John and Pauline Quinn

We've managed to fit in an extra trip to The Residence this year, arriving at the end of September 2020. Our Easyjet flight was busier than we expected; about 66% full. All passengers followed Covid protocols during the flight and disembarking row by row worked well. Currently, everyone walks to and from the aircraft at Funchal airport, so there's no crowding on shuttle buses.

The arrival procedure at Funchal airport was good. We had to take a Covid test but the process took just 45 minutes from starting to queue until we'd had the test. We got the results by email 8 hours later. Impressive.

Waiting for the results, we had to stay in our room but that was ok, helped by good room service.

Our experience at the Portobay Hotel and at The Residence has been entirely positive. Sensible precautions - such as mask wearing and hand sanitising - are in place, but these aren't intrusive. It's obvious that all staff have been thoroughly trained in the new requirements and the service standards are just as high as we've come to take for granted in the years we've been coming to The Residence.

We've noticed that a few restaurants and shops in the local area have closed but the majority are open again and properly set up for business.

We have the impression that a lot of tourists are, like us, over 60. Like us, they're enjoying the excellent weather in what seems to us to be a very Covid-safe environment.

Unless we are prevented by UK government restrictions on travel, we have every intention of returning to The Residence for our usual week in late November.

John and Pauline Quinn.