We wanted to celebrate Meantime’s 10th Birthday in style. What better way to do this than go on a company holiday to Portugal! Squeezing in the lilo, margaritas and fliperty flops into our suitcases, the beautiful Albufeira had no idea what hit them.

You know, 10 years is quite a big deal. Having the chance to celebrate as a team and escape from the big screens was exactly needed. Big Boss had planned 5 excellent days of fun including many beach trips, evening meals and a big night out! All terrific amounts of fun, we really didn’t want to leave. We could have easily moved into the villa with all our clobber and ‘worked from Albufeira’ for a few more months – or the next 12. Ha-ha, only kidding, we’d miss our lovely Norwich and London offices far too much.

HOLIDAY HIGHLIGHTS

We could say that the whole holiday was a highlight, but here are some particular moments that need their own mention. Here’s a roundup of the things we got up to!

Broglympics

Throughout our stay, Adam and Brogan took on the roles of being in charge of the one and only, Broglympics! The whole group was split into 4 teams, including the Pink, Yellow, Blue and Green team. Original team names, we know. We had to compete in a series of sporting challenges such as, beach rounders, beer pong and slap cup. Ok, they weren’t the sportiest. Maybe more on the drinking games front, but the competitiveness was REAL.

Pink team won overall, the team with Big Boss in – definitely rigged.

Water Sports 

A short mini bus trip away, we headed to a nearby beach for a spot of kayaking and coasteering. According to Luke, Adam, Liam and Alwin, this was quite the hit workout they hadn’t intended on doing. Being led by an extremely fit Portuguese instructor – who did not like to take things slowly – these guys were shattered when they got back to shore. On the other hand, the kayakers had a bit more of a leisurely time. Exploring coastline caves and hidden gems at each corner, a nice little morning for us. Soz coasteering lads.

Big Night Out

We really wanted a taste of Albufeira’s culture, so we took to the famous strip for a BIG night out. Kicking things off with a local restaurant dinner, we then made our way into the thick of it all. The drinks were flowing, Dad dances in full swing and quite honestly, we were having the times of our lives. One minute, we were all dancing along to YMCA, but swapped out the words to, ‘WOO, woo woo woo.” as we sipped on gigantic fish bowls. The next, Tata was giving it large on the boxer arcade machine. What a moment. You had to be there. And of course, we polished things off in the karaoke bar where Jack, Joe, Kellen and Adam provided a lovely rendition of Blue (Da Ba Dee). It was lot, but a wonderful time. Catch us back on that dance pole any day of the week.

Secret Challenges

How often are we going to be all in one spot for 5 days and in Portugal? Not very. Therefore, I took on this opportunity for the gang to take part in this weirdly great challenge. It was simple. Each team (Blue, Yellow, Pink & Green) were given a secret challenge they must complete during the stay. Within their teams, each person must carry out the task individually. The tasks were completely ridiculous, but that added the fun to the mix.

Let me tell you, there is something very entertaining watching everyone around you sneakily do their tasks. Of course, I knew what each team’s challenge was as I came up with whole thing. I was in Team Blue, so had to keep my nose out when it came to suspecting the challenges. A bit dodge, but let’s just ignore that. As soon as the decoys came into play, the paranoia struck. Jack was picking up every pineapple in sight and Joe spent 30 minutes shutting all the doors.

We recorded the whole thing – a little hectic when everyone had to ‘discreetly’ film their team players. Massive creds to Jessie for editing the whole thing into a 3-episode series. Some mad skills dealing with all that footage.

We are currently uploading the 3-part series on our socials! 

Part One: Click Here!

The Speech

On our last night, we had a very special moment. To thank Big Boss for the brilliant holiday we had just experienced and for everything he does for Meantime, we took part in a little thank you speech. But this wasn’t so little, nor was it just a thank you speech. Oh no. You may recall the famous Step Brothers duo, Brennan and Dale? Well, our Squires Duo gave us exactly that. Introducing, Adam and Joe, the Meantimised Step Brothers. They even bought the suits and a Meantime Worldwide sign – how on earth did they managed to pack this in their hand luggage, we’ll never know.

Overall, THANKS BIG BOSS! WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!

More piccies of the trip: