As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have never missed a getting up time and usually don't need an alarm although I always set one just in case. But neither do I get much sleep as I continually wake up. It's not so bad when you need to get up after it's light as that gives you a decent point of reference, but if you need to rise when it's still dark, you don't know whether it's midnight, 1 am, 2 am or 3 am. And that was certainly the situation here.
We needed to get off to Gatwick by leaving Eastbourne around 3.15 am, so I was up just before 2. Well I was awake and I didn't see any point staying in bed as I wasn't going to get any more sleep. It also gave us time to re-,pack, although getting up that early means my stomach starts doing somersaults.
But all didn't actually go smoothly although the herd instinct came into play to get through Gatwick. Take shoes off, take belts off, don't worry if your trousers fall down as long as you don't have anything stuck down your pants (no comments please).
The other threequarters got stopped by the scanner and why I hear you ask? She had left a couple of tissues in her pocket. Dangerous things tissues. She had to go through the scanner clutching said tissues in her hand.
Then we sat on the aircraft for the best part of two hours waiting for take off whilst French traffic controllers sorted themselves out. In the words of the other threequarters: "it's not just our country that is in an absolute mess."
All this always happens at peak holiday times of course. Wonder why that is.
We were met at the airport by a taxi and it took 40 minutes to get to Alfaix. Where the heck is Alfaix I hear you ask?
Well really it's in the middle of nowhere. We flew into Almeria which is a largish town. Alfaix is a complex belonging to the Holiday Property Bond which we invested in a number of years ago and we have never regretted that decision. In no way is HPB timeshare. All the properties are of a universally high quality. You just know that the accommodation will be good and so it was after we had booked in and found our linked apartment - linked with that of our son and fiancee.
We have a studio room, kitchen and en suite and, most importantly, a large balcony with table and chairs. And the site has an indoor and outdoor restaurant which we sampled in the evening.