How exciting. We left home at 10.56pm on Monday evening….fantastic, now let the adventures begin!
What should have been a two and a half hour journey to Gatwick airport ended up taking four and a half hours due to the M27 being closed, not that we were aware of this before we started our journey of course. The one diversion sign we followed kept taking us into Bournemouth, we knew this because the large neon sign we came across on three occasions told us so. Αfter two hours of driving around in circles we never wanted to see the ‘welcome to bournemouth’ neon sign ever again. In desperation we stopped at a taxi-shop, in Boscombe of all places, who told us where to go, so to speak. So we headed off in the direction of Lymington only to find we still couldn’t access the M27 from there either, the rather large ‘closed’ sign across the slip road told us that too! By this point we were ready to do a Thelma and Louise and drive through the barriers but being the good citizens that we are we carried on driving through country roads in the pitch black, not having a clue where we were going. We had given up long ago listening to the SatNav chap trying to direct us as he didn’t seem to have a clue either. We finally ended up at Southampton Docks where at last we were able to join the M27! It’s just as well we’d decided to leave early although the time spent trying to get out of Dorset had eaten into our shopping and first holiday cocktail time at the airport. Thankfully Jane had given us some cocktail chocolates for the journey which went down a treat, and just what we needed.
With Angela having most definitely broken the speed limit achieving the fastest speed record in a Tigra, ‘Tilly Tigra’ to be precise we arrived at Purple Parking in record time, albeit we had just ninety minutes before the flight departed. We must have looked stressed, probably the handbrake stop that did it as one of the guys rushed over to us, unloaded our luggage from the car straight onto the waiting bus and in we got. Before we knew it we were at Gatwick Airports South Terminal, checked in and made it through into the departure lounge in record time. After all our hurrying the flight was half an hour late but it still didn’t allow us time for breakfast or our ‘breakfast cocktail’.
South Terminal has been redecorated and in so doing someone in their infinite wisdom decided that less chairs and toilets was the way to go. If you needed a loo, a very quick dash to the other side of the terminal was required and if you needed to sit down you had a whole floor space to sit on! Our flight was called and we made our way onto the transfer buses which dropped us off at the bottom of the plane steps where we waited on the tarmac for a very long time waiting to board. So much for Health & Safety! We were stood in a queue amidst the planes, buses and vans that were coming and going and must have stood outside the plane for at least twenty minutes, getting more cold as we waited. Finally we were allowed to board the plane and settled into our aisle seats. Maice promptly fell asleep so didn’t realise the flight was delayed a further forty minutes whilst Angela made friends with the couple next to her, making recommendations and drawing maps of all the best places to go and see.
Four hours later we finally touched down on the Greek island of Santorini. Arriving at our Hotel, The Avra in Kamari a few hours behind schedule we unpacked, changed and headed off along the promenade to find a bar where we could enjoy a well deserved holiday celebration drink. Of course we didn’t want just any bar, we had certain criteria, number one being a bar with comfy seats. We came across Bellini’s, sat down and ordered ourselves a bottle of award winning Greek wine and a Greek salad. Ah, what bliss. Here we were in Santorini, sitting in a lovely bar next to the sea. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, it’s lovely and warm and we are enjoying a very refreshing bottle of wine. What could be better than this! We promised ourselves we’d go back on our last day and have another bottle of this delicious award winning wine.
We made it back to our hotel where we enjoyed a quick swim before settling ourselves on the balcony with a Gin & Tonic and the start of our Rummy Challenge. We finished with Angela in the lead but for how long?
After titivating ourselves we headed towards the promenade in search of a nice eatery for supper. We eventually found a nice little Greek taverna in the back streets where we enjoyed some tasty food and a very ropey carafe of wine. Never mind, not every wine can be award winning!
Both feeling rather full we made our way back to our hotel and put our weary bodies to bed with a plan to rise early to partake in our-pre breakfast exercise routine!
Καλή νύχτα ……
Μ&A xx