Blogs from Gatwick Airport, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom, Europe

We have an early afternoon flight today from Dubai to London Gatwick, so had plenty of time to relax in the plush hotel before going to the airport. At about 11.30am, we boarded the hotel shuttle back to the airport. Although we have not bought anything since the flight yesterday, our hold bags weighed in today at two kilograms more. Not sure what has happened there as we had not added anything to them. Dubai International Airport is very compartmentalized so we decided it would be best to find the gate before getting anything to eat. Unfortunately, when we got there all we could find was a Costa Coffee. Got a couple of toasted sandwiches and some hot drinks. Not really what we planned but they were nice. Our Emirates flight left about 20 minutes late ... read more

Having breakfast at airport after longest journey in history from Nuneaton to Gatwick - 8hrs!. Flight now delayed by 90 mins. Will we ever get there. No big deal. Will be coming back thru non European channel.... read more

On our original travel plans, we should have been arriving at Gatwick this afternoon on an EasyJet plane from Tenerife South. EasyJet were really excellent and refunded the fare for us on compassionate grounds. Unfortunately, last week we had to be in UK for George´s Mums funeral, so our holiday got extended by almost one week. Today we arrived at Gatwick Airport by hire car that we had picked up from Birmingham Airport last Wednesday. They gave the hire car a good inspection then we were pleased when they confirmed there was no damage. This is always a tense moment as we have had some bad experiences previously with UK car hire companies. As the car park in the Gatwick North Terminal is still shut because of ongoing structural issues, the car was returned to the ... read more

Aren’t airports strange places? They’re unlike anything in the real world. People hurrying to get in a queue of a hundred others who hurried there before them. People in clothes they’d never dream of wearing in public anywhere else - the vivid-pink jogging suit with matching trainers, the bright yellow-and-red-check cap with the oversized peak, the Rupert-like golf trousers with sandals. People of all shapes, sizes and colours, speaking languages you’ve never heard before. Pints of beer from the bar at eight o’clock in the morning. Fast-food, slow service, ‘have a nice day’. Harrods, Accessorize, Boots (et al) in an up-market high-street with prices to match. Like casinos in Las Vegas, there’s only artificial light, so it could be daytime, it could be night. Who knows? Who cares? It’s an airport. The signs all proclaim that ... read more

9:45 PM London, on the last day of September in 2009, was pretty forgettable. By the time we flew away, the sun had failed to break through the clouds, but nor had any rain. It was just grey and dull, nothing more. It wasn’t particularly cold, but nor was it the kind of weather that got men of a certain age wearing Hawaiian shirts and sandals. The three hour flight to Iceland gradually saw these clouds fade away to be replaced by bright sunshine by the time the Atlantic Ocean had made way for the southern coast of Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula. The majority of our preparations for Iceland had revolved around the assumption that it was going to be pretty cold, with it being just below the Arctic Circle and with us going outside of Iceland’s ... read more