Having strayed slightly off track the night before, the alarm springing to life at 9am wasn’t the most pleasant of awakenings.

But we rallied, and dragged our sorry states out of bed, as we had a hot date with Nikki Beach Club to attend.

Having eaten more than all of our body weight combined in pizza during the early hours of the morning, none of us felt up to breakfast, which meant an early lunch was on the cards. (Not that I’m complaining…)

Thankfully, Nikki Beach Club has a pretty swanky restaurant, and an appetising menu to boot.

In the spirit of ‘hair of the dog’ and all in need of a pick me up, we got stuck into the cocktail menu.

I had a delicious fresh strawberry daiquiri; another first for me. The difference in taste compared to the fake (I want to say powdered) fruit versions was extraordinary, and who doesn’t love getting 1 of their 5 a day ticked off with alcohol?

Despite my body’s cries for grease, a bikini was still about to be squeezed into, so a salad it had to be.

Although this was not my average work-week salad eaten out of a Tupperware box; this was something of a royalty of salads. The ‘Koh Samui Thai beef salad’ (€22), composed of mixed leaves, marinated grilled beef fillet skewers, mango, crisp basil, Asian herbs, roasted cashew nuts, bean sprouts, pink grapefruit and orange segments, with a sweet Thai chili & lime dressing. Mmmm…

HEAVENLY.

Michael had the ‘Miami Beach chicken Caesar salad (€17), which certainly put a smile on his face.

Then it was time to face the sunshine.

We’d hired an ocean side bed (€345) for the day, with two bottles of Taittinger included in the price.

^ Ain’t she a beaut?

The afternoon was spent spread-eagled on the beds, soaking up every ray of sunshine, whilst sipping on bubbles and dipping our toes in the pool. Absolute bliss.

As the afternoon ticked on, the resident DJ started to play some tunes to get everyone in the party spirit.

There was a huge group celebrating a 40^th birthday, which created a great atmosphere and ended with the poor birthday boy being thrown in the pool fully clothed!

Bottles (sadly) empty and wanting more of a chilled night than the previous, we headed home to scrub up and prepare ourselves a feast.

It was a beautiful sunset, and one that I took the time to fully appreciate with our time away drawing to an end.

With girls on greens & men on meat, we were destined for a delicious supper.

And because sometimes things happen that really do make you believe in fate, fireworks began to light up the sky.

And because every holiday should end with a bang, we decided to hit the Port for some post-dinner fun anyway (you only live once after all!).

Häagen-Dazs ice-creams (my fave).

A round (or three) of some citrusy fresh, enormous Mojito’s!

And a little love.

The End. The Perfect Holiday.