Pedro got there first
I spent most of yesterday morning locked in combat with the IMSERSO booking portal. For those who have not read the multiple blogs I have written about it, IMSERSO is the Spanish state’s subsidised holiday scheme for pensioners—an enterprise designed to keep coastal hotels open and retirees occupied during the off-season. The system won't let you apply a minute before your allotted time. Mine was 09:00 on 17 September. Having done my homework beforehand, I had compiled a tidy list of preferred destinations and target hotels. My initial plan was to head out to the Canary Islands—the offer included Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, or Tenerife. Yet when I finally logged in at two minutes past nine, the digital calendar was already glowing red with ‘full’ dates. Fuerteventura and Lanzarote were completely wiped out, leaving a mere three green blobs on Tenerife, the island we'd chosen, but none of the dates or hotels had any relation to my pre-planned targets. The dearth of space is simple...