Category: Uncategorized

5 Answers To The Question, What To Do At An Airport When Waiting For A Connecting Flight?

We knew that after a couple of weeks away seeing family and friends over the Christmas period and then jetting off to the beautiful island of Jamaica, we still had the dreaded return journey. Flights returning home always seem quicker which in most cases they are but not for us as we had the added complication of getting from the UK to Mallorca and in the winter time that isn’t as easy as you think.  It’s the getting off of one plane and then getting back on another which is the pain. Only this pain was going to be slightly longer than we wanted. Landing at Gatwick at 06.45 in the morning, we then had to wait until 17.00 to get our flight back to Mallorca. 

So what do you do when waiting for a connecting flight at London Gatwick or any other airport for that matter? Our problem was that Easyjet(others weren’t available) only allow you to check-in a maximum 3 hours before your scheduled flight time. Airports aren’t really designed for you to spend a significant amount of time landside, the fun only starts once you get airside. It’s a question though that will pop up again and again during this piece. Believe me when I say I exhausted all efforts to try and take away the boredom we faced. 

The three hotels right by the North terminal where we landed and were leaving from are the Premier Inn, Sofitel and the Hampton by Hilton. The Sofitel check-in is from 14.00, the Hampton by Hilton is from 15.00. That is the same as the Premier Inn who were the only ones to offer an earlier check-in at 11.00 for only £10.00 but this is only payable on arrival and subject to availability on the day. 

So a hotel was really a no go. 

All the airport lounges are airside. Which when you think about it makes sense but why not offer one that is landside? I’m sure there’s many more people who will be in the same position as us with a connecting flight and also those who would like to take the stress out of actually getting to the airport in the first place. It’s an idea if you’re reading this someone at Gatwick Airport.(unlikely!)

I even considered leaving our luggage at the airport which you can do. I found a company called stasher.com that offer certain places that will store your bags for £4.75 a bag. Then you could take a train to London to see the sights, have a meal, go shopping or go to the theatre as on the Gatwick Express you can arrive at Victoria in 30 minutes. Or take the train to Brighton, go the pier, visit the lanes or have some seaside fish & chips!  All of which you can get to also in only 30 minutes. The problem with either of those is you arrive knackered and you might not enjoy it as much. 

Another idea which we did the night before we flew to Jamaica was to take the local bus from the airport to Crowley Cineworld. It takes 15 minutes and was £2.00 each, each way. We saw a film, well I say saw a film, as the one I went to I fell asleep in. My Wife who’s my usual nudger had gone to a different one. Right outside the cinema you can eat at Nandos, TGI Fridays, Pizza Hut or Five Guys to name a few. 

What we eventually decided on was a place on the ground floor of the South Terminal called Yotelair. Basically they are pods that have either double beds or bunk beds with a TV, shower and toilet. The advantage is they’ll let you book in at anytime for a minimum of 4 hours. It cost us £49.99 for each pod for the 4 hours and £10.00 for every extra hour after that. To be honest I found them a little bit claustrophobic but my Wife and boys slept without any problem. It was good though to have a shower after an overnight flight. After leaving our hotel in Jamaica at 12 midday on Thursday, we arrived back at our house in Mallorca at 21.00 on Friday night. 

I hope this will help anyone who has a similar journey to us coming up. As for us well we’re already planning on where we can go next year.

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

A Solution To Winter In Mallorca?

We’ve just got back from being away for the Christmas holidays. Working the Summer season in Mallorca makes it impossible for us to go away at any other  time. This year we used Center Parcs at Woburn in Bedfordshire as our base to visit family and friends and for them to visit us. After the Christmas celebrations we flew to the beautiful island of Jamaica and the resort of Negril. I was looking at the two destinations to see how they compared to Mallorca and what could we learn from them. 

Woburn Center Parcs is the newest of the five Parcs around the country and was opened in 2014. The other sites are Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, Elveden Forest in Suffolk, Longleat Forest in Wiltshire and Whinfell Forest in Cumbria. Ten years ago virtually to this day I wrote the following about Elveden Forest Center Parcs in Suffolk.

‘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. 

Each village is set in 400 acres of natural woodland, with trees, streams and wildlife surrounding Apartment and Lodge accommodation. At the heart of each village is the Subtropical Swimming Paradise, an extensive range of restaurants, cafes and retail outlets, plus, Center Parcs’ own Aqua Sana spa facility.”

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?’

So just to repeat I wrote that 10 years ago when the last Parc at Woburn was opened and my thoughts haven’t changed in the slightest. In the Summer it would be a no brainer and in the winter a great way of prolonging the season. On average 2,000 plus  people a week, surely that’s worth exploring? The problem we have is there are currently no incentives for businesses to stay open in the winter as far as I know. We are an island so we need the airlines to commit and once they do it will create a snowball effect. Whilst Center Parcs has all their bars and restaurants on site you could argue how does that help the resorts? Well pretty much the same way as all inclusive has done. People will always want to explore and spending your whole holiday in the same place all the time isn’t for me and many others as I’ve discovered whilst in Jamaica. 

Since I wrote the above a Spanish company(not Center Parcs) but who have a similar concept did moot a similar idea to Calvia Town Hall. The idea was to use the land occupied by Western Water Park and the old Aquapark on the outskirts of Magaluf. They had talked to the owners of the land and the idea was then pushed higher to the Balearic Government. Guess what? It was refused! I’m not party to the reason why but it was an opportunity lost in my opinion. 

The arguement about winter in Mallorca apart from airline links always comes back to the weather. The winter weather though has definitely improved and as I write this from a beach in Jamaica you may be laughing as I hear it’s turned colder and there’s snow on the mountains at home. Believe me it’s a damn sight better there than the UK was over Christmas and that didn’t stop everyone having a good time at Woburn.

So I’ve made the case for Center Parcs, what about Jamaica?

The major negative people will always throw at you between Mallorca and Jamaica is the weather. But it’s worth remembering the curse of Jamaican weather is the hurricane or rainy season and it officially lasts from June 1st to November 30th. Temperatures though are still high nearly all year round as opposed to Mallorca where in the winter it’s colder. To be honest it s difficult to make a comparison as there’s no denying both islands are stunningly beautiful and have beaches to die for. I’d say the infrastructure of Mallorca is better than Jamaica but I’d say the Jamaicans are friendlier. Neither is a criticism of the other, just my opinion. Mallorca of course is a lot closer to home, a 2 hour flight compared to a 10 hour flight is always helpful. I don’t though think there’s a case for where is better but if I had to choose then of course it would have to be Mallorca. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

A Solution To Winter In Mallorca?

We’ve just got back from being away for the Christmas holidays. Working the Summer season in Mallorca makes it impossible for us to go away at any other  time. This year we used Center Parcs at Woburn in Bedfordshire as our base to visit family and friends and for them to visit us. After the Christmas celebrations we flew to the beautiful island of Jamaica and the resort of Negril. I was looking at the two destinations to see how they compared to Mallorca and what could we learn from them. 

Woburn Center Parcs is the newest of the five Parcs around the country and was opened in 2014. The other sites are Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, Elveden Forest in Suffolk, Longleat Forest in Wiltshire and Whinfell Forest in Cumbria. Ten years ago virtually to this day I wrote the following about Elveden Forest Center Parcs in Suffolk.

‘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. 

Each village is set in 400 acres of natural woodland, with trees, streams and wildlife surrounding Apartment and Lodge accommodation. At the heart of each village is the Subtropical Swimming Paradise, an extensive range of restaurants, cafes and retail outlets, plus, Center Parcs’ own Aqua Sana spa facility.”

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?’

So just to repeat I wrote that 10 years ago when the last Parc at Woburn was opened and my thoughts haven’t changed in the slightest. In the Summer it would be a no brainer and in the winter a great way of prolonging the season. On average 2,000 plus  people a week, surely that’s worth exploring? The problem we have is there are currently no incentives for businesses to stay open in the winter as far as I know. We are an island so we need the airlines to commit and once they do it will create a snowball effect. Whilst Center Parcs has all their bars and restaurants on site you could argue how does that help the resorts? Well pretty much the same way as all inclusive has done. People will always want to explore and spending your whole holiday in the same place all the time isn’t for me and many others as I’ve discovered whilst in Jamaica. 

Since I wrote the above a Spanish company(not Center Parcs) but who have a similar concept did moot a similar idea to Calvia Town Hall. The idea was to use the land occupied by Western Water Park and the old Aquapark on the outskirts of Magaluf. They had talked to the owners of the land and the idea was then pushed higher to the Balearic Government. Guess what? It was refused! I’m not party to the reason why but it was an opportunity lost in my opinion. 

The arguement about winter in Mallorca apart from airline links always comes back to the weather. The winter weather though has definitely improved and as I write this from a beach in Jamaica you may be laughing as I hear it’s turned colder and there’s snow on the mountains at home. Believe me it’s a damn sight better there than the UK was over Christmas and that didn’t stop everyone having a good time at Woburn.

So I’ve made the case for Center Parcs, what about Jamaica?

The major negative people will always throw at you between Mallorca and Jamaica is the weather. But it’s worth remembering the curse of Jamaican weather is the hurricane or rainy season and it officially lasts from June 1st to November 30th. Temperatures though are still high nearly all year round as opposed to Mallorca where in the winter it’s colder. To be honest it s difficult to make a comparison as there’s no denying both islands are stunningly beautiful and have beaches to die for. I’d say the infrastructure of Mallorca is better than Jamaica but I’d say the Jamaicans are friendlier. Neither is a criticism of the other, just my opinion. Mallorca of course is a lot closer to home, a 2 hour flight compared to a 10 hour flight is always helpful. I don’t though think there’s a case for where is better but if I had to choose then of course it would have to be Mallorca. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

4 Ways to Improve Mallorca in 2024

So here we are in 2024, planning for the new tourist season here in Mallorca. With a new Government in place on the island it will be interesting to see what impact they have on the islands biggest industry. There are a lot of things that need sorting as we are by no means a perfect holiday destination.

What will happen to the ‘Tourism of Excesses’ which was a flagship policy of the previous administration and in particular the red zones that were created in the resorts of Magaluf, Arenal, Playa de Palma and San Antonio in Ibiza. We’ve talked about this before but the biggest problem was it should have been the whole of the resorts and not a map drawn that conveniently left out certain establishments. The new Government has said it will change the policy but we are yet to find out exactly what that will be.

The Tourist Tax has been a political hot potato since its introduction in 2016. Its aim was to fund projects encouraging a sustainable, responsible and high-quality tourism model, particularly projects that boost the preservation of the environment (nature, country life, agriculture and sea life), off-season tourism, historical sites and cultural heritage, research and development. In some cases this was true but there have been questions as to where some of the money has gone. A perfect example this week, a story broke that of the 53 municipalities in Majorca 9 do not have water fit for human consumption. Remember the advert ‘the water in Majorca don’t taste like what it oughta?’ Well surely that’s a project that should have funds given to it. 

The taxi situation in July and August is an absolute joke. Despite the introduction of Uber there are not enough taxis to meet the demand particularly in high season. I’ve checked out the cost of obtaining a licence and it can vary but you are looking north of 100,000€ and in some cases you can double or triple that. You don’t hear many complaints about the buses, trains or even the airlines, so surely someone can come up with a taxi plan? Something needs to be done as it’s not helping the tourists and likewise the residents that live here. 

I touched on this subject a couple of weeks ago but the graffiti situation seems to be getting worse. I’m all for controlled graffiti in certain areas but the situation right now is getting out of control. More importantly it creates a negative impression for tourists arriving on the island. My suggestion was to set up cameras to catch the people and make them clean it up. Some Cities have set up designated graffiti areas, Miami is a very good example of this. All graffiti is illegal in Miami-Dade County. If convicted, the vandal will be fined, may face jail time, may have to pay restitution, and will have to complete community service hours. Parents of offenders may be liable for damages. Graffiti once was considered a sign of urban decay, the sort of thing that might keep tourists away from a neighborhood. Now, not only is it an accepted art form, but it’s also the subject of a new tour in one of Miami’s trendiest neighborhoods, Wynwood, where legal outdoor murals by graffiti artists cover the walls near art galleries and restaurants.

The two-hour tour — which has participants riding Vespas — is offered by a company called Roam Rides. It starts with a 15-minute ride from Miami Beach over the Venetian Causeway to the Wynwood Arts District, considered the mecca of Miami’s emerging arts scene, and includes four or five stops to survey the area’s best graffiti. The tour ends with lunch at a happening Wynwood restaurant.

Now there’s an idea for Palma City Council.

I’ve touched on the negatives here which is something I wouldn’t normally do but let’s remember nothing is perfect and by tackling these issues we will become better. 

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. 

If ever there is a destination built for tourism it is our island. It hasn’t been one of the most popular destinations in the World for the last 50 years for nothing. It is in my opinion still one of the best holiday destinations, an island with turquoise blue waters, secret coves, soft golden sands, lush green foliage, rugged mountains, picturesque villages, amazing cuisine, an up and coming wine industry, bustling nightlife and a vibrant capital city. We’re also an island in the Med only a couple of hours flight from most European cities. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

It’s a Public Vote

I grew up watching Sports Personality of the Year. It was one of the programmes I always looked forward to at the end of the year. Now I’m showing my age here as this was before satellite tv was invented. So you could watch most sporting events on terrestrial tv. My earliest memory of a winner was probably John Curry the ice skater who won in 1976. By the way I was 10 years old for those asking. 

Since the invention of Sky it became harder for the BBC to show highlights of sport that they didn’t televise. This meant the programme wasn’t as good as it used to be and as I’ve got older I’ve tended not to watch it so much.

I have to be honest and look up who won last year’s event and it was England women’s footballer Beth Mead. She was the player of the tournament and top scorer at Euro 2022, where the Lionesses defeated Germany in the final at Wembley to win England’s first major women’s football trophy.

The 27-year-old also became the first women’s footballer to win the award.

This year another England women’s footballer won, their goalkeeper Mary Earps. Leading to a few people criticising why she won if she and England didn’t actually win the World Cup after losing to Spain in the final. 

Before we look at whether she was deserving or not let’s look at the criteria and the panel who drew up the shortlist as it’s something I had to look up.

The criteria of the shortlist should be that they,

• Reflect UK sporting achievements on the national and/or international stage;
• Represent the breadth and depth of UK sports; 
• Take into account the ‘impact’ of the person’s sporting achievement beyond the sport in question.

The industry panel for this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year included former Lioness and Euro 2022 winner Ellen White, ex-Olympian Colin Jackson, Paralympian Ellie Simmonds and former Scotland rugby union international Chris Paterson.

Sports journalists David Coverdale (Daily Mail), Rob Maul (The Sun) and Charlotte Harpur (The Athletic) were on the panel alongside Olympian Katherine Grainger, now Chair of UK Sport.

Representing the BBC were director of sport Barbara Slater, head of sport content Philip Bernie and Sports Personality of the Year executive producer Gabby Cook.

The Panel were given an extensive list of the top sportspeople from 2023 Including information on their achievements, provided by the production team of Sports Personality of the Year. The Panel were also able to consider other potential candidates who were not on the list. 

They chose, Stuart Broad (cricket), Frankie Dettori (horse racing), Alfie Hewett (wheelchair tennis), Katarina Johnson-Thompson (athletics) Rory Mcllroy (golf) and Mary Earps (Football)

On the night itself the award goes to the sportsperson whose sporting actions have most captured the UK public’s imagination during 2023. There’s an important word in that last sentence “public”. Let’s not forget it’s a public vote and they decide who wins. It’s a bit like a general election if you feel so passionately about something then use your vote. Two of the people who’ve been so critical of the winner have been Journalist Piers Morgan and former footballer Joey Barton. I wasn’t surprised about Barton as his views on pretty much everything are left field but I was surprised about Piers. Everyone as always is entitled to their opinion as long as you don’t get personal, which Barton in particular did. Interestingly though when asked, neither did vote so that sums it up for me. 

Back to the winner Mary, she also won the World Cup tournament’s Golden Glove, the Best Women’s Goalkeeper at FIFA’s The Best awards and was named England Women’s Player of the Year. She stood up against Nike who wouldn’t release a replica shirt with her name on and when they eventually bowed to pressure she sold out twice in both October and December.

A thoroughly deserving winner in my eyes. 

Take care everybody and can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

The Road to Hell

I have a love-hate relationship with the Via de Cintura. For those reading this who are asking who or what? It’s the ring road around the capital city of Palma here in Mallorca. Now I’m not called Dad Taxi for nothing, I drive that road more or less once a day 7 days a week and sometimes twice. It might be for work but usually it’s to get my two sons either to and from football training or a match. I have done the journey from Santa Ponsa to Son Fusteret where the boys train in 15 minutes on a good day and 1 hour and 30 minutes on a bad day. 

A decision in February 2021 made by the then Government to reduce its speed limit from 120 kilometers an hour to 80 kilometers an hour caused an outcry at the time. They claimed it was with the aim of combating pollution, reducing emissions and unclogging a road on which traffic jams formed every day. Antoni Cànovas, who at the time was one of the most respected Road Safety Experts in the country said that there were other options. “It is not logical that on roads with 2 lanes the speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour and on a highway that’s lit up, with three lanes in each direction and no roundabouts it’s 80 kilometers an hour.” He added “The speed limit could be reduced to 100 kilometers an hour during the day and increased to 120 kilometres an hour from 21:00, they should consult the professionals before making decisions like this.”

Despite this the policy was brought in. Remember the words “combating pollution, reducing emissions and unclogging a road on which traffic jams formed every day.” Did anyone see any change? No me neither. In fact I’d say the traffic has got worse and the emissions greater by being stationary for so long. 

Now there’s a new Government in town and since Monday the new limit is 100 kilometers an hour. I had to laugh though that no expense had been spared to cover up the 80 kilometers an hour signs. They did it with bin liners! 

I’ve had plenty of opportunities to sit and watch the world go by listening to Chris Rea’s road to hell and noticing some weird and not so wonderful things.

On the road to Santa Ponsa you go underneath the roundabout at the Magaluf turn off and on the right hand side there’s a random bush growing out of the wall. 

The graffiti is a massive problem all the way around the ring road. Actually an island problem if I’m honest but that’s for another day. I can’t believe that someone hasn’t invented a graffiti free concrete or metal yet. Why don’t they put up cameras in the hotspots and when you catch the people doing it make them clean it off. I’m not against graffiti if it’s in a controlled area like the wall in Magaluf but it doesn’t create a good first impression for tourists arriving on the island. I’m hearing that they’re planning to put up more acoustic screens to reduce the noise for residents. No offence but if you’ve bought a property near the islands busiest road surely you’ll expect noise? Also how long do you give them before they’re covered in graffiti too?

Does anyone else use the feeder lane at the Bendinat turn off to speed past the waiting traffic? Or is it just me? 

Why are there no entry signs on the opposite side of the road in certain places where it is totally impossible to drive up anyway?

Luckily there are no roundabouts until you get off but don’t get me talking about how the Spanish navigate them. It’s not normal!

That Chris Rea song has just changed to “I’m driving home for Christmas”.

Take care everybody and can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

Shop Locally and Give to Charity this Christmas

Christmas shopping is not something us boys look forward to. Me in particular, so much so I prefer to ask people to give me an idea of what they would like to receive. I do though love the food and drink shopping at this time of year. I do believe in helping local businesses and I’ve picked out a couple that I’ve bought from in the past. These people would always be one of the first to help when charity was calling in my old job on the radio and I now count them as friends. But more importantly they are very good at what they do. I caught up with them all this past week to find out what they’re doing leading up to Christmas. 

Simon at Bespoke Provisioning studied for 3 years training at Chefs school which included becoming a fully fledged butcher and fishmonger. 

You may remember him from the Escape bar in Palma which he ran for 16 years. When he left the bar he started The Meat & Fish Society which has now become Bespoke Provisioning. They specialise in the highest quality meat and fish, fully  trimmed, cut, filleted, vacuum packed and labelled and delivered on time. They deliver to Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca (fixed rates to Ibiza and Menorca so no surprises) Simon has cheffed for Queen drummer Roger Taylor on his new yacht ‘Rock n Roll’ and has cooked at countless events. 

As the yacht provisioning is a little quieter at this time of year he is offering for Christmas, Whole organic Turkeys, boned and rolled organic turkeys and gammon joints in various sizes. 

For more information please call or whatsapp Simon on 619 593 387. Facebook 

“the meat and fish society” for pictures, videos and general information. 

And you can Email him on sales@mn2v.co

Since 2005 Elisa and Mikey from the World of Wine have been building relationships with the industry’s most acclaimed vineyards and winemakers from ‘Old World’ to ‘New World’, Spain to New Zealand and France to Australia. They source exceptional wines made from the highest quality grapes and deliver them personally to your doorstep or superyacht quayside.

You can indulge in the spirit of Christmas with their curated selection of wines, exquisite champagnes and a festive array of drinks. Why not have a pre-dinner bottle of champagne Vueve Cliquot and Moët Chandon are always the classic favourites. This year Blanc de Blanc and Pol Roger Brut Reserve are very popular too.

Every year they are finding more wines from Mallorca, such as Ses Rotes, Es Verger, Son Mayol Rose and Castel Miguel. They also have a full selection from the mainland of Spain, Italy, France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina. 

If you’re looking for a wine to pair with your turkey then they recommend a Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or Albariño. Don’t be fooled by the name World of Wine as they can supply beers and spirits including, Port, Brandy, Whiskey and even Tequila! And remember all these are not just for drinking, they are for gifting too. 

For more information please call;

Elisa Llewellyn: +34 669 075 466

Miguel Perez: +34 636 188 598

In years gone by I would be heavily involved in a Christmas charity campaign. I feel a little guilty that not working on the radio has limited my ability to do the charity work. However I had a coffee with Nick from Yachting Gives Back this week who we helped on a number of occasions and asked what help they could do with this Christmas.

Yachting Gives Back are a registered charity through which the yachting industry – both yachts and service companies – are helping to alleviate the problems of poverty and hunger in Mallorca. They collect non-perishable foodstuffs & hygiene products and they then deliver to those in need on the island. The main charities the help are;

Associacio Tardar is a food bank & Soup Kitchen in Palma. They provide simple, balanced meals daily to hundreds of people in the centre of Palma. The operation relies totally on volunteers and donations and they collaborate with Social Services to reach the people most in need of help.

Mallorca Sense Fam is a food bank and charity shop in Palma. Mallorca Without Hunger is a local food bank providing regular supplies of basic foodstuffs to the most vulnerable families in Palma. It is run by a network of volunteers and supported by donations from private individuals & entities, as well as public food banks. MSF has its own application process and conducts initial interviews with people seeking help. 

Es  Refugi is a non-profit association working in collaboration with the Social Services to meet the basic needs of those who, due to different circumstances, are at risk of social exclusion. Over the years Es Refugi has worked with people with addiction problems and currently focuses on the long term unemployed, who may have ended up defaulting on their mortgage payments, lost their unemployment benefit and in the process also lost family contact. Es Refugi runs a shelter and social kitchen for 50 people in the finca Ca l´Ardiaca II in the outskirts of Palma.

Can Gaza is a rustic finca in Secar de la Real is a home for about 25 men who suffer from serious consequences of past drug and alcohol addictions. Despite their weak physical condition, they all contribute in the daily chores of the finca. Those in better health restore furniture and other household items in Taller Marginalia, a treasure trove of second hand wares in Can Valero. Through daily work, each member of the community contributes to their own wellbeing as well as that of their “extended family”, thus helping to build up their self confidence and sense of dignity.

Asociación Siloé is a non-profit entity of public interest under the umbrella of the Mallorcan Institute of Social Services, providing care and a family-like environment for terminally ill AIDS sufferers in a vulnerable situation, without financial resources or family support. 

SOS Mamas was set up by two former colleagues and friends who created a Facebook page where people could offer equipment no longer needed, and families with children lacking resources could ask for what they require, in total anonymity. This humble initiative has grown into an organisation that attends to the basic needs of thousands of regulars in various areas on the island.

It was great to catch up with Nick again and he mentioned that if you want to donate anything then milk,  any cooking oil and hygiene products are always needed. 

For more information please Email: nick@yachtinggivesback.com or call +34 619 117 937.
Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

A Sneaky Airline Scam?

December the 6th is a holiday here in Spain and is known as Constitution Day. Celebrating the anniversary of the country’s current democratic constitution that was installed in 1978 after the fall of the Franco dictatorship. With the present problems in Spanish politics you might be forgiven to think, is there a possibility we’re going return to those dark days? Now I could carry on but politics really isn’t my bag and I thought it why bore you any more than I already do. 

As it’s a public holiday it was standard to find out that the flight prices for this week were horrendous, so I decided to go back to the UK last week for a couple of days to see my family. Why is it in the winter they make you walk miles to the gate at the airport when the rest of the gates that are closer are closed?  I wrote in October that the age of the No-Frills airline had ceased to be and they are doing their best to rip you for whatever they can get. More about that later! As I was only going for a couple of days I decided on the airlines ‘small bag policy’. I watched with great interest one staff member at Palma airport who was like a hawk stalking his prey trying to catch anybody he could with the wrong sized bag. I’m sure these people get off on causing misery to others and I’m sure they’re probably on a commission to catch as many people out as possible. That stand they have at the check-in desk has definitely got smaller, you’re lucky if you can get a Lidl paper bag in one of those things. But I was fine with my little Nike bag that I’d borrowed from my Son and had used on countless occasions throughout the Summer.

I had been offered a ticket to see the Arsenal in the Championship League that night but I was worried that if I landed at 17.00 which I was due to do, I’d be hard pushed to make it to the theatre of dreams by 20.00. Well if ‘London Stansted’ was actually in London and not in deepest Essex then maybe I could have done. As I left the plane I was greeted by a Siberian temperature of minus something. When you’ve been used to 20 degrees and above all year in Mallorca, this was quite a shock. Having picked up my hire car and safely negotiated the first roundabout which is always a nightmare when driving on the other side of the road, I was on my way up the M11 to Cambridgeshire. Or so I thought. All of a sudden we ground to a halt and we didn’t actually move again for a whole hour. I managed to listen to the whole Arsenal game on the radio before I reached my destination. Visiting and spending some time with my Mum aka the Duchess,  my Sister and friends is always great but never long enough. 

And so to my return. Now most airlines encourage you to download their apps so you can do everything on it but they are different when it comes to checking in. With some you can check-in when you want but with one particular one if you choose not to buy a seat they won’t let you check-in until 24 hours before. At that point i’d been asked a thousand times whether i’d prefer to pay for a seat which I politely declined. But this time something new occurred which hasn’t happened to me before and is obviously another one of their stealth taxes. A message came up on my phone which read ‘This is not a mobile boarding pass, you must collect your boarding pass at the airport check-in desk.’ Another message popped up which read, ‘Get your boarding pass now and avoid queueing at the airport by adding a seat’. Or otherwise known as, we know you’ve declined to pay for a seat a thousand times so we’re going to stitch you up and make you wait at the airport for a boarding pass. Which I dually did but what was the point and  what happened to us beginning to become a paperless society? This was a story that was picked up the mainstream media, the Sunday Mail had a story at the weekend and BBC news contacted me for a similar story they were running. 

It didn’t end there. That trusty Nike bag which I’d travelled with all summer with no problems all of a sudden wasn’t the right size for Mrs Jobsworth at the check-in desk. There are other names I could call her but she wasn’t having any of it. I asked why she hadn’t stopped the guy in front of me, ‘ oh he’s priority’ she snootily replied. It was pay £46 or start walking so I had no choice. That £46 was in fact more than I paid for my flight and I’m sure that when I scanned my boarding card a message came up on her computer saying. ‘Passenger refused to buy a seat even after we made him wait to get his boarding pass so feel free to stitch him up!’ 

In a week when Shane McGowan sadly passed away ‘Happy Christmas your arse’ was a perfect riposte when handed my receipt. 

It might be Christmas season but goodwill to all men isn’t a message that this airline is sending. Oh and just for the record the airline in question? It might not surprise you to know was Ryanair and because it’s winter time other airlines were not available. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

Omid Who?

If I was to mention the name Omid Scobie, would you know who I was talking about? Well to me and probably most of you out there we only began to hear about him after he co-wrote the book ‘Finding Freedom’. A biography about Harry and Meghans life together. Now if that wasn’t enough rubbish for you he’s just released another book on the Royal family called ‘Endgame.’

Apparently you will find both books in the non-fiction section of most good book shops and some bad ones as well. But when I looked at the meaning of a non fiction book I am seriously doubting whether they should be there. ‘Non-fiction is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination.’ 

Remember last week I talked about footballers using their parents as their mouth pieces to get their message out there if they are upset about something? Well Harry and Meghan have gone a similar way and used two books written by someone else to try and trash the Royal family. Well two books written by this leech Scobie and another one that Harry did with another author J R Moehringer called ‘Spare’. The first book Meghan said they had nothing to do with but under oath she then apologised in court for failing to remember authorising a senior aide to brief the authors of her and Harry’s unofficial biography.

The release of this new book is another excuse Scobie to have another pop at the Royal Family. I can’t believe that Harry and Meghan weren’t involved in some way in this bilge too.

These are two people who had every right to quit Royal life and in their own  words go and live a quiet life away from public life and more particularly the media. However all they’ve done ever since is to try and court the limelight. From Oprah, three books, a Netflix documentary and podcasts they’ve done all they can to keep themselves famous but try and trash the very thing that got them there in the first place. 

Back to Scobie, who you might have gathered I’m not a fan of. He once claimed he was 33 years old and in fact he was 38 and he also said that he’d never flown in a private jet and was pictured on Instagram the week before travelling on one. So we’ve all told a few porkies right? But when you’re writing books on the Royal family surely you want the information to be correct don’t you? 

The racism claims on Oprah on the possible colour of Archie’s skin have up to now never been corroborated. In fact two years later after all the damning speculation, Harry said in an interview with Tom Bradby that the claims of racism were by the media and not as a consequence of what was said in the interview. Utter rubbish. 

This story took an interesting twist this week as in a Dutch version of Scobie’s book the names of the two Royals who allegedly said something were printed. Why in the Dutch version and nowhere else? Of course there was the usual social media pile on and the books were removed by the publisher who said there’d been a mistake. By who and why?  Piers Morgan took it upon himself to name them on his talk show on Wednesday night. 

Believe what you want but remember this guy is out to sell his book and as for the other two I’d prefer if they’d go and do what they said they were going to do and live a private life. I fear that won’t be the case. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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

Right or Wrong?

Those that know me know I’m very passionate about my football. I’m an Arsenal fan and despite living in Mallorca I’ll always try to catch a game when I can. I’m a Real Mallorca season ticket holder and I have two boys that play football for CD San Francisco in Palma. I’ve said before that when I’m saying anything on the sidelines watching the boys I mostly do it English as not many people can understand me. I have to be honest and say that I’ve said things at times I probably shouldn’t but as the boys have got older I’ve definitely mellowed. Parents here and back in the UK are told to behave themselves whilst watching games but at times that doesn’t happen. 

Interestingly I’ve noticed something creeping into the professional game and particularly in the Premier League in the last year. Parents of professional players have come out and defended their own sons in the media. Now these are two high profile players, who are also England Internationals. I am talking about Harry Maguire and Aaron Ramsdale. The circumstances are different though for these two. Harry’s was in relation to how he was playing and Aaron’s was the fact that he had been replaced by another player. 

Harry’s Mother said, “As a mum seeing the level of negative and abusive comments which my son is receiving from some fans, pundits and the media is disgraceful and totally unacceptable to any walk of life, never mind someone who works his socks off for club and country.”

Aaron’s Father said, “Aaron’s lost that smile to when he was holding onto that ball at this moment in time. It really is difficult to see him there and we all keep saying you need to keep smiling.

“Aaron is going to be the cup goalkeeper, and David Raya is going to be the main man unless something happens, an injury or a sending-off. Aaron’s got to live with that and he is living with that even though he’s not been told it. By anybody.

“Even though the way it’s been done, in my eyes, it’s been wrong and we can talk about that but it’s the decision. Really and truly we’ve got to get behind David Raya. He’s part of the family now. Whether it’s only until May-June of next year. It won’t be, it’ll be longer in my eyes, but that’s by the by.”

Now I’m split on whether this is right or wrong. We live in a society where everyone rightly has an opinion, the problem is now there are a lot more ways to express that opinion. Back when I grew up you read about these things in the newspapers. But the saying used to be, ‘todays headline tomorrow’s chip paper’. Meaning it was forgotten about normally the following day. TV didn’t have its own dedicated football channels like they do now, newspapers had to be bought but now you can read them online and probably the worst of all where abuse is concerned is social media. The abuse of players is not a new thing. If you’ve watched the very good David Beckham documentary you would have seen the awful abuse that he got after getting sent-off for England in the 1998 World Cup. But almost all of it was in the newspapers. Interestingly Harry Maguire has commented that Beckham reached out to him after the abuse he got.

Being an Arsenal fan I was more interested in the Aaron Ramsdale story. I have a Son who is a goalkeeper and he idolises him. I personally think that Ramsdale has been unlucky in what has happened. Most of the big teams around Europe you will find two quality players for every position, but it’s unusual to have two top class goalkeepers. When we went to watch Arsenal in Seville we made sure that we were in the ground to watch the goalkeepers warm up. David Raya the new keeper spent most of his time practicing his kicking which is what Arteta the Arsenal manager has brought him in for. I made a point of looking at what Ramsdale was doing and he practiced as hard as he would have if he was playing. 

I asked my Son how he would feel that if he was a professional footballer and I said something to the media to defend him. He said he probably wouldn’t be too happy and then thought about it for a moment and said maybe they asked their parents to do it. He may not be wrong you know as neither have actually commented about it themselves and maybe this was a way of airing their frustrations. 

Some might say that the industry they’re in, the money they get paid, they should expect it, they’re grown men and should stick up for themselves. 

Others will point to their mental health and the effect it also has on their families. I will sit on the fence for this one and let you debate it amongst yourselves. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

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