WEDNESDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2023

(Home – Manchester, UK)

We had all day to pack and get ready. Predictably, we were still dashing round in the last ten minutes, emptying bins, washing pots, and packing electrical cables into the hand luggage. Our first energetic hike of the holiday then followed, namely towing the cases uphill to the train station. Short, but very sharp!

We bought tickets, and proceeded to the platform just as the train pulled in. Once aboard, we sat down but soon moved seats again to find a cooler spot on the train, before settling in for the ride to Manchester. Farewell green hills!

After a leisurely 50 minutes, it was action stations again. Our train got in a few minutes late (nothing particularly unusual about that), meaning a connection of just 5 minutes to get from platform 1 to platform 13. We could either take the short route, involving two flights of stairs (with our cases) and possibly make the train…or the long way with travellators and lifts and definitely miss it. We took the short route and boarded the airport train with less than a minute to spare. It wouldn’t have been a problem as the next train was in another 25 minutes, but it was good not to have to wait.

Once at the airport station, we walked…and walked…and walked…to terminal 2. The travellators were all out of action and it was quite a long hike. It was extremely quiet in the terminal, but we eventually came to the Virgin check in desks. After a short wait, we were swiftly and pleasantly checked in and we watched the suitcases depart down the conveyor belt, less than 2 hours after leaving home, 18 hours to go to flight time.

Next, we headed for the hotel (Holiday Inn), which is very close to the terminal. Our room was cool and quiet and we had a brief rest before going to dinner. The hotel restaurant served Turkish and English food, which was very tasty. We returned to our room suitably full, to relax and hopefully get a good night’s sleep.

Train: 23 miles