Belfast to Malaga to Almería

Ken and I had to be at Belfast International Airport for 0630, so it was an early rise at 0400 for us. Patricia got us there in good time, and we got our bags checked and were through security in no time at all.

We treated ourselves to an Ulster fry and bought some sandwiches for the bus journey to Almería.

The flight was exactly the kind of flight you want to be on...uneventful. we had the bonus of extra legroom because we were sitting at an emergency exit. I was really looking forward to this trip, but as you can see from the pictures, the excitement was too much for Ken.

The sun was shining in Malaga, and we were on time... until we got to the hall for passport control. Malaga is, of course, a popular holiday destination and transport hub. There were hundreds of people in front of us queuing to get their passports stamped. Thank you to everyone who voted for Brexit.

It was easy to find our bags on the carousel. Our backpacks were in glow in the dark bright travel bags. By now we had about an hour to get to the bus station, buy our tickets and find the right bus stance. A guy on the glight had kindly told us how to get there by public transport but there just wasn't time.

So, we took a taxi, and that was the right choice. We got there with 30 mins to spare, so, no stress running for a bus. In fact, we had time to eat our sandwiches.

The bus journey was as eventful as the flight. We could see the Sierra Nevadas in the distance and noticed snow on the peaks, hoping it would be gone in a few weeks when we get there.

Once in Almería we encountered a problem. The albergue we planned to stay in was closed. We phoned the hospitalera, who reminded us of the need to book. She recommended another one, so we set off using Google maps (helpful about 50% of the time), and 30 minutes later... we were told they were full. He recommended another one about a 30-minute walk away, and so we set off again.

Just then, the Hospitalera from our preferred albergue phoned to see how we got on. She started phoning around places to see if anyone had room. In the meantime, we continued on to the one that was recommended. The hospitalera phoned back, she hadn't been able to get a room for us, but was glad we were sorted. We confirmed that we would stay with her tomorrow night, and that turned out to be a great decision.もっと詳しく