Apparently, Gay Parί has nothing on a certain village in the Gouves Township.

Humming a variation of the old tune – How are you going to keep them back in England once they've seen Kokkini Hani – Keith and Meg Eardley managed to make their way to their favourite holiday spot in spite of the recent collapse of XL Leisure Group, Britain's third largest holiday company, which left some 300 thousand other, less determined, travelers stranded.

"We had flights with Viking, booked through with an outfit called Freedom Flights, via Travel Republic," said Keith, a noted musician. "There was no mention of XL, so we were not immediately aware of the situation. But somehow all these companies were tied together."

Their first hint of trouble was an email from Travel Republic, but the Eardleys were unable to contact them by phone, trying every day for the next week.

"We saw that was fruitless, but we were not about to give up," Keith explained. "Eventually, we decided on a different tact and managed to book flights three days later from Thomas Cook.

"We've been coming to Kokkini Hani for 16 years because we love the place so much," he said. "And, we were not going to let something like a major corporate bankruptcy stop us! It took some work, hours of frustration, many phone calls and emails, and some further financial investment, but we finally made it." 

Keith continued: "We downloaded a Civil Aviation Authority claim form, which we sent off, but haven't heard any more. Even if we get our original flight cost back - £200 each - we will be very much out of pocket, as the new flights cost us £450 each, and since it departed from a different airport (Gatwick, south of London) , we had to pay an additional £120 for parking and an overnight hotel."  

Was it worth it?  They were asked, as they boarded their flight back to England.

They answered by way of a smile, then added: "see you in the spring – let's see how they try to stop us then!"

The 'unstoppable' Eardleys enjoying
Cretan cheer at Kokkini's Petrino Taverna