Final Day then Home

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Sunday 26th February



This was a beach day - our last!

Mr Sing's again for prawns/lunch.



Early Night - Big travel Day tomorrow.



Monday 27th February



It rained overnight - waking Paula at 1.30am with the noise of it falling onto our terrace. Raced downstairs to retrieve our drying laundry & marveled at the sight - this was the first rainfall of our visit and was most welcome, accompanied as it was with rolling thunder, but no lightning, to Paula's relief.



Well, today is packing day. Took car for a thorough wash and valet, and enjoying a good cup of coffee before returning the car to it's owner at 10am, as pre-arranged. We would have asked for a ride back to our house, but as the sun was now shining and dried all the roads, we preferred to walk the 15 minutes and enjoy taking in the scenery around us. Back at the house, we meet with the owners to carry out water and electricity readings and find we have a huge bill of £15 for our month's usage, which we are very happy about. That done, time for elevenses, cheese and tomato toasties, then a nice long bike ride along the coast. Said goodbyes to a couple of folks we got to know, however briefly, then back to the house for the clear out/clean/strip out. This took all of about 45 minutes because we're not that messy (honest) and packing took 10 minutes, so time for a nap before car and driver coming at 6pm for our three and a half hour journey to Bangkok's main airport. What is interesting here is that only this morning we decided to bring forward our departure from 7pm to 6pm, as although it would have given us a margin of over three hours to navigate the airport's manic checking in and security checks etc, we had such a close shave last year, almost missing our Qatar Airways flight, we didn't want a repeat of that chaos. So, after a really comfortable journey, we are standing at the Etihad check-in counter, first in line when their check-in desks open at 9.50pm, four hours ahead of departure.



This time, everything went smoothly, boarding passes issued, visa checks completed, security all done etc etc and we find ourselves in the Departure Lounge with lots of time to have a snack and a drink and a browse of the wonderful and quite expensive goods on offer. We are not relishing our homeward journey, as it consists of three flights and door-to-door we are expecting a total trip time of 30 hours, Bangkok-Abu Dhabi-Athens-Larnaca.



Boarding went well and Leo has already opened his blanket, positioned his pillow and is ready to try to get some sleep - then a member of cabin crew disturbs him and asks if we would like to change seats - he sees red and says 'NO' quite audibly (memories of last year surfacing), but Paula heard the next two words 'BUSINESS CLASS' - quickly reassuring Leo that this was indeed a 'good thing', he was out of his seat faster than a hare out of a trap, leaving Paula to stow blankets, bringing backpacks, duty free bag etc and to trail behind him. Paula very happy as the lady beside her was clearly in the throes of a nasty cold and cough and was not looking forward to spending six and a half hours trying to avoid breathing the same air.



So, we quickly settle in, quaff the champagne offered, order breakfast for later, and enjoy relaxing into our new world. Within minutes we had played with the seat controls and now had BEDS! complete with fluffy quilts (no blue blanket in Business Class). We were elated and managed around five hours sleep apiece before the delicious aroma of breakfast tempted us awake. This sleep made a massive difference to our tiredness levels, and the remaining two flights were punctual and comfortable, but alas, in Economy Class.



Car was waiting for us, courtesy of Larnaca Park & Fly, all valeted - and Leo made the trip home in 1 hour and 35 minutes. Stayed awake until Cyprus 9pm and slept well.



We are already planning 2018!!

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