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Stop 3 was El Gallo Ronco and this was far and away my favourite stop, all the dishes were really good
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The fourth and final stop was El Chinitas Restaurant. For me, this was the disappointment of the evening, A very bland fish salad followed by rubbery fish pieces
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...866fcf7e3.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e676ad9ee.jpeg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...89489346d.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...152eae3f3.jpeg Apparently the other tour group had gone to the restaurant I visited on my last trip, so, I chose badly. Or did I? This group knit incredibly well which is why there has been no updates. A brilliant evening, we had a load of fun throughout the entire tour. It is now four hours into the tour and I’ve said my goodbyes and now waiting for an Uber to take me back to the hotel. It has been a great way to kill an evening. |
And finally back to the hotel and a JD and coffee to close out the evening. This is a double.. that’s a pretty impressive pour of JD for €7!
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...73f89d460.jpeg I am going to enjoy these and then head to bed, I need to be up in around seven and a half hours time to head to the airport ready for the next thrilling instalment! |
Good morning from Malaga where it is that time of the day where people don’t know if it is day or night.
The hotel offers a ‘small breakfast’ from 04:00 to 07:30 and then the full breakfast thereafter. Small breakfast is basically toast/pastries and coffee, which works for me at this time of day. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9b9a81dfd.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3fafbdb03.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8eba16496.jpeg There are a couple of Ryanair pilots ready to head to the airport and chatting about their line checks today, and on the flip side of the night, as I returned to my room I passed a well dressed couple were trying to get into their room and they offered a cheery ‘good evening’ as I passed :) Plan of the day could not be simpler, in an excess of caution it is: get over to the airport early and lounge in the lounge |
Malaga airport is BIG. The checkin area takes easily five minutes to get from one end to the other
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...15608c115.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...71b4cb78e.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...33d44bb49.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6c422333d.jpeg The security area was somewhat amusing as usual. The couple ahead of me dumped cases and backpacks into trays and got all the way to the machine before they were told to take laptops and liquids out. Cue a display of huffing and puffing that was worthy of an award. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...047817a0a.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...82ae4ca1b.jpeg Once through security you are greeted with the almost inevitable duty free rat run. One surprise, the alcohol section was completely taped off. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...406dd5930.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6c340d6d5.jpeg And finally into departures where you are greeted by this subtle establishment! https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ebdaf84dc.jpeg Turning right, towards the D gates, leads you to the Sala VIP lounge, opposite Giraffe world https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f27165612.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...44d1534b2.jpeg |
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https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8518e1ad5.jpeg A cold spread of rolls, sandwiches and charcuterie, and a basic bar. One bit of oddness, there’s fridges full of crown corked soft drinks, and no bottle opener https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...431341bc6.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...35e91b7de.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5d31693bd.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d64195d16.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e2a68816f.jpeg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cbe0733c2.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f131fef5b.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...51f5e989d.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b06e60d6d.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...66679be12.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...96e17c0f1.jpeg |
From where I was sitting I had a clear line of sight to Burger King across the way and it slowly drew me in.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...84bf26b5e.jpeg And I succumbed to the worst and most expensive BK of my life :( Barely luke warm, and soggy, a very bad choice. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1f72f9088.jpeg There was only one way I was going to be able to console myself after this culinary catastrophe https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...859a7a2da.jpeg 9:30am, it must be beer o’clock somewhere :) |
A few minutes after 10am I decided to head down to the gate. As I passed duty free and headed in the direction of the B gates there was this odd queue that went on, and on, and on, and the more I passed the more certain I became that I was passing the queue for passport control. Eventually I reached the tensa maze, having walked past many hundreds of people
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...50611a871.jpeg The actual entrance to the tense-maze was a bit of a maelstrom and I unashamedly skipped the entire line and slipped into the maze. And, frankly, a good job that I did, because I arrived at last call, fully forty five minutes after leaving the lounge! https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8eaa74f65.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...75f9c942f.jpeg Seat 15D today for the return to Newcastle, an exit row on this 737-8 https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e03acf8c0.jpeg My neighbour is a petite lady again, so at least there is shoulder space. It is now one minute to our scheduled departure. The door to the flight deck is still open, as is door 1L so I guess the holding out for missing passengers that didn’t skip the queue :D Worth noting, the boarding music is horrible, no idea what it is but I could do without. Next Stop: Newcastle |
Oh JapesUK BK in an airport terminal, you’re a GGL for gods sake, what were you thinking? Maybe that JD last night still had a grip on you🤭
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AGP-NCL
BY1733 G-TUMZ They eventually gave up waiting and closed the doors at 11:15. We then had a very very chirpy pilots announcement referencing the delays at security and a minute later the safety demo was underway and we were pushing back for this two and a bit hour flight home. A short taxi but a bit of a wait to get to the runway saw us in the air by 11:35 local. It was fully twenty minutes before the BoB run started and it was preceded by a ridiculously long announcement of all the various deals and offers, and closed with the warning that this would be the only Bar service on this flight. The Bob service started from both the front and back of the cabin and met at row 16, and it was a full hour before they reached us. Thought I’d best stock up as there was to be only one service :D https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7778d2e20.jpeg The cheese and ham toastie was absolutely dreadful, one bite of that was more than enough. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...69004e44a.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e3d7ba096.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a67d17517.jpeg Once they had done a rubbish run they started to do the retail sales and this took an amazing amount of time, forty five Minutes or more, with the trollies meeting at row 8. And that was the crew done for the day. One of them strolled to and fro a few times with a rubbish sack, the others were sat chatting. The remainder of the flight was spent finishing the Madri and staring out of the window until we landed pretty much exactly on time at 13:14. I can sum TUI up in one sentence, awful food, warm beer, and indifferent crew. I’ll not be bothering with TUI again. And now, as we trundle around the airfield, the only question left is ‘exactly how bad will it be in border control?’ |
Dodgy mobile signal - dup
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Originally Posted by atcodave
(Post 36444466)
Oh JapesUK BK in an airport terminal, you’re a GGL for gods sake, what were you thinking? Maybe that JD last night still had a grip on you🤭
Back to BA next week. |
Ten minutes after landing and we are still sat waiting for buses!
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e9fe7786d.jpeg This is a very different Newcastle airport experience to the one that I am generally used to |
Finally in an Uber and heading home fifty minutes after the wheels hit the ground. A very similar arrivals experience as last time when I came in on easyJet. It feels like Newcastle needs more Egates for international arrivals as almost the entire plane followed the UK passport route, and clearly the one before and the one after had similar loads. Not really a surprise, I cannot imagine Newcastle being the UK entry point for many international travellers.
Time to sum up. Of the four LCCs that I’ve flown with my personal ranking on a very small sample set would be:
It was a fun experiment, but now, after a few weeks of messing around on different carriers, it is back to normal and good old BA for the most part henceforth. |
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