Off to Greece
Sep. 13th, 2016 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylBreakfast, tea and a gentle start to the day before catching the 46 bus to St Pancras. After waiting behind an elderly gentleman for a solid ten minutes while he used the self-service machine to buy a string of tickets - an event which, finally, resulted in a great whoop of victory - I managed to buy a ticket to Gatwick in time to get a delayed train to Three Bridges.
The journey was good and the view of St Paul's from Blackfriars station - situated on a bridge over the river - was fantastic. The train ran normally until East Croydon before switching schedules and running fast and terminating at the airport - much to the surprise of the man who'd been listen to loud music when the driver announced the change. At Gatwick I made my way to the north terminal, dropped off my hold baggage, ate lunch, and went through to departures.
After killing a certain amount of time there, my gate finally came up and I walked quite some way to EasyJet's section. Going over the bridge, I realised we were being accompanied by a stag party, but fortunately they went to the Larnaca flight. The gate area was sweltering - big windows in full sunlight with no air conditioning - and people soon started to wilt. The schedule departure time came and went with no signs of an aircraft. A plane eventually appeared, a group of people got off, and we got on about half an hour behind schedule. After waiting another half hour or so, we eventually took off for Kos.
Arriving around half an hour late, I got off quickly, grabbed my bag and rushed to the taxi rank. I asked to go to Kos Marina, checked the price - the driver gave me the right answer, which was that the cost was fixed at 37 euros - and off we went. The driver was a keen fan of the Premier League, forcing me to bluff myself silly, but it was a good, quick journey, and I got their in one piece, just as he was starting to explain that Aristotle was an alien.
The driver dropped me at the base of quay D and within seconds I'd found the boat and was climbing aboard. After a quick catchup with my parents over a snack - hummus on rye bread - we called it a night.
The journey was good and the view of St Paul's from Blackfriars station - situated on a bridge over the river - was fantastic. The train ran normally until East Croydon before switching schedules and running fast and terminating at the airport - much to the surprise of the man who'd been listen to loud music when the driver announced the change. At Gatwick I made my way to the north terminal, dropped off my hold baggage, ate lunch, and went through to departures.
After killing a certain amount of time there, my gate finally came up and I walked quite some way to EasyJet's section. Going over the bridge, I realised we were being accompanied by a stag party, but fortunately they went to the Larnaca flight. The gate area was sweltering - big windows in full sunlight with no air conditioning - and people soon started to wilt. The schedule departure time came and went with no signs of an aircraft. A plane eventually appeared, a group of people got off, and we got on about half an hour behind schedule. After waiting another half hour or so, we eventually took off for Kos.
Arriving around half an hour late, I got off quickly, grabbed my bag and rushed to the taxi rank. I asked to go to Kos Marina, checked the price - the driver gave me the right answer, which was that the cost was fixed at 37 euros - and off we went. The driver was a keen fan of the Premier League, forcing me to bluff myself silly, but it was a good, quick journey, and I got their in one piece, just as he was starting to explain that Aristotle was an alien.
The driver dropped me at the base of quay D and within seconds I'd found the boat and was climbing aboard. After a quick catchup with my parents over a snack - hummus on rye bread - we called it a night.
