We drove from Paphos to Larnaka for our flight to Barcelona. It took 1 hour 45 minutes from door to door. We were not going to be in Spain for long so we only had small carry-on bags. We were early so we headed into the airport, sat at a table in the food court area and ate our picnic lunch. We checked in online so there was no need to stand in line to check in. Once we were done eating we headed through security and immigration. Leslie's agent was surprised to see how long we had been in Cyprus, much longer than your average week or two of other travelers We walked around a bit waiting for the gate to be assigned. Many imagined stories were created as we counted down the minutes. The Wizz Airline app notified that the plane will be late and it will be using a gate that was hidden around a corner from the other gates. The airport board finally caught up to the app and when we got over to the gate it was already full of people. So we set up shop in the priority line and waited, and waited and waited. WizzAir, yes that is actually the name of the airline, does not have first class, business class or premium economy. All they have is "Priority Class" and no class. Priority allows a carry on trolly bag and a small bag and these passengers get to boards first. We have traveled enough to know the pitfalls in such a system. The flight attendants use the first two sets of overheads for their own baggage and to store the safety demonstration items and on this flight they had also stored the bathroom supplies, TP and paper towels. So the folks who sat in the bulkhead seats had to go back three or four rows to find overhead space. We were #3 and 4 on the plane so we had space for our stuff. Phewww. They repeatedly announced that this was a full flight and that the attendants have the authority to move your smaller bags and force you to put them under the seat in front of you. They then proceeded to try this with my backpack but I refused. It was not a small bag, it would not fit under the seat in front of me as that space was already filled by my feet! Then just as it seemed we were going to be able to take off, the door had been closed and the cross check completed a problem came up. It turned out that a passenger wanted to leave the plane for "personal reasons." This was a first for us. To leave a plane after the door has been closed required permission from the captain, a signed release form and of course a return of the stairs. Once this passenger had left the flight attendants opened up all the overhead bins and went bag by bag asking each passenger to identify who owns each bag. This took a good 45 minutes all told and our already late flight was not close to two hours late taking off. The only bright point of this four hour flight was that the middle seat remained empty for the entire flight. We had to circle a few times when we reached Barcelona but we landed, passed through immigration and got right into a taxi. Off to the hotel we go.
I could not say it any better
A large church
Funky sculptures at the airport
Our picnic spot
Masking was needed on this crowded plane
Approaching Barcelona
Our Hotel is the Mercure Condor
A fancy M
The namesake condor
It was been 3 years and 241 days since we began our Migration
