Travelling, Arriving and (Not) Bursting Into Flames (23rd June)

Here I am, gracing you with another post- I planned to do it yesterday, after writing 'Excuses, Excuses and Waffles!', but I was sidetracked halfway through with going out for birthday lunch for my aunt and the WiFi not working on my laptop when I got home... But after all that- here it is:

It's a bit weird writing this so long after it happened, I definitely prefer writing about the day on the day, but oh well.

On the 23rd June I went to work with my mum, I think the boring part of the day is covered in an earlier post 'Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents P*ss Poor Performance', so I'll start from when we got to the airport. The airport by the way was Southampton and the first time I've flown out of a regional airport, I couldn't believe how small it was after always flying from Gatwick and Heathrow. It was very pleasant (oh, I sound so old..), very quick without seemingly endless walking to find the gate.

When we arrived at the airport we spent about ten minutes trying to find a parking space using the age-old 'game' of 'Spot The Space', eventually we found one and headed to the elevators. We found Alice and her mum and weren't waiting long until Lizzie, Meg and Lizzie's parents were with us too. As we were about to say goodbye and head through security I remembered I'd left my hat and sunglasses in the car... oopsy.. but I sent my mother back to the car and she returned with said hat and glasses. Thanks, Mama, you'll be glad to know I definitely used them so your extra trip wasn't in vain!

Then we said our goodbyes and headed through security, I thanked my 'past-self' for sensibly packing my Tablet and liquids on the top of my bag- well done, me. Being me, of course I set off the body scanner beeper and therefore was subjected to a quick 'frisk search'. Not well done me for wearing a wire bra or something like that. Does anyone else feel very uncomfortable going through security and get really nervous your bag is going to be whisked away to be searched, even though you know you have absolutely nothing to hide and have done nothing wrong?! Then of course I feel awkward and think I'm looking shifty which makes me look even worse.... it's not good. But anyway, we all made it through security and it was fine! 

We went to Costa and whilst sharing a teacake and an Eton mess slice we listened to Lizzie read facts from one of her numerous chemistry books (and that's not school chemistry book!)- personally I'm not a chemistry fan, but she says the book was good, I even caught her chuckling a few times- who knew chemistry could be so funny?!

Alice also enjoyed a bit of plane spotting, which as I'm sure you can imagine would lose its appeal after a while, being in an airport for one... but oh no, Alice enjoyed it very much!

We eventually boarded the plane via some steps, which I've only ever done once before and found ourselves on the compact Flybe plane. I think it's the smallest plane I've ever been on, certainly on the other end of the scale to the huge planes we fly across the Atlantic on. The Flybe plane was just two and two seats across, perfect for the four of us gals to take selfies... And no, I'm not going to add any here!

Here's the compulsory plane wing photo for this trip...

I had a great time sitting with Meg, as she often does, she came up with a great way to pass the time. We spent two hours asking each other very awkward and personal questions- don't worry I'm definitely not posting the script to that convo on here..!! Alice and Lizzie read their science-related books and Alice cutely fell asleep on Lizzie's shoulder. 

Before long we were coming in to land in Palma, and it was S.T.U.N.N.I.N.G. The islands looked beautiful and the water was an incredible shade of blue, the kind that just makes you desperate to jump in and float for hours. I think one of the things I was most looking forward to was the sea and the prospect of swimming and snorkelling in it. We noticed that the world did look different to the land we'd seen disappearing under the clouds once we'd taken off; it was distinctly more 'orangey'. Unfortunately the windows were too grubby to allow for a clear photo of the sea as we came in to land... so here's one much closer to the ground:

View coming in to land

Meg, having worried she would promptly step off the plane and burst into flames due to the heat, had said her goodbyes to me and made her predictions for my future..depressing I know, but don't worry, she didn't burst into flames and we did all make it home in one piece! 

We walked through the airport, which was very nice (although quite a long walk) and it was good not to have to wait for baggage reclaim as we only had hand luggage. We made it outside and luckily we didn't have to walk far or wait long for a couple of taxis. Soon we were off through Palma, heading for a well-known hotel across from the marina. As you often do, I noticed the differences in driving in this foreign country and held my breath for a second when we were almost crushed- but once again, all injuries avoided! The Cathedral and marina looked very impressive as we got closer and closer to our stop.

We made it to Postremo and unloaded our bags. The boat was pretty impressive... Meg and I shared one set of bunk beds in a cabin and Alice and Lizzie shared Lizzie's double bed in her cabin. 

On Postremo

After a quick look round we walked to a shop we affectionately named 'a Spanish equivalent of Lidl', we bought breakfast food for the morning in there. I do love a good chocolate croissant :)

Later that evening we walked along the water edge to a place I think was called 'The Boathouse' or something like that. We had dinner there, anyone heading in that direction, I highly recommend the vegetable risotto, it was very good. And I'm sure Alice won't mind me putting in a little reminder to be careful when pouring Tabasco into tomato juice... Let's just say I think she regretted being a little heavy handed... :P Alice also had some cute burgers, you're probably wondering how burgers can be cute..Well, let me introduce Alice's coloured burgers:

Cute coloured burgers

After that we went back to the boat and all convened in Lizzie and Alice's cabin for a spot of selfie-ing (does that work?!) with my new selfie stick purchase from Venice. I can't believe how many photos we took with that thing... It was however good when we wanted to peer through the hatch above the bed but were too comfy, we just poked up the selfie stick and snapped away. Whoever called our generation lazy...We're just resourceful!

Palma at night: View from the boat courtesy of the selfie-stick

And I think that takes me right up until we had worn ourselves out and retreated back to our own cabins to sleep. 

I think unfortunately it's a little too difficult to finish up with what I've learnt as it was almost two weeks ago, I did however know that I was going to have an incredible time with my best friends and know it would absolutely be a holiday to remember.

Sorry it has taken so long to start writing these. As I've said, writing the day of the event is much easier and hopefully that will be possible in Florida. Talking of which, my phone reminded me we are less than 2 weeks away from heading State-side, so that's very exciting, even I, who packs at the last minute is thinking about getting my suitcase out soon... 

And on that note I am going to go, probably to start on the next post. 

L 
xxx