Gatwick

This is not the first plane I have taken post-COVID lockdowns.  The first was towards the end of May when I went to Javea to help Mum and Dad pack up their Spanish place. Work sent me to Poland in June. Both of those were a lovely reminder of how great travel can be but they were for other people. They both had early-ish starts which, for me, takes the shine off the the first part of the travel. Eighteen years ago I probably had a bit more energy in the early hours and wrote a piece about life observed from an early morning taxi ride to an airport.  I am pretty certain I would not be so observant at that time these days - I’d be dozing in the back of a cab.

The 10:45am train from Raynes Park was considerably more civilised. There were engineering works which meant we took the tram to East Croydon.  Having done it once I wonder why we have not done this more often as it seems a bit more civilised than heaving luggage around Clapham Junction. We were at the airport by noon and I discovered our ticket allowed us to use the Premium Security so we were through to the BA lounge really quickly.  As a result we had plenty of time sat in a lounge enjoying drinks and a snack before boarding the flight.

We got to Lanzarote just after 7pm local time, a journey that JetLovers tells me is 1684 miles. It was a little later than planed but still very civilised. We met Eleanor in the baggage hall. There was no need for any tests and nobody looked at a passport. A five minute taxi later we were meeting Mark and Rob in the foyer of the Costa Sal Villas and Suites ready to start our holiday. There was a fun Chinese Restaurant for dinner with five of us and plenty of wine. The others took to the hot tub quite late in the evening: I was tired and didn’t fancy any more drink so opted for my bed.