We left our tale having boarded a plane with, amazingly, everyone we expected to be on it…on it! Don’t get me wrong, every one of our guests is an adult fully capable of getting on a plane (well except for my nephews, though at the age of nearly 1 Raff is already showing more navigational sense than Dom) we just didn’t believe that fate would actually allow it to happen. There had been one or two close calls after I was almost forced to choose between picking up Whisky and getting on the plane, but I think the airline’s decision to ground all the aircraft until I’d finished at Duty Free was a wise one.
Anyway, we’d made it, on time and without any casualties. We were ready to fly and, although all three of the nervous flyers seated together did take a good long look at Dom and I, perhaps pondering just how real the curse placed upon our heads was, they each took a deep breath and didn’t run for the emergency exit. I did notice that they all became the first people since flights began to actually watch the full aircraft safety video including the bit with how to secure your seatbelt though…
The flight was, in fact, uneventful although Dom and I were slightly displeased that the entire plane didn’t join in on our random song designed to entertain a screaming child… perhaps the lyrics “going down, down, down” weren’t to everyone’s tastes. That chap who did the strip search at customs also refused to join in as it happens, maybe he preferred Spanish guitar music… in hindsight I admit the dancing was awkward for all involved though, probably not a good time to try out the Beyonce ass shake for the first time…
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We did have one or two concerns about our pilot…
Anyway, we made it, the plane mostly in tact and we stepped outside the airport to catch the bus that had been arranged to pick us all up. Now, you’ve seen buses right? They’re the big long things that are huge and that you can’t fail to spot? Right, well HOW THE BLOODY HELL DID WE MANAGE TO MISPLACE OURS??!!! The bus was in fact nowhere to be seen and as at this time of night there was no other means of transport it was looking rather unfortunately like we would be hiring a series of taxis. After about half an hour of standing around, a lot of confused calls in Spanglish to the bus company and even more speaking English in an unnecessarily loud voice it turned out that it was waiting patiently for us just around the corner!
The moment we stepped onto the bus though a strange transformation took place… my retired soon-to-be father-in-law revealed just what he had clearly really been doing all this time when visiting the Island and changed before our very eyes into a bus tour guide. Had be been given a microphone and a bright green jacket we wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest as he launched into all manner of obscure facts about the Island. Now I say this not to mock, he was very good and very informative and everyone seemed to be listening eagerly. There were however one or two slightly concerned faces amongst the curse believers as our tour guide started to talk about how every room in the hospital has a nice sea view and the level of devastation the Volcano that forms the centre of the Island erupting would cause. I can, thankfully reveal though that neither proved useful information… although one of those almost was which we’ll talk about later.
Now, if you’ve ever considered booking apartments on other people’s behalf then DON’T!! Getting everyone into their apartment in a foreign country is about the most stressful thing you can do, particularly when you’ve got a bit of a walk and two rucksacks and 4 large suitcases to carry in the process. With Dom’s parents being the only ones fully in the know about whose apartment was whose and where to find them it seemed to take forever and with everyone tired and desperate to get in it was really the last thing anyone needed. Everyone was great about it, but sleep was definitely much needed for all concerned.
And so it was, that on a pleasant but knackering evening in La Palma (and after a few more problems to solve) that we finally reached our own apartment. Peter had told us previously (and repeatedly) that he had booked us the best apartment in the area… he wasn’t kidding…
