A British holidaymaker has shown off his “clever” solution to avoiding sunbed wars on holiday by throwing his towel off his balcony – only to end up forgetting to use it because he got too drunk.
Darral Roblyn boasted about his trick to avoid “joining the morning morons” by sharing a video of him dropping his towel onto the sun loungers below his room in Salou, Spain, on August 19.
The 46-year-old dad, from Rhondda Cynon Taff in Wales, had returned to his hotel at sixam after a night out and had a brilliant idea about how he could reserve a sunbed without having to take part in the morning rush.
After using the old golfer’s trick of licking his finger to check the speed and direction of the wind, the gardener decided to try dropping his towel on the sun loungers just below his third-floor balcony.
However, the father of one boy admits he was unable to capitalise on the success of his “brilliant idea” as he was so hungover the next day he didn’t get out of bed until 3pm and didn’t use the pool.
The video begins by showing Darral Roblyn watching his shot towards the sun loungers.
The smug dad then throws in the towel, as he shares how to win the sun lounger wars on holiday.
The 46-year-old Welshman drops his towel from his balcony and it lands on one of the sun loungers below.
The father of a young boy had returned to his hotel at six in the morning after a night of partying and had a brilliant idea about how he could reserve a sun lounger.
Mr Roblyn said holidaymakers at the hotel are not allowed to leave their towels outside at dawn because the pool gates do not open until 10am sharp and this means everyone is rushing at once to get the best bed.
He said: ‘One night I was up really late, I was out with some friends and I came back from a club and I was sitting on the balcony having a last drink and I had a brilliant idea.
I thought we were on the third floor and I could see the beds right below me. Then I checked the wind speed and direction.
‘I did a test first and the first one (towel) landed pretty well, so I thought I’d try filming the second one.
‘They’ll give you a bed, but the rush is for the best spots. It’s not really for the beds, it’s for the best spots in the sun, the spots with more or less shade. The first row around the pool and stuff like that.
“It’s crazy. The frustrating thing is that they don’t just stay there, they go out and leave their towels outside. Some of them stay outside for four or five hours at a time.
“They take the umbrellas. I thought no, I won’t join them. I won’t tolerate it. So I thought I’d find my own way to prevent it.
“I think it’s quite selfish behaviour at times. It’s not just about the British, it’s an epidemic that affects the whole of Europe. It’s definitely a problem, I don’t like it. Basically, it’s just kind of total chaos.”
‘It’s also a problem on the beaches here. People come down and put their sun loungers on the beach at six or seven in the morning, at dawn, and then go somewhere for hours.
“I know that the police have come a few days and picked up everything with a tractor and got rid of it all.”
The 46-year-old, who will be away for two weeks with his 15-year-old daughter Mia Roblyn (pictured)
The father of one boy said he was unable to capitalise on the success of his ‘brilliant idea’.
He said he was so hungover the next day that he didn’t get out of bed until 3 p.m. and didn’t use the pool.
He said the beds he managed to get before everyone else using this trick are his favorite because they stay in the sun all day.
The father-of-one, who lived in Salou for 12 years working in bars and as a DJ, returns to stay at the same hotel every year and said sunbed wars have never been as bad as this year.
Unfortunately, that day when he woke up after getting the beds, he didn’t feel well enough to use them.
The 46-year-old, who will be away for two weeks with his 15-year-old daughter Mia Roblyn, said: ‘I’d had such a rough night the night before, I didn’t wake up until three in the afternoon.
‘I went downstairs, the towels were there, but I didn’t use them, to be fair. Cooking in the sun is the last thing I could have done when I woke up.
‘I was just trying to show that you can beat the system, that you don’t have to go around setting alarms to use a sun lounger on holiday.
‘Working smarter, not harder. I’m very pleased that I went about it in a different way. I was just thinking outside the box.’
‘I think there should be a time limit for the towel to stay on the bed, to be honest. I know it’s difficult.
“If you know you’re going to be there for more than an hour, you have to pack up your stuff. You can’t just go down at nine, leave it there all day, and come back at four in the afternoon.”