Majorca - finally


Our boat trip ended at Holyhead, the very north-west corner of Wales. Here we had to leave Robin & Brigitte to carry on to the Isle of Man and we headed back by train to London Gatwick.

England and Wales are beautiful and the train is a wonderful way to enjoy the beautiful - in spite of the countryside being browner than it has since 1976.

We got to Gatwick on Friday afternoon, a week after school had broken up for the year. It was 36C. The hottest day in London for years. It was one of the busiest days of the year for flights. Then planes started being delayed. No planes left the airport for several hours. No announcements - just delays.

Our plane was finally called for boarding about 2 hrs after we were due to leave. Then we sat in the boarding area for another hour until they told us the plane was cancelled. 35 flights cancelled out of Gatwick, a similar number out of Stanstead and probably Heathrow too. There were very heavy thunderstorms all over London causing major disruptions.

Easyjet said that they would pay for hotels and for alternate flights. It took 2 days before we could get another flight to Majorca – and it cost about $NZ1500 for the 2 of us for a 2.5 hr flight! We just have to see if their promise becomes a reality.

So we spent an interesting day around Box Hill and Dorking on the south side London. Very attractive area with nice shops and houses.

Finally made it to Majorca Sunday afternoon. Its hot here – 35C.

Majorca get 10 million visitors per year (over twice the number NZ gets). I counted 8 planes coming in within about 15 mins. It’s the height of the summer season so its crowded.

It’s a very European destination. Almost no Asian or Chinese. Lots of hotels and apartment buildings along the coast but local houses very traditional (and old) Spanish style. Roads very good. Prices reasonable.

Beaches OK ((by NZ standards). A lot are pebbly rather than sand.


 

Tomorrow back to Madrid. Pick up our Eurolease rental and head for Barcelona

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