Day 393: Back to the Mainland

Our time in the Canaries was up, and it was time to head back to the mainland. Our flight wasn't until late, so we took our time in the morning and didn't leave the boat until around 11am. Two separate buses to the airport (that I'd been too lazy to get a few days earlier), where we arrived around 12:30pm for a 5:15pm flight. Obviously no check-in desk yet, so it was time for sitting around.

We mainly parked at Burger King since they had the comfiest seats, but I eventually went off to a cafe and had a coffee - mainly to charge my laptop at their power points. I also put together a video while I was there.

Checked in around 3:30pm, went through security and then sat around again at the other end before getting a bus out to the plane and taking off around 5:30pm. Plane was only half full, though annoyingly they'd seated most people together at the rear of the place. Since our row was fully occupied, Shandos moved a few rows in front and had three seats to herself!

Flight passed fairly uneventfully, though the landing was a bit bumpy in a heavy crosswind. Schnitzel barked on a plane for the first time ever, though that was because a bunch of people applauded when the plane came to a stop. I've no idea why - it wasn't the world's smoothest landing but I never really felt in danger.

Through the terminal with no dramas and got the shuttle bus out to our car hire place. It's a small local place and they have the dodgiest setup ever - they just give you the car and it's up to you to document the scratches and dings etc. They don't record what's already there, so if you get a scratched up car like ours and miss something, you're going to get charged for it. Despite the darkness I spent about 20 minutes thoroughly cataloguing every single scratch and mark, though I'm sure they'll find something. Not impressed with them - the girl at the desk had quite an attitude, and then charged my card in AUD rather than EUR without asking - meaning a $200 difference that just goes straight to Mastercard. It's illegal to do that, but it was 9:30pm and I didn't feel like an argument.

Drove a few minutes to the hotel where we checked in. Nothing fancy, just a typical airport hotel. We'd hoped to grab a snack downstairs in the bar, but it was jam packed with people watching a Barcelona game (and what looked like a school group). Very noisy, so we got a couple of bits to take away, then finally made it to bed around midnight. Long day!Read more