The Alarm went off at 8am and I really wanted to press the snooze button but if I did I knew we'd miss the boat. We dragged ourselves out of bed and resumed packing. The next hour flew by and it was a yet another last minute rush to get everything into the car. We left the apartments 15 minutes later than scheduled.

Now this is the part of the holiday that I liked. If we were travelling by plane, in 6 hours time we would be home and the holiday would all be over. I'm not at all bothered about driving home, as I'm looking forward to the extra 3 days onto our holiday.

We arrived into the port of Mahon approximately 20 minutes after leaving Cala en Porter and promptly checked in, where we received our boarding passes. I went in alone whilst Vicky walked the dogs due to the amount of time they would have to stay in the cage on the ferry. Again no passports were checked and 10 minutes later the loading of the ferry began. It was evident immediately that this was going to be busier than our outward crossing, with people, cars and dogs! One of the car decks was already full of rental cars, I expect being returned to mainland Spain as Menorca's main season was coming to an end. During our holiday there we noticed how much quieter the resort was becoming as the week progressed. We collected the dog cage key from the main desk and settled the dogs in the cage for the crossing. 15 minutes later they we back out and by our side at a table at the rear of the ferry on deck. This was because another two family's had done the same thing and apparently the dogs are allowed anywhere outside on deck. So much for the requirements that dogs needed to be muzzled upon transport from the car to the cage!

The ferry pulled out of a sunny Mahon at 11am exactly on time. Unfortunately 30 minutes later it had become overcast again but it was lovely and warm and we sat at our table watching the coast of Menorca pass us by. My plan was to sit on the top deck enjoying the sun until late afternoon, then onto the restaurant for a meal prior to arriving in Barcelona. Luckily though I noticed that all three restaurants were only open from 12:30 - 2:30pm! We thought this seemed a bit ridiculous for a 9 hour crossing. So at 2pm the dogs were put in the cage and we had lunch, even though we weren't really ready for it, but it would have been a long time until we were able to get anything else! Myself and Vicky had Paella whilst Josh had Chicken and Chips and Tom, pasta and bolognese sauce which they both wasted!

The sun seemed to be breaking through around 3pm so we went up on the top deck to find sun beds laid out. It was fantastic sunbathing on deck with the sea breeze and we soon fell asleep, waking about an hour later to find total clear skies and Vicky sunburnt all down one side! We collected the dogs again and had drinks by the sun beds from the outside bar and remained there until we approached Barcelona and by now it had really clouded over again.

We docked at 19:30, 1/2 hour before schedule. Then we started the 129 mile drive to our hotel in Perpignan. We lost our 1/2 hour early start due to traffic getting out of Barcelona but we cracked on and soon left Barcelona behind us.

Arriving in Perpignan was a little daunting due to all the narrow side streets, many of them one way but thanks to Waze, my iPhone app we arrived at exactly 10pm. We pulled up outside of the hotel, not a parking space to be found, Vicky ran in and asked where the hotel car park was. She came out with a security card to gain entry which was down another side street about 300 yards from the hotel.

A young lad on reception made us welcome upon our return to the hotel and after asking if there was anywhere we could get anything to eat, he promptly called a restaurant next door and asked if they would remain open for food whilst we settled in. The first impression of the hotel was a little disappointing on the inside and needed a refurbishment. We had the restaurant to ourselves and the service and quantity of the food was very good considering we only ordered from the snack menu. Even the dogs were allowed into the restaurant inside or out!

The hotel was situated right outside Perpignan train station and after our late dinner we walked down the Main Street to the city centre. It was littered with rubbish, quite a few late night kebab restaurant / takeaways open and mainly lads hanging around and not forgetting the constant boy racers flying up the street! This was certainly not what I was expecting! I'd wished now I'd have booked somewhere around Costa Brava. Oh well, maybe it was just tiredness and things would look better after a good nights sleep. Luckily the Air Con in the room worked perfectly as it was very humid. Tiredness took over and we were all soon fast off, Vicky a little sore with sunburn.