Rest, relaxation and a bit of rain in Spain COMPLETE 11/10 About This Page:

[pamcarey]

That hotel looks very nice. Sorry that the service at dinner wasn't up to par.

[goofysdtr]

Love the look of your room! Sorry dinner wasn't that great.

[KMB733]

Glad you made it to the airport!

[bonphil]

Looking forward to more!

[chezp]

Saturday 10 October – part one: where is everyone?!

I think it’s fair to say that neither of us slept particularly well. I had all sorts of problems with the pillows in the room. To me, one wasn’t enough, but two was just way too much and I found it really hard to get comfortable. It was a shame and, all in all, I’d say that our second stay at the Sofitel wasn’t as good as our first.

I got some photos of the view from our room in the daylight...



We headed out just after 7.30am and walked through into the north terminal. When we got there, it said that check-in was in zone E, but our flight didn’t starting checking in until 8.20am. I figured that wouldn’t be a problem, as every time we’ve flown with Easyjet, we’ve had a long wait to check-in, usually a good half hour or so and I was sure this time would be no different. How wrong we were! I wish now we’d got a photo of the place, as there was literally one person in line and a couple checking in and that was it, but both our cameras were buried in the hand luggage and I didn’t want to go wading through to find them.

I did worry that maybe they’d tell us that we’d have to wait nearly an hour to check in, but we heard the guy in front of us say that he was going to Alicante as well and he then started to check-in, so I knew we’d be fine. We knew our case was around the 20kg weight limit, which really is nothing, but the check-in girl was fine about it and no surcharges, which is always a good start.

We quickly cleared security, with no extra checks for either of us for once and we didn’t even have to take our shoes off. It was the first time we’d ever seen them individually pick people for this check, as usually everyone has to go through it.

As soon as we got through, we went to do a bit of shopping, with me hoping to find Flashforward, the book of the TV series, as I really want to see what it’s all about, but I had no luck. At least I was able to find the new Winnie the Pooh book, Return to Hundred Acre Wood.

With that completed, we headed for the airport lounge we had booked. The second we walked in, I did think that it wasn’t as nice as the one I’d used in May at the south terminal, but then again, that had been about double the price. It was the little touches I missed from there, like the fact that we were told just to watch the board for our flight, whereas in the south terminal, they came to tell you individually to tell you. Equally, I’d been given a menu there and they’d made the food to order, whereas here, you could pick your food and drink. The food was breakfast fare, such as croissants, cakes, fresh fruit and cereals, along with snacks such as crisps.

Now I will give them the fact that there was every conceivable alcoholic drink you could think of here, including champagne and spirits and liquors. Indeed, when we walked in, there was a group of four very loud women, who’d obviously been on the champagne. We were very glad, let’s just say, when their flight got called a few minutes after we arrived, as you could hear them everywhere in the lounge. All we tried was a glass of white wine, and while I thought it was OK, Mark described it as paint stripper.

Again, no photos from here, as it wasn’t like the south lounge, where you could discretely get photos of the place without people in it. This was a lot busier, and to be honest, there wasn’t much to see here, either inside the lounge or the view outside, which was also a shame. I somehow expected that the view from an airport lounge would be of the runway or planes, but here, it was just the behind the scenes areas.

I was glad we had booked it though, especially as our gate number wasn’t showing up at 10.05am, when it was due. That’s never a good sign. Eventually, it did come up and we headed that. On the way, we got to cross the pedestrian walkway that I’d just been reading about. The article I’d just been reading was explaining how Gatwick is one of the only airports in the world to have a pedestrian walkway over a taxi area for planes and later we got a good view of it from the gate.



When we got there, boarding was a nightmare. They could learn so much from Southwest here. Why other airlines don’t adopt their policy of lining people up, I have no idea. They board the people who’ve paid for speedy boarding first (you see where Southwest got the idea from – the budget airlines over here have been doing this for years! ) and then it’s those with young children or needing special assistance, then the A boarding group (which we were), B and C. Remember this, as I tell you about how we had to battle our way past a group of elderly women, who were all in boarding group B and who were in the way. One of them asked at least three times whether she should move forward and the others kept telling her : but still she kept coming. I came so close to turning round to her and asking if she’d ever learnt her A,B,C.

Finally, we were on board and got seats in about row five, which was nice and close to the front of the plane. We took off about half an hour late, but had very good tailwinds and actually came in about 15 minutes ahead of time. The flight time was about 1 hour 50 minutes, not the 2 hours 30 minutes I thought it would be.

Mark whiled the time away by playing with the 11 month old boy in the seat in front, which helped to keep him quiet. He was very good actually, considering it was his first flight. As you can see, he did try and sleep as well...



I spent most of the flight listening to Madonna’s Celebration album on my iPod. I was delighted I was able to listen to it, having battled for almost two weeks to download it, as it turns out there is a problem with buying the rest of the album, if you’d already bought a track, as I had. Let’s just say it got escalated to level two customer service in California, so I knew it was a fairly big issue.

We also got some food on board – all extra fees of course. I had a very nice and very hot mozzarella, tomato and basil panini and Mark had a bacon baguette, which absolutely stank, but he enjoyed his piece of Piglet.

The scenery on the way was interesting, a lot of it was very barren and every time we fly to Spain, I comment on how similar the landscape looks to a lot of America.





Next: this liquor is good!

[Colexis Mom]

Sorry you didn't sleep well, and the boarding process was mad! Great that the flight was quicker than normal!

[Minnie Lor]

Wonderful update. Love Mark's comment about the wine. I can just hear him saying that. Your panini sounded delish! That's something I would've gone for. Love that Mark had a good time entertaining the little boy on the plane. Very cute.

[goofysdtr]

Sorry about the hotel pillows! I completely understand. I always try to bring one from home.

[pamcarey]

Sorry that the boarding process wasn't the best, but glad to hear that you're on your way!

[MGW]

So glad I have another of your TRs to read!

So sorry you were diagnosed with chronic fatigue. That is certainly no fun!

Are they upgrding the airport to get ready for the Olympics?

Can't wait to read more.

[emmalovesdisney]

I just love to read your trip reports, and you are right, your photos of the sofitel are very familiar

I am looking forward to reading some more...

[mcc0313]

time is really flying by as I can't believe you have been and back already. Sorry about the lousy weather by you when you left but at least you hopefully would be flying into some much more pleasant weather when you landed.

Sorry that your stay at the hotel was not as great as last time but it sure making it easier I would think with an early morning flight. Can't wait to hear more.

[KMB733]

What a nightmare boarding was! But at least you are on your way to Spain!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by MGW

So glad I have another of your TRs to read!

So sorry you were diagnosed with chronic fatigue. That is certainly no fun!

Are they upgrding the airport to get ready for the Olympics?

Can't wait to read more.

I don't think so and if they were, it was a foolish move, as Madrid missed out. I doubt it, as Madrid's about a five hour drive away, although it's a good point - they would have had to put the sailing somewhere.

I think it's got more to do with projected growth. The Costa Blanca is a massive (and I mean massive!) destination for the Brits, with many heading to Benidorm, which you'll hear more of in due course. From what I could gather, that's what the expansion seemed to be catering for. As we flew out, I counted at least 16 gates in their new terminal....

[chezp]

Saturday 10 October – part two: this liquor is good!

Soon we were landing and we didn’t even have a passport check, we just walked straight through to luggage claim. We didn’t have long to wait for our one case and then it was outside to meet Dave and Barbara. We headed back to their car and straight away, I could feel the heat. We were in jeans and T-shirts (well, it made sense for the British weather we’d left behind anyway! ), but here it was too much.

Fortunately, the air conditioning quickly kicked in in the car as we drove along and I began to feel a lot more pleasant. They both commented about how barren and desolate the scenery is around Alicante and they were right. It became much greener and lush as we drove along, as you can see from these photos:






They have these all over the place – we can only assume that it’s a sign that you’re in Spain, as the bull does seem to be their national symbol. We thought it might represent a bullring, but couldn’t see one anywhere near this sign

The skyscrapers of Benidorm



Soon we were back at the villa and we couldn’t believe the difference in the place. There’s been so much work done here, since the last time we were here, with lots of trees either ripped down or cut back to make way for some of the work they’d had done, including very snazzy gates that open and close automatically, operated by a remote control in the car. A very nice piece of kit. I ended up getting photos of a lot of the changes later in the week, so this is all I have for the moment:




As soon as we got inside, the first thing I did was test the temperature of the water in the swimming pool. With my chronic fatigue, I haven’t been swimming since June and I was desperate to get back in the water. It didn’t feel too bad on my arm, so in I went, although I did gradually lower myself in, as it was a bit more of a shock to the rest of my body! It was a case of once you were in there though, it was very nice. I just did a bit of exercising in there, but sadly found I quickly got tired and couldn’t do as much as I wanted.

The weather was almost perfect, with the sun shining, but not beating down too much and the temperatures still in the 70s even at around 4.30pm. We were told that there had been severe flooding only a couple of weeks earlier and I’ve seen since a newspaper, showing cars being washed away in that incident. Dave and Barbara also told us that the heat last week was absolutely unbearable, so it looks like we really had picked the right week to visit them.

We sat outside talking for a couple of hours and sipping on Kir Royale, a mixture of champagne and blackcurrant liquor and goodness, you certainly know you’ve had those! Eventually, it was time to head out for dinner and, after hearing about a restaurant in Calpe, a little further down the coast, that did set menus, including half a bottle of wine, dessert and a liquor for just 6€ (about $4), we decided to go for that.

Our first stop was at the home of some of Barb and Dave’s neighbours, Geoff and Jan, who had suggested going to Benidorm market tomorrow. The decision had been left up to us, but we thought it was a great plan, so we popped in to briefly meet them and tell them that we’d be joining them in the morning. I grabbed some photos on the way:




The biggest challenge at Calpe was finding somewhere to park, but after a bit of driving around, we found somewhere, just opposite the restaurant and headed inside. It was a Chinese place and the menu of the days were indeed as cheap as we’d been told. Mine was the most expensive, as the only non-meat dish they had was shrimp curry, so I went for that, starting with a spring roll. That took up nearly the whole plate! Again, no photos. It just wasn’t the sort of place you took photos. Both were excellent, although I did know about the curry as I ate more and more of it – it did have some spice to it!

Mark had the hot and sour soup and told us that it was very hot! He had chicken for main course and, not only did he polish that off, he also polished off the rest of my curry, so he was very full by the end of the meal! I didn’t do too badly either, polishing off both my ice cream and Mark’s.

Then came the liquors. We’d been told that they left the bottles for you and they did, so that you could just refill as much as you liked! Barb and I both went what we think was the hazelnut liquor, while Mark and Dave tried the apple one. We all fell in love with the hazelnut liquor and asked where we could get it, although the guy we asked didn’t have great English. Thank goodness for all the revision I’d done of my Spanish, as I was able to ask in Spanish and a quick conversation took place between the Chinese waiter and another guy, who I assume was the manager. No doubt that was a decision on how much to charge, but when he came back with cinco or five Euros (about $7.50), we both decided to get a bottle for each couple and walked out with two bottles of hazelnut liquor for 10€ and a bill of just 17€ (about $25) for the meal for the four of us. Bargain!!

Then it was back to the villa, where we settled down to watch some of the X Factor (our equivalent of American Idol) and then headed off to bed.

By the way, no details of how far we walked each day, as I couldn’t find the pedometer before we left home.

The weather today was dry and in the high 50s in London and sunny and in high 70s in Moraira.
The best thing today was getting into the pool.
The worst thing today was being delayed leaving.
Today we tried the cheap Chinese in Calpe.
And the result was it was great value.
The most magical moment today was getting the hazelnut liquor for just 5€.

Next: this looks like a war zone!