Day 11 - Thursday 19.06.25: The airport…..enough said!

It was airport day. We had almost packed from the night before but there are always those last bits and pieces left, you know, that you need to find a space for, that were littered across the bed waiting to be slotted in somewhere. I’m sure we’ll squeeze them in somewhere, we’ll have to!

We enjoyed our final breakfast on the balcony then popped over to the Remetzo bar for our final Greek frappes. It’ll be Costa Coffee frappes from tomorrow onwards and as you can imagine they won’t be a patch on the real thing so we wanted to savour every moment. It was gone 8am and we were the only people in the bar, even the yachting fraternity didn’t seem to be up yet. We watched the ferry sail into port for the very last time then made our way back to the apartment where we showered, made our packed lunch, squeezed everything into our cases and made our way down the fifty steps to the roadside where we waited for our taxi. We presumed it was a taxi as according to the message from TUI we were going directly to the airport and not picking anyone else up along the way.  Happy days.

We were picked up at 10.40am and arrived at the airport at 11.20am, which was quite early but we were hoping the check-in desks (CID) would be open so we could check-in, drop our bags and take it easy until our flight at 2pm. Ha, how wrong could we be. Apparently there was going to be two check in desks, no’s 11 and 12, number 11 being for priority boarding only so we took our place in front of CID 12. There was a large queue in front of us and a large queue was forming behind us and there was just one couple in the line for CID 11. Fifteen minutes later a large queue had formed behind CID 11, really, were there really that many priority boarders on this EasyJet flight! Just before midday the CID staff arrived and she of CID 11 walks down the queue telling everyone that that queue was for priority boarders only and everyone had to move and join the queue for CID 12. Of course nobody moved an inch and she was getting in a right tizz. So after telling the queue she couldn’t do two things at once, i.e. open the CID and manage the queue she went behind the desk and checked everyone in although they weren’t all priority boarders. Meanwhile back at CID 12, we hadn’t moved an inch! The guy behind the desk kept getting people to put their cabin baggage in the bin to see if it would fit in the overhead locker, the bin being the other side of CID 11, honestly, it was taking forever. We were in the queue for over an hour and then we had to queue at security to get our bags through the scanners. We came through their feeling like we’d been manhandled such were the commands to move along….put this here, put that there, take it out, put it in , do this, do that. We were thankful that passport control was a very pleasant experience in comparison. Once inside the very busy departure lounge we then proceeded to join the very long queue for the cafe. We wanted to purchase a packet of crisps to accompany our cheese rolls and two bottles of water, there being no drinking fountains available. Twenty minutes later we arrived at the till, purchased our goods and went in search of somewhere to sit.

Thankfully one of the flights was boarding so quite a few seats became available and we sat down and enjoyed half of our cheese sandwiches, the rest we’d finish on the plane. We were eventually called to boarding, walked down the steps onto the tarmac and then, honestly we were all like ants, busy weaving our way towards the aircraft. A number of aircraft had landed and so the passengers being offloaded were doing exactly the same as us except they were of course going in the opposite direction. Never seen anything like it! Now, I would like to say that once we’d boarded the aircraft all was calm however there was a woman who’d boarded who was not happy that she couldn’t put her cabin luggage in the overhead locker above her seat as they were all full. The cabin crew very politely told her that she would need to go a bit further down the plane where most of the overhead lockers were empty. Well, she wasn’t having any of that and caused a right old scene, stormed down the plane came back again and ‘had a go’ at the cabin crew. Fortunately the pilot had come out of the cockpit and was on hand to smooth over the situation, which he obviously did as she didn’t get thrown off the plane. Shame really, we like a bit of drama!

The flight was uneventful; we ate the other half of our rolls, ate our crisps, played rummy, I lost every hand of course and before we knew it the flight had landed.  There was literally no one at passport control and we sailed through, picked up our luggage and collected the car.  It all went very smoothly.  We didn’t think we’d ever say this in the same sentence but the temperature in the car said it was a ‘mere’ 32degrees…..phew! We don’t think we’ve ever come back from abroad to very hot weather before. There you are, there’s a first for everything.

We left Gatwick airport around 4.45pm and headed home. It seemed a long journey back to Wool, due mainly to road works and queues forming for no reason plus we did stop at Winchester services for a much needed bite to eat and a drink. We were picking Sir Winston up from Jane and Mikes arriving just before 8.30pm. Of course he was very happy to see Maice but I’m sure Jane and Mike will be sad to see him leave. By all accounts he’s had a fabulous holiday as have we. One things for sure, we won’t be flying from Gatwick again, its too much of a faff. We’ll stick to Bristol or maybe Bournemouth or Exeter next time.

So another holiday has come to an end and what have we learnt from this holiday that we will put in place for any future holidays? Well, we’re going to travel from our regional airports in future because a) they’re closer to home b) we don’t have to encounter the M25 c) we don’t have to book a hotel the night before for any early morning flights d) they’re usually not as busy as Gatwick and e) we like Bristol airport and Silver Zone parking.

We must remember that when we write a holiday list we must tick everything off the list to make sure we have everything packed. No use making a list if we don’t use it! We forgot so many things this time which is most unlike us, we can only put it down to excitement! And we must remember to read the labels properly and purchase the correct items, in particular ‘aftersun with insect repellent’. Had we have purchased this Maice might have been spared all those mozzie bites she seemed to attract.

It’s been such a lovely holiday, very relaxing although we could have done without the long walk to and from the beach every day which was a bit of a killer. Usually it wouldn’t phase us but it was just so hot and with so little shade, phew, it was hard work. We’ve walked over 60 miles this week around the village, mainly walking to and from the beach which equates to over 120,000 steps! Amazing! Our accommodation, the Harbour View Poros suited us right down to the ground due to its location ✔️, its cleanliness ✔️, the amazing views ✔️the beds….❌. Yes, the beds were the only thing that let them down. We are so looking forward to getting into our own beds tonight! Our favourite pastime was just sitting on the balcony watching the ferry come and go. You wouldn’t think it would be that entertaining but it was like watching your favourite soap-opera, there was always something different going on or some sort of drama taking place. We enjoyed people watching when we were out which is another favourite past-time and we met some lovley people along the way. We’ll miss drinking our frappes at the Remetzo bar in the mornings and watching the yachting fraternity come and go. We’re still trying to get our head around the Greek ‘logic’ of not letting us hire an automatic car for one day because it was new…..so they would rather we drove up and down the bendy mountainous roads in 2nd gear which we’re such didnt do the gear box any good! We so loved the food and didn’t have a bad meal the whole time we were there, the octopus and the grilled squid were probably the highlights of our culinary fayre. Yes, we can honestly say we’ve had another great holiday. And of course we’ll miss waking up to those beautiful sunrises and watching the sunsets,…..you can’t take away the beauty of nature, honestly it really makes your heart sing and it’s something that we will be forever etched in ones memory. Gorgeous darlings, simply gorgeous!

Until next time…….M&A xx