Trevor Laffan: The secret to happy retirement in sun? Live like the locals do

It still amazes me how some people always manage to find something to crib about while living or holidaying in idyllic locations.

Fellow Echo columnist John Dolan wrote about this recently, when he was unlucky enough to bump into a few of these creatures on holiday and recounted his tale of woe.

He wrote about being on a family break in Paphos, Cyprus, well away from the island’s rave spots, where he developed the sense that hell really is other people.

John stressed it had nothing to do with the Cypriots themselves, nor with the other tourists of different nationalities he encountered in the hotel, and in bars, cafes, and beaches.

His issue was in fact with the expats living there. Even more specifically, he said, the expats who annoyed him most were from his own homeland of England. Paphos was teeming with them. “A veritable explosion of grey and wrinkly pensioners amidst the blue hues of sun and sky,” he wrote.

It put him off the idea of ever retiring to sunnier climes, the prospect of sharing the sunshine with such rude and negative people.

He cited a few examples of the rudeness he experienced, and I was sorry to hear that, as someone who is enjoying part of my retirement in Cyprus.

John’s trip obviously left a bit of a sour taste, but it’s a perfect example of how short visits can give a false impression of a place. He was very unfortunate to have encountered the cranks.

Most people on short holiday breaks tend to spend most of their time in the apartment complex or hotel, by the pool or on the beach, especially if they have children with them.

They mostly socialise within a reasonable walking distance from their accommodation and eat on the local strip where there is a large selection of shops, bars, and restaurants.

Nothing wrong with that, it’s what we did for years when the kids were younger. You do whatever is easiest and most convenient - but that only really provides a snapshot of tourism in that place, be it France, Spain, Portugal or wherever.

My experience of Cyprus began about 16 years ago when I came here for short breaks with my buddy John O’Connor. He had served with the United Nations on the island in 2006, so he had a good handle on the place. I followed suit in 2013, spending a year here with the UN.

I immediately fell in love with the place, and I’ve been coming here ever since.

My idea of life in Cyprus differs completely from the one experienced by John Dolan, and I’ll tell you why.

Firstly, I’m not a big fan of Paphos. It’s only a two-hour drive from my neck of the woods, but it can be a few degrees cooler there and I reckon the beaches aren’t a patch on what we have available to us in the Paralimni area on the east of the island.

There is a group of Irish here, all coming and going for several months at a time, with some living and working here full time.

We also have Cypriot friends, and we meet up regularly for meals or a few drinks. There were 15 of us at the last sitting and we always choose the traditional tavernas and restaurants in the surrounding villages.

That’s where you get the real Cypriot experience, and you won’t find many tourists either.

Cypriots are very much into socialising, and they like to do it with the family. It’s not unusual to find a large family group, young and old, all sitting around the one table.

You won’t see drunkenness either because they’re not big drinkers.

It’s common to see a group of lads out together and the table laden with a mixture of bottled water, coffee, a few beers or soft drinks.

They don’t need alcohol to have a good time, but Cypriots are just as noisy as any crowd you’d find in a pub in Ireland on a Saturday night, so you’ll definitely know they’re there.

We have many English friends too, ex-pats who are great company.

Cyprus is no different to any other part of the world though, and we have our fair share of oddballs, cranks and dimwits of all nationalities too. They’re usually easy to spot though and easily avoided.

Our merry band of men and women are full of positivity, and we all appreciate what we have and look forward to every day we spend here.

We look out for one another too, without living in each other’s pockets. We’re always available to do an airport run when someone needs to be dropped off or collected.

It’s unfortunate that John was unlucky enough to have met with the cribber from Hell, but I have advised him not to rule out Cyprus as a possible base for his future retirement plans.

I have suggested to him that his next visit should be up the coast to the Paralimni, and I will show him the more positive side of living here.

I can guarantee he will meet some of the nicest, most positive and most sincere people he’s ever likely to meet, and I’m certain he will return home full of excitement at the prospect of coming back.

I’m so certain of it, in fact, I’ll even have an estate agent on standby.