is go to a football match, then that is a priority for them.’ 

Tank, fly, boss walk, jam nitty gritty, you’re listening to advice from Professor Chris Whitty. Hands up if you didn’t read that sentence you sang it!

Joking aside, I seriously believe the Government are trying to scare people Into their own self imposed lockdown. 

I unfortunately i didn’t get to see the finale to the F1 season last Sunday as I was doing an island tour watching my boys play football. However what happened defies belief. Lewis Hamilton was leading the race by around 12 seconds from his rival Max Verstappen and seemingly on his way to the drivers World Championship. Even Christian Horner the Red Bull Chief said on the radio they needed a miracle to win. Well that miracle came from a guy called Nicolas Latife who was at the back of the field and crashed his car with only 5 laps to go. A safety car ensued giving Verstappen time to change his tyres and Hamilton deciding to stay to maintain track position as he thought the safety car would be until the end of the race. Inexplicably the Race Director Michael Masi called the safety car in on the penultimate lap and allowed the cars in between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves. So a 12 second lead was now zero and Verstappen was on new tyres. 

The perfect analogy I can think of is, It would be like England are winning the World Cup Final 3-0 in the 90th minute and the referee says, right next goal wins it! 

Utter madness as Verstappen then had a clear run to the title. Queue all sorts of conspiracy theories, objections, arguements and counter arguements. And another complete mess. Hamilton kept a dignified silence and probably had more people supporting him because he had lost than if he had of won. He divides opinion but for me is one of our all time greatest sportsmen and thoroughly deserved his knighthood he picked up this week. As I’m writing I hear that Mercedes have dropped their appeal and therefore Verstappen is the official World Champion. 

The final clanger was from UEFA, the heads of European football who managed to completely muck up the Champions League draw. Now you’ve got one job to make sure that the 16 teams left in the competition find out who their opponents are in the knockout stages. I won’t go into too much detail as I could be here all weekend. A team can’t face another team who they played in the leagues stages and another team from their own country. So Manchester United were pulled out with Villareal who they’d just played in the league stages. UEFA called it a technical software problem, aka a cock up. Meaning they had to do the whole draw again. They drone on and on and try and make it into an event when everyone would just like to see the draw being done properly. 

Clowns the lot of them. 

Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Another good round of feedback from last weeks column and blog. Its  good to know you are reading and remarking on my thoughts both positive and negative. 

Why is it that when we’re told to do something our politicians think it’s ok for them to do the opposite? Remember when our own President here was caught late night drinking at a bar in Palma when there was a supposed curfew in place? Well this week in the UK a similar story emerged called “partygate” and it has been dominating the news. Too much so for me to be honest, whilst it was obviously an alleged breach of the rules at the time, did it warrant being front page news and the leader on most Tv news channels all week? There’s far more serious things happening right now that could ruin Christmas for a lot of people, than a knees up which happened a year ago. If it did happen then punish the people involved but I don’t want it to get in the way of my family being able to get back to the UK. All the other political parties have been jumping all over it saying how disgusted they are but I’m sure that if the Tories did it then I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other political parties that had them too. Virtually every story you hear on the political front doesn’t just engulf one party. They’re all as bad as each other. 

Plan B, I thought was a rapper whose top hit reached number 3 in 2010 called “She Said” but no this is Boris’ new plan to try and curb the spread of the new strain Omicron. For the moment there are no changes to the travel rules that were announced before. 

Travellers who are double vaccinated must now take a COVID-19 test before their departing flight to England. This test must be taken in the 48 hours before travel and can be a PCR or lateral flow.

Arrivals must ensure they book and pay for a private COVID-19 PCR test to be taken on or before day two of arriving in the UK. NHS services must not be used in order to facilitate travel.

The Government provides a full list of “approved providers” on its website.

Also known as the daylight robbers. We’ve been here before and it seems the quicker you want your test the more it will cost. Really, even at Christmas? I’m not a religious person but what happened to “Peace on earth and good will to all men” which should sum up the feeling of Christmas. A general warmth towards humanity, togetherness, family and thinking of others. Or in other words, we’re going to rip you for whatever we can!  If these are Government provided then why don’t they fix the pricing? I think we all know the answer to that, so I’ll leave it there. After my column last week we had family asking us were we considering not coming? No certainly not, they’re going to have to make really difficult before we change our minds. 

Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Well the Los40 story isn’t going away and I’m glad so many more people are asking questions. Last week it was the opposition parties in Parliament and this past week it’s been the Mallorca Hotel Federation. The Federation are arguing that the Government has received money from the EU to battle Environmental and Tourism investments in 2022 which was where they were going to allocate the Tourist Tax. So why the need to charge the tax next year? Personally I think it would be a great marketing tool. “We’re welcoming you back to the Worlds number 1 holiday destination tourist tax free!” The Hoteliers are questioning whether the tax is being spent in the right way and not for what it was originally brought in for. They have never liked it since it was brought in and as we know they hold a big sway here as they employ so many people. Their mood probably wasn’t helped by the Government Spokesperson and Tourism Minister, Iago Negueruela, who said “They should be more prudent and responsible.” “The money from the ecotax has been allocated to Covid this year for hotels, airport access controls and measures to help open up tourism.” Well as that is the biggest industry on the island and the only way of getting people off of the furlough scheme then that would seem pretty obvious to most people out there. 

I am totally in agreement for people to decide whether or not they want the vaccination. It should be a choice and 80% of Mallorca’s population have taken the choice to be double vaccinated. However through various conversations I’ve had with friends and family, one question came to mind this week that I would be interested to know the answer. Before Covid arrived how many of us out there looked at what a tablet or medicine actually contained after we’d been prescribed it by a doctor? Or did we just take it and wait for the improvement? We drink, eat and breathe things that are probably not good for us on a daily basis without knowing it, so I do wonder why people think that taking the vaccine is a risk. Not taking it though also means there is the possibility of infecting the more vulnerable people around us. I remember when they first banned smoking in public areas and the outcry at the time it created here. Spain had a heavy smoking population and some might say you can’t compare but as a non smoker it was a relief to not have to walk into somewhere and breathe in secondary smoke. As I said the choice is yours. 

With all the concentration on Covid, thousands of people aren’t being treated for other ailments. Macmillan Cancer Support said this week that they estimate that over 50,000 people in the UK with cancer who have not yet been diagnosed because of the disruption caused by Covid. A further 24,000 people are facing long delays to their treatment even after diagnosis. To date in the UK there have been less than 50 cases of the Omnicron variant and yet there have been press conferences, travel restrictions, a change in the mask rules and for me a total over reaction. Can that be right? 

I was sent something this week which was quite ironic. DELTA OMNICRON is an anagram of MEDIA CONTROL. You decide. 

The biggest problem is the not knowing. In just over two weeks we and I imagine thousands of others are supposed to be going back to the UK for Christmas but right now we’re not sure if we will be able to or not. Last year the decision was made long before now that we couldn’t go back and we were able to make plans. We have flights booked, we have to book PCR tests, we’ve a car booked, hotels booked, football tickets booked, dinners booked and two kids that are desperate to go back and see our families for the first time in nearly two years. If they’re going to change the goalposts in two weeks, to be honest I’d rather know now. The problem is even the so called “experts” I don’t think know, but you’d think nearly two years down the line someone actually would. I find myself reading and hanging onto the positive news rather than the negative, it’s the glass half full in me. Hopefully it will be ok in the end. 

Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

I wanted to follow up on last weeks blog as a lot of you commented and sent me messages. Also it didn’t escape the PP opposition party either who were demanding tourist tax explanations this week. In case you missed it, I wrote about the Government sponsoring an event from the Spanish radio station Los40 to the tune of 580,000€. The money was allegedly to have come from the Tourist Tax, which was denied this week rather vaguely by the Tourism Minister. I’ve spoken mainly to Spanish friends this week to find out more and all were aghast at what had been spent and none of them knew the event was happening. One commented that the tickets were upwards of 300€ each and as he’s learning English he said in capital letters THEY COULDN’T ORGANISE A P… UP IN A BREWERY! He’s picking it up well I see. The awards have been going since 2006 and every year they’ve been held in Madrid apart from in 2016 when it was held in Barcelona. So why after two years of pandemic was this money spent on something that could have quite easily been held in the mainland? Another told me that 27 trailers and 80 technicians came from Madrid for the set up and that the PP were alleging that the Palma Arena venue as actually given for free. A PR nightmare for the Government in my opinion and a total waste of money.Now to balance this out and give praise where praise is due and in total contrast to the fiasco above. Congratulations to Palma City Council for their Christmas lights this year. Apparently 1.5 million Euros has been spent this year, which some may see as excessive. But you can’t deny it’s been very well done and if we want to attract tourism to our capital city in winter then this is a step forward. Add in the Christmas markets, the shops, bars, cafes and restaurants, museums, art galleries and the cathedral, then why wouldn’t people consider coming here for a long weekend away? Well there’s that flight problem of course from the Uk. So how about using that mis-spent 580,000€ to help lower winter landing fees at the airport or incentivising airlines to come here? Too late now of course but plan for next year now! Good to see Palma port so busy on a Thursday, upwards of 8,500 people arriving by various means. Regardless of whether you think the guests spend money whilst being here, think about the docking fees, the fuel, the provisioners to mention a few. Their brief visit may well be a catalyst for them to visit again in the future if they like what they see. Another council to earn praise is Calvia. This week, Calvià Town Hall launched, for the second consecutive year, a discount voucher campaign with the aim of boosting local business activity and encouraging local consumption, with the new slogan Abona’t a Calvià. Vouchers may be purchased as of Monday the 22nd of November by any resident over the age of 16 years old living in the municipality. 12.500 vouchers will be made available with the value of 20 euros each. You will only have to pay 10 euros, while the other 10 euros will be provided by the Town Hall for which an investment of 125.000 euros is being made.It’s a great way to encourage people to shop locally and an incentive for businesses to reman open. My only criticism is that very few people know about it. I mentioned it to two businesses who are eligible this week and neither had heard of it. Once again a good idea is being let down by marketing. Hopefully writing about it and you sharing it amongst your friends helps. I wanted to go back to my column about winter tourism from a couple of weeks ago. It’s been mentioned on more than one occasion that our weather isn’t as good as some other winter destinations especially after the deluge of rain in the last couple of weeks. We apparently struggle for things to do especially when it’s raining. It made me think of what we could do if we were here on holiday and the weather wasn’t great. Well there’s the normal things like shopping, not only is there Palma but three good shopping centers in FAN, Mallorca Outlets and Porto Pi. There’s also cinemas, theatres, museums, sporting facilities, sporting events, Palma Aquarium, Marineland and Palma Jump. That was a quick brain dump but I’m sure there’s loads more. Way back in 2014 I wrote about Center Parcs and how popular it was in the UK even when the weather was so bad. I mentioned it again in 2016. Here’s what I wrote in 2014.“Our final 3 days were spent at the Centre Parcs site at Elveden Forest. If you’ve never been I would thoroughly recommend it for families. “The Center Parcs concept is to provide short breaks in the forest, bringing families together and back to nature with high quality accommodation, a range of outstanding leisure facilities and over 200 activities, all set within a protected and enhanced woodland environment.Now we didn’t go for the weather as you can imagine but it led me to think why couldn’t this concept work in Mallorca? On average 3,500 people a week surely that’s worth exploring?”That was seven years ago and I still think it could work here. Remember that 580,000€? Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

Firstly thank you for all your comments and emails after last weeks column. I wrote it to raise awareness of the fact that we seem to be being duped into believing that Mallorca is open in the winter.

Another story to come back from the World Travel Market was the tourist tax. The opposition party PP were telling anyone that wanted to hear that they would scrap it if they were elected in 2023. 

The tourist tax was introduced on the 1st of July 2016 by the current Government. In principal I support it, if it does what it was supposedly set up to do. However since then, there has been nothing but rows about it. Let’s remember what it was set up for by the Government, environmental preservation and recuperation, promoting low-season tourism, tourism promotion, development of tourism infrastructures, rehabilitation of cultural heritage, research and development related to tourism and economic diversification, improvements to the quality of employment and training in the tourism sector. The main bone of contention was what the money was actually being spent on. Now you have to search long and hard for the projects that have been chosen and also in some cases, ask yourself does this really come under the banner of helping future tourism?

The following story was covered by my colleague Andrew Ede this week in the paper but as I’m involved in both of the industries, tourism and radio I felt I had to comment. Firstly, hands up if you knew Ed Sheeran was on the island last Friday? Well I have to be honest and say I did but only because a couple of listeners to the radio had asked me where they could get tickets for the event he was going to. But there weren’t any available and I hadn’t ever seen them on sale anywhere. Now I’ve been lucky enough to see Ed Sheeran perform three times. Twice here in Mallorca at the Mallorca Rocks venue and once at Wembley Stadium. This time though unfortunately he wasn’t here to sing but to be a part of an awards ceremony that also had nominees such as Sam Smith, David Guetta, Dua Lipa, Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber. Although strangely, Sheeran was the only one that was there from the International side. This was all taking place at the cycling velodrome in Palma. Ah, the cycling velodrome, remember that was the building whose construction costs in back in the 2000’s rose inexplicably from 48 million to 110 million euros. It was later part of a court case that sent the former PP President Jaime Matas to six years in jail. It was built so badly that Investigations around the construction of the velodrome revealed more than 220 deficiencies in the works despite its costs spiraling out of control. It wasn’t supposed to be just a cycling velodrome, it was meant to host events and concerts. I helped organise a couple of concerts there, in 2008, Deep Purple and 2009 Status Quo. Whilst organising those gigs, we discovered that you weren’t able to hang a lighting or sound rig from the roof, which you should have been able to do but it wasn’t built strongly enough. Therefore you had to build your own. Building your own though meant you had blind spots to the stage which there wouldn’t have been if you could hang everything from the roof. Also the acoustics inside were awful, which was another thing they hadn’t thought about. 

So the Velodrome itself has a cloudy history but wait until you hear this. The event in question was Los 40 Music Awards. Los 40 is a Spanish radio station which was formerly called Los 40 Principales, it is a Chart musical radio network and radio station brand in many Spanish-speaking countries. The awards were a little like The Brits in the UK, with categories for Spanish, Latino and International music. A claim made by the environmentalists Terraferida was that the the Awards in Palma last Friday benefitted from funding from the tourist tax revenue to the tune of 580,000€! Closer reading of the publicity shows at the bottom, although quite small some Government agency logos  including “Islas Baleares Sostenibles” This is the website providing all the necessary information on the Sustainable Tourism Tax in the Balearic Islands. This enables residents of the Balearic Islands and tourists or project managers alike to know how the Sustainable Tourism Tax works and everything that it entails. 

Now the Government will tell you this was to help show the island was still open for business and to help employment in the winter. Yet I don’t know any tourists or even any residents who went to the event and I think you’d be even harder pushed to find many that actually knew about it either. 

You could say of course the promotion of the event got loads of press, showing Mallorca open in winter. Especially if it was featuring Ed Sheeran who right now has 3 songs in the top 10 in the UK Charts. Well locally yes but in the UK absolutely nothing. Again you have to question why tourist tax money was spent on this event? Surely there’s better ways of spending half a million euros? Well not according to this Government. I do hope questions are being asked. 

Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

The World Travel Market has been and gone and we’ve been inundated with our politicians grabbing the headlines. Anyone in the travel industry will tell you that meeting in London is actually one big jolly and in reality, any business could be done on zoom or through a phone call. Let me give you some examples of the headlines, 

“UK tour operators pledge to market Palma in the low season”

“Balearics gets on its bike for World Travel Market”

“British praise for Magalluf changes”

Good attention grabbing headlines right? Well yes but actually not from this year, they were taken from the World Travel Market in 2015! So six years later those three headlines are exactly the same again. 

This year Sir Chris Hoy was rightly praising Mallorca for cycling but back in 2015 it was Sir Bradley Wiggins doing exactly the same.

Back in 2015 low season was high on the agenda, just as it has been this time. Six years later I checked with the Mallorca Hotel Federation (FEHM) if there was a significant change in the number of hotels remaining open. So how many hotels do you think are open on the island right now? It’s 25% and from December it goes down to just 15%. We have campaigns such as Palma 365 and Calvia 365, supposedly put in place to encourage year round tourism. I thought I’d take it further and ask the Magaluf and Palma Nova hotel association how many hotels were open right now. 

Remember the headline back in 2015 “British praise for Magalluf changes” So surely six years later we should be in a better place? Well less than 5% of the beds available in all of the hotels are currently open. 

We’re an island so people have got to fly to get here but there are currently no flights from Scotland, first flight according to my Scottish friend Gus, is from Edinburgh March 27th next year. Their nearest airport with flights to Mallorca is Manchester.

No flights from Wales until April next year according to my Welsh friend Martin. South Wales their nearest airport to Mallorca is London Gatwick. North Wales their nearest airport to Mallorca is Manchester or Liverpool.

No flights from Ireland or Northern Ireland until March next year according to my Irish friend Barbara. They would have to fly to England first to get here. 

There are limited flights from England, but nowhere near enough to promote a winter season. It’s a damning verdict on the powers that be. Now it’s very easy to blame the pandemic but this was a problem pre-pandemic. It seems to me that rather than go in with some new ideas, old ones have been rehashed and advances promised in 2015 have failed. 

I applaud the promotion of sports tourism both in Calvia and around the island but as I said a couple of weeks ago, it’s nothing new. We should be the number one sports destination now as our facilities have been the best for years. We’ve had two big golfing events in the last couple of weeks in Calvia. But neither were well attended and I know because I went to both. Neither were well marketed either and the bigger one in Santa Ponsa had the marketing flags put on lampposts the day before it started and as i write and drive past three weeks after, they are still there! 

The Government don’t want “excessive tourism” which I understand as they want to promote a higher standard of accommodation to families and couples. Although I believe you could still have the so called  “excessive tourism” if it was controlled and was policed properly. Back in the 90’s when I first arrived, families and young people mixed in Magaluf and Palma Nova with very few problems. 

There is also an opinion that the “excessive tourism” only happens on the Punta Ballena. Have you been to certain beach clubs on an afternoon in the height of summer? It might not be the Punta Ballena but the behaviour could still be classed as excessive only slightly more expensive! By the way I’m not saying don’t enjoy yourself, you’re on holiday so you should. But with better control by the venues and the authorities it wouldn’t be a problem. 

I was in Benidorm a month ago where that mix of young and old was happening and with very few problems that I could see. Judging by what I saw in the Summer, Palma Nova has turned itself around and now has a good mix of bars, cafes, restaurants and beach clubs all offering high standards and service. The winter will be a struggle for those who are valiantly trying to stay open and good on them for giving it a go. 

So what about Magaluf? 

Well something needs to be done as it’s been left and left and left and nobody it seems is taking control. Firstly let me say I’m not talking about the beachfront. I’ve said it before, it has turned itself around and for me has one of the best beaches on the island, with lots of great bars, cafes, restaurants and beach clubs. A lot of the bars and clubs in the second line too have invested in their premises and are looking much better. Look at BCM, they’ve invested millions and will need lots of people to fill it.

If you want the summer season to be more quality and less quantity then that’s fine but it’s a dangerous game to play if you don’t get the numbers. So I’m going to put something out there that could help the problem. Why not make Magaluf the Benidorm of the winter? Airlines particularly the low cost ones are still running busy flight programmes into Alicante. I’m sure they’d jump at the chance to send more flights here. Right now the resort is closed and won’t reopen until April. So promote it as a party resort in the winter. That doesn’t mean return to the ugly scenes we’ve seen before. It needs controlling through limited hours and policing. Let’s face it the police have nothing to do in the winter so it could be done. I’m also not just talking about young people, older people enjoy a good day or night out too. What I saw in Benidorm was a mix of young and old enjoying themselves together. You may not need all the hotels but surely more than the 5% that are currently open. More businesses can stay open and less people will be claiming the unemployment benefit. Surely it’s a winner in all areas? At the moment we have the same old politicians coming up with the same old ideas and getting nowhere fast. How about putting a working party together of business people in the area who want to see it get better. I’m more than happy to help although to be honest I think I’m possibly too old. In my opinion it needs younger eyes with new and realistic ideas to take it forward. 

We are being duped into thinking that things are good. Nothing I’m sure to do with the local elections happening in 18 months time? But if you drill down past the headlines it doesn’t take you long to get the real story. 

Something positive I’m sure can be done but please can we cut the crap and just get on with it!

Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Lots of people have been affected over the last eighteen months of the pandemic and lockdowns in different ways. Charities have found it exceptionally tough during this time. One because of not being able to work in the communities they are serving and two because people have had to tighten their belts. 

This week I celebrated my birthday and one of the things that Facebook allow you to do is ask your friends to donate to a non-profit charity of your choice for your celebrations. It’s a great way of helping charities in a non pushy kind of way. 

I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in fundraising here on the island for most of the time I’ve lived here. Including big events like the Pirates Charity Premiere and the Pinmar Golf Tournament, to small local charity events too. The one thing i know about this island and the people that live here is that they always dig deep when Charity calls. 

Since 2004 from the Pirates Charity Premieres to the Radiothons on Radio One Mallorca we have supported Great Ormond Street Hospital. We have raised a staggering 763,185.10€ through those events. In 2008 and 2010, believe it or not, I did the London Marathon for GOSH. There were three of us in 2008 and we raised £8,277.00 and me on my own in 2010 and I raised £2,590.00. 

GOSH has been and still is a big part of my life and during my many visits there, I can see how the Charity helps the hospital in so many different ways. 

I set up my birthday appeal for GOSH with an expectation to raise 250.00€. I soon surpassed that and had to change it 500.00€. That too was passed so I moved it to 750.00€ and I’m pleased to say that I had to move it again to 1000.00€. To date, it is at 1055.00€, so a massive thank you to everybody that donated. I’m really humbled by your generosity.

Every day brings new challenges at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). Each day, 619 children and young people from across the UK arrive for life-changing treatments.

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity raises money to enable the hospital to provide world class care and to pioneer new treatments and cures for childhood illnesses.

Donations can;

• Provide family accommodation so parents and carers can stay close by while their children undergo treatment
• Fund vital services including the hospital Play team which helps patients understand their treatment and cope with separation from peers and siblings
• Support social work and multi-faith chaplaincy teams who provide much needed family advice and support now and in the months ahead 

This brings me nicely on to our Radio One Mallorca Christmas Appeal. 

Over all the years we have ran this campaign and with your generosity, we have been able to bring Christmas cheer to hundreds of families, children, pensioners and animals on the island. This year is going to be a particularly difficult time for a lot of people so any help will be greatly appreciated.

This year your donations will benefit:

Fundacio Nazaret: A Children’s home in Palma that look to promote the integral education of minors to transform and improve their present and future personal situations. With your donations last year we were able to buy a voucher for every child and we aim to do the same again with your help.

Age Concern Mallorca: Jackie and her team look after people of varying ages across the island and we are looking to supply them with vouchers to spend at a local supermarket as we did, with your help, last year.

Yachting Gives Back: They are a food-raising campaign helping to alleviate poverty and hunger in the Balearics. We want to collect non-perishable foodstuffs & hygiene products and they then deliver to those in need via local charities including Mallorca Sense Fam and Associacio Tardor.

Santa Ponsa Food Bank: Based from the Santa Ponsa Community Church, they are serving and supporting the community. Through your donations of money and food, we will support them again this year.

SOS Calvia: Are a citizen’s initiative who distribute food every week to families in need. With your food and money donations we will provide much needed food and hygiene items.

SOS Animal Mallorca : Since 1995 this organisation has been rehoming dogs and cats and campaigning on behalf of animals to prevent mistreatment, through education and government initiatives. Please donate dog or cat food or make a cash donation to enable them to improve the centre.

This year, to help raise more needed funds we are asking anyone who would like, to sponsor a day on the radio. Starting 15th November to the 17th of December you can sponsor each weekday for your business or event.

A presenter read will be read on air each hour 8am to 7pm and the presenters will talk about who is sponsoring each day during their shows. You can even come into the studio on your day with a pre-arranged interview during the breakfast show, to talk about what you have sponsored for that day.

Minimum 100€ per day for sponsorship, it’s a great way to promote anything you want and all the proceeds go to great causes.

You can offer us a prize to auction off or as a Raffle prize or challenge us to do something for money. Even better challenge yourself to do something for money. Please deliver all donations to us at the Radio Station at The Wave House Hotel in Magalluf or call Richie on 670 704 311 to arrange pick up.

We can take money donations via our charity bank account, credit card or in cash. For more information please Contact Jo on Jo@radioonemallorca.com

Help us to bring a smile to lots of faces this Christmas.

Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

The World Travel Market starts next week from the 1st to the 3rd of November at the Excel Centre in London. It’s the opportunity for the Worldwide travel industry to try and get back on track after the last 18 months of being in the state of flux.

So what is the message that the Balearic Government are taking to the World for 2022?

Firstly some praise for some of the initiatives I’ve seen so far. At the moment just under 500 cruise ships have been reserved in 2022. That’s around 100 short of the numbers in 2019 but it’s going in the right direction. Remember this was one of the hot potatoes in the war on sustainable tourism as it was questionable how much passengers spent when the disembark and therefore environmentally was it worth it. For me it shouldn’t just be about that, we must look at the other benefits, like provisioning, fuel, taxis, coaches and the jobs to keep the ports and airports funcional. Plus the more people that visit the more you showcase your destination for them to return on another holiday. I for one have been to a destination on holiday after visiting on a cruise for a day. 

Another positive was the news that United Airlines have announced that they will be flying direct to Palma Son Sant Joan Airport from Newark Liberty International Airport. The route will be operational from June 2022, with three flights per week provisionally scheduled between June and September. 

At the World Travel Market cyclist Sir Chris Hoy will help the Council of Mallorca promote the island as a sports tourism destination. The President Catalina Cladera said “ We are returning to the World Travel Market with the aim of recovering this market by promoting more sustainable, quality tourism with the emphasis on attracting amateur and professional sports tourists in order to extend the season. “Mallorca has a good climate almost all year round and has all the necessary facilities. We are a preferred destination for sports and this will reactivate tourist activity in the low season.”

It’s all good but the sports tourism part whilst positive is nothing new and to be honest we should already be in the position as the top sports tourism destination at least in Europe and arguably the World. 

This is not the first time I have written about this but it’s worth going over it again. 

Mallorca is a beautiful island of contrast. From the beautiful beaches in the North, to the mountains of the West, the caves and coves of the East and the bustling busy nightlife of the South. There is something for absolutely everyone. Another thing Mallorca has is amazing sporting facilities that are second to none and available for holiday makers and the people that live here. 

If you need any proof of the quality sporting facilities here then I would point you in the direction of the World class sportsmen that have come from the island. I’m always amazed that an island such as ours with a population of around 1 million, a distance from north to south of 100 km and from east to west of 70 km can produce so many World class Sportsmen and Women. The current crop of talent that were born here on the island includes the footballer Marco Asensio at Real Madrid, the Basketball player Rudy Fernandez at Real Madrid, Rafa Nadal the current World number 5 in tennis and Cata Coll the Spanish ladies under 17 goalkeeper who’s just won the World Cup in that age group and the Women’s Champions League with her club Barcelona. Moto GP is another sport where we excel, firstly Jorge Lorenzo who was a three time World Champion and currently lying third in the Moto GP World Championship is Palma born Joan Mir. 

I am a season ticket holder at Real Mallorca who currently play in La Liga and are holding their own mid-table. Their state of the art training facilities just outside Palma, have been used by Chelsea and the German National team. We also have another professional team called Atlético Baleares who play in Primera RFEF equivalent to League One in England. I have two sons playing in youth football and every ground you go to is a purpose built stadium with an Astro turf pitch. 

There are over 20 stunning golf courses and the European Tour has just held the Mallorca Golf Open at the Santa Ponsa 1 course. Won by Denmark’s Jeff Winther and featured former Ryder Cup player Martin Kaymer. The first edition of the Mallorca Tennis Championships boasted a spectacular roster of some of the best players on the circuit, including Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem and Roberto Bautista. From 18th to 25th June 2022, Mallorca will once again enjoy a spectacular event at the refurbished facilities of the Mallorca Country Club in Santa Ponça, where the best professional tennis players will complete their final preparations for their participation in Wimbledon. 

Not forgetting of course the Rafa Nadal Academy based in Manacor, He has converted his training place into a high performance tennis centre. Together with his team, Rafa has created a unique training system, based on the experience acquired during all his years through the ATP circuit. This method includes the formation on values that, without a doubt, have been a fundamental element for the achievement of his triumphs.

Mallorca is widely regarded as cycling’s most popular island, a go-to destination for anyone looking for sunshine, smooth roads and an exhilarating variety of terrain. While the whole island caters for the sport, most enthusiasts will make a bee-line to the North of the island which offers some of the best of cycling routes. 

BEST – Bluewater Elite Sports Training Centre in Colonia de San Jordi is the number one outdoor Olympic swim centre in Europe, and has attracted sports teams and individual athletes from across the world for training camps and clinics for the past 10 years. 

If you need me to convince you any more about our status as a leading sporting destination then ask the many sports men and women including the cyclists, swimmers, divers, sailors, gymnasts, boxers and athletes who trained here to compete at the Tokyo Olympics. 

Name me another island destination that can boast all of the above. 

Think sport, think Mallorca. 

Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

If you’re talking about the most gifted footballer to come out of Northern Ireland then I imagine that George Best would be the man that most people would pick. However if you’re looking for a footballer who has legendary status playing for Northern Ireland and the man that united a nation in 1982, then step forward Gerry Armstrong. 

I am very lucky to call Gerry and his lovely Wife Debbie friends. They lived here in Mallorca for a few years and their very talented daughter Mariana used to attend my Wife’s Theatre school. They moved back to Northern Ireland a few years ago but we still keep in touch. In last years lockdown we did a few video and podcasts together as Gerry’s football knowledge is second to none. 

I spoke to Gerry this week as he has an autobiography coming out in a couple of weeks. It’s called “Gerry Armstrong My Story, My Journey” and it is a real in depth look at his life. Before we talk about the book, Gerry tells me that next year is the 40th anniversary of the 1982 World Cup and that famous night in Valencia on June 25th when Northern Ireland beat Spain 1-0 and John Motson said one immortal word “ARMSTRONG!” In celebration of that triumph over the host nation, Gerry along with some local brewers has been preparing a whiskey called “The Spirit of 82”. It’s been in barrels for three years now and will be ready next year. He said he and Debbie went to a tasting and tasted 17 different whiskies. They settled on one that was close in taste to Jameson, Gerrys favourite Irish Whiskey. Suffice to say they had to get a cab home that night!

The idea for the book had come before the lockdown but when the stoppage did arrive he said it helped him concentrate more on the content. Believe me when I say Gerry packs a lot into the book. It’s 23 chapters and over 100,000 words. I don’t want to ruin it for you but there are a few things to highlight. Firstly that he actually wasn’t going to be a footballer at all. He was playing Gaelic Football at a high standard but whilst serving a ban he fell into it. He was that good, Tottenham Hotspur paid £25,000 for his services in 1975. As we were chatting I was trying to remember if I’d seen him play. I was an Arsenal fan but all my mates were Spurs, so I used to go with them to watch games. I’m sure that between 1975 and 1980 before he left I would have seen him play. Watford broke their transfer record and paid Spurs £250,000 to sign him in 1980. This move put him on the then Northern Ireland manager Billy Binghams radar. He had made his Northern Ireland debut way back in 1976 alongside George Best but playing regularly for Watford definitely helped. 

I ask him about that night in Valencia in 1982 and he can remember it like yesterday. He says it was the very warm and humid and there weren’t many Northern Ireland fans amongst the 49,562. So what about that goal? “I picked the ball up just outside our penalty area and drove forward. Billy Hamilton was over to my right and I managed to get the 

ball to him. I then just kept on running and as the cross came over I thought their keeper Arconada was going to claim it. But instead he flapped at it straight to me. I hit it first time and it nestled nicely into the net and the rest is history.”

That goal earned him a move to Real Mallorca, where his love for the island began. He was loved by the Mallorca fans for his no nonsense style and spent two successful years here. He said “I did get stick, particularly when we went to play Valencia, obviously the home fans remembered only too well what I had done to them the year previous, but I was pleased to say we drew 2–2 with Valencia and I scored a goal into the very same net that I’d scored for Northern Ireland.”

After his playing career finished, Gerry started working on TV and was part of Sky Sports La Liga coverage for many years. I said earlier, his football knowledge is second to none and without doubt he is one of the best interviewees I’ve spoken to on radio. 

This is a great autobiography and I’ve only touched the surface so as not to ruin it. But there’s some great stories about George Best, Elton John and Diego Maradona to name a few. It is released next month, it will make a great Christmas present for anyone who loves their football and I’m trying to get Gerry over before Christmas to do a book signing. 

Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com