Table of Contents
Slight confession here, for my 30th we went to a hotel and 3 of us one evening decided to remove over 30 towels and dumped them in the main pool.
𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 — 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝘀
AKA **𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗱𝘀.**
Every hotel has them.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝:
𝟒𝟖𝟎 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬
𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬
𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞
What the brochure failed to mention was:
Approximately 60 sunbeds.
Shared between 480 rooms.
𝗕𝘆 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟯 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗯𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁.
The pool gates open at 7am.
You arrive at 6am.
You’re still 45th in the queue.
𝗕𝘆 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟰 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗱.
Alarm set for 5:15am.
At the pool gates by 5:30am.
Only ten people ahead of you.
Result.
Or so you think.
Then you notice something odd.
Every person in front of you appears to be carrying:
Five towels.
Six towels.
In one case what looks like enough towels to supply a small hotel.
At precisely 7am the gates open.
And what follows can only be described as:
**𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗱𝘀.**
It’s like Tesco on Black Friday.
People sprinting.
People diving.
People launching towels across the pool area with military precision.
Within 90 seconds every available bed has been claimed.
Some by people who won’t actually appear until lunchtime.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟱.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵.
You leave the nightclub at 3am.
She heads back to the room.
You are dispatched to sleep outside the pool gate.
Like some sort of holiday security guard.
At around 4:30am you’re woken by a group of Germans returning from a night out.
They stroll into reception.
Slip the receptionist a €50 note.
And casually announce:
> “We’re back for another week. Our usual 12 sunbeds near the bar please.”
Suddenly it all makes sense.
The reserved sunbeds.
The same faces every day.
The prime locations.
The mysterious availability.
𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴.
By the end of the holiday you’ve learned one important lesson:
You didn’t book a package holiday.
You accidentally entered a seven-day competitive sunbed tournament.
Be honest…
What’s the earliest you’ve ever got up to secure a sunbed on holiday?
𝐁𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥?
