It can be nice to have an early flight and to get there in good time, but with no flight options from East Midlands Airport, it meant flying from Birmingham Airport - and at 6.15am!
Thinking ahead, with having to be at check in at least two hours before departure and adding the journey time of 90 minutes plus a little bit of headroom for emergencies, we decided we would need to leave home by 2am at the latest.
In the event we managed to get away just after 1.30am and we were on our way.
It all went very smoothly and reminded us that the smaller airports can work much more quickly and we were airside with well over two hours to spare. The departure board was saying that it would be another 90 minutes or so before the gate would be announced, so there was time for a sort of breakfast and a hot drink.
It wasn't quite 4am so the big hitters such as Starbuck's and Costa were still closed and we found ourselves instead in Soho & Co where the general view was that the offer was better and at a better price than the with the big boys.
Waiting for the gate to be announced
Then it was time to board the plane and, just a few minutes after our scheduled departure time, we were off into the darkness.
So, could we snatch an hour or so of sleep on a 4-hour flight? Experiences varied, but it was pretty restful. After all this was a P&O charter flight and the guests were typically P&O - fairly quiet with a middle-aged majority and the child catcher had definitely been at work!
Suddenly the captain suggested we look to the left hand side and the sun was starting to rise. Sunrises at sea and in the air are some of the very best you'll see anywhere and we weren't disappointed.
As has been the case in the past on Jet2, halfway through the flight the crew announced that they were selling half price food. G and E were feeling peckish and had a lovely ham and cheese toastie each - James would have loved it!
We were losing height and the sea was getting ever nearer and the landscape all looked very familiar and then we were back on terra firma.
We were quickly through passport control and at the luggage carousel. Unlike P&O cruises to the Caribbean we had to collect our own bags and take them to the coach. The plus from all that was that our cases were on board the same vehicle as we were and they asked that we put hand luggage with the cases assuring us that we would be able to collect them when the coach reached the ship.
With the cases
on board the coach we were on them meant that we got them quickly, although
they seemed to leave them in the lift area and M&M kindly collected ours
and brought them to our room.
After a quick pit stop we went in search of food in the buffet/cafeteria. Half of it was closed and seating was not easy to find, but we managed to get a table and had lunch. By chance at that point the group of Marion’s Dutch relatives sat at a nearby table and there was then an excited reunion by them all and introductions for us.
Then it was back to our cabin and time to unpack and a freshen up in time for tea. Sadly there wasn’t even enough time for a quiet beer on the back deck.
All nine of us met up for tea and getting a table for nine meant a certain amount of table rearranging as we realised subsequently that the are table for even numbers of people from two upwards but mostly stopping at eight.
M&M said that they wanted to go to the evening show whereas all we really wanted was for our heads to be touching a pillow and so it was and a very busy day for us was finally over.
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