Hello!

Oh how rude the hols go so quickly! We had a great time although had a few problems. Mainly with Thomas Cook being rubbish but that's another storey!

Firstly I would say do not worry about the weather. The forecasts were all completely wrong. We had great weather over the last 2wks. The temp thingie at point centre ranged from 28 - 37 degrees and I am the brownest I have ever been. We left yesterday 14th June at 2pm and it said 37 on the point centre. We had one huge thunderstorm but it was entertaining rather than anoying.

The beach front is looking great. They have block paved it all so it is a much nicer walk with a pushchair trying to get a ikle princess to sleep. There are a few buildings that still haven't been replaced but they just have boards up, it doesn't look like a building site at all. I did miss the Garden restaurant though! One night we were talking to our friends in a shop and came out at about 1am and the place looked dererlict.... very strange! I have to say I am very greatful to the noise ban at midnight though. Staying at the Grand Azur next to THE most noisiest hotel in the world was a nightmare. It really felt like the balcony doors were open it was so loud, not good when you have a poorly baby girl! I will do a report on the Grand Azur when I am not so tired!

We found the prices had gone up. The cheapest we found an efes was 3.5TL but they were mainly 5TL on the beachfront and 4TL on the backstreets. The cocktails were usually 9 each or 12 buy one get one free. Local spirits 8TL ish. Soft drinks were 3.5TL practically everywhere we went. We got a couple of bottles of Brandy on the plane but when we went to Migros to buy another they had SOLD OUT!! omg no cheaky brandy while getting ready to go out how rude! English brekkies were about 6-7TL if you like that kind of thing. Twister lollies a steal at 1TL, half the price of at home!

The thing I found that was strange was how quiet it was. Most bars were empty most of the time, I don't know how they make a living! Baring in mind we went at May school holiday aswell. There was one bar on the beachfront that had a large efes for 3.75TL and it was rammed! The other bars should take a leaf out of their book.

The best place to eat a kebab is still Tasty Bites just down towards the beach from the point centre, sooo yummy! and very reasonable, large kebab was 10TL and a small one 7TL (chicken was less), so yummy. They did kids meals for 6TL and the chips are a bit pricey at 5TL for takeaway but they are hand cut gorgeous ones and very worth 5TL. You can eat in or takeaway and it's the same price. We always had a good crack with the lads there as they remember us from over the years.

The change centres were offering 2.26TL to the pound but we just used the ATMs all the time. They dish out english or turkish so it's handy as you get a better price for clothes with english pounds.

We were anoyed that the trolley guys tried to rip us off at the airport asking for £2 for a trolley when everyone knows it's £1 grrrrr! He soon gave us it for a quid after we told him tho. Dalaman airport really really tried to have us. They were charging people for being half a kilo over and it's £12 a kilo. I was sure our cases weren't over the weight we were allowed (80kg) as when we went out we had 75kg and had loads that didn't come back with us like a box of wine, a pair of boxed trainers for a turkish friend, 5 bottles of suncream, several shampoos, conditioners, shower gel and all that, 2 big bottles of cordial (turkish cordial is yak), nappies, inflatables etc and we only bought a few things to take home. No way would we be over. Anyway they said we were 4kg over!!! I was not paying so transfered some things to my hand luggage, much to the disaproval of the old bag behind us! The same old bag who kicked off with my just turned 3yr old for wanting a wee on the plane..... obviously not a very nice.... was going to say lady but that's not the word..... bag! Anyway they eventually said we were bang on 80kg so when we got home i weighed the cases and they were 74kg........ so 6kg lighter than they said.... so we weren't 4 over at all! watch them they are bad! There was a lady in the queue next to us who had just weighed her case and it was 18kg but they said it was 21kg and charged her £12, she paid it aswell! Dalaman airport was BOILING so glad i didn't have jeans on or I would have melted. Dalaman prices are still sky high, 10TL for a can of coke etc

We didn't get to do much as my daughter was poorly. The air conditioning on the first night didnt work and i am sure that's what started it as she was red hot. She didn't eat for 5 days and kept being sick. She had a temp of 40 degrees and we called the doc to the hotel. The doc came straight away and gave her an injection. It cost us 200TL..... a very rounded number me thinks but there you go! They wanted her to go to hospital but i didn't think it was right for her. She eventually ate an icecream 5 days later and I cried I was so relieved (silly mummy!). Then the poor lil love got chicken pox.... so we didn't get to go to the waterpark or out of the hotel a great deal. We didn't even get to go on the Mega Dianna boat which is my fave day out in marmaris. We are hoping to go back in sept as we feel we missed out on so much. I didn't see the webcam or the statue or the marina, so rude!

We did get the boat to icmiler tho, 7.5TL each, kids free and a really nice day out. We found icmiler to be lots cheaper, beachfront efes 3-4TL and kebab meal with chips 6TL (although we didn't try them we just saw the signs).
princess Lexie is lots better now bless her! Right best stop waffling.... any queries just ask!

Love Nikki x x x x x