Flying to Split

Unusually for me I had decided to fly from Luton Airport as my Virtual Tourist friends were doing that. It should be a fairly easy journey from home for me, taking the Tube to Kings Cross and train to the airport. But it was a Bank Holiday weekend and the Piccadilly line was closed for engineering work. So I caught a bus to Ealing Broadway, Elizabeth line to Farringdon and picked up the Thameslink service there.

Having allowed plenty of time for this convoluted journey I arrived too early to drop my bag, so I had a coffee while waiting for my friends. Once they joined me we went through security together. We followed a very long snaking queue to get to the checkpoint but after that all was plain sailing. We found somewhere to have a meal and sat over this for a while, catching up on news.

The gate was announced on time and although we had to wait some time, unlike our flight to Cagliari, speedy boarding worked and I was first on the plane! I had a window seat near the front next to a friendly girl from Chicago. We sat for ages near the runway as air traffic was congested overhead, but eventually we were cleared for take-off.

The flight itself was only a bit over two hours but it dragged. Partly because we'd sat so long on the ground before take-off, but mainly because I'd stupidly not thought to download my Kindle library to my new tablet! But it was enlivened at one point by some beautiful views of the Alps in late afternoon sun.

By the time we landed it was just dark. We walked to the arrivals area, queued for not too long at border control and arrived at the baggage carousel just as our bags were arriving. Our pre-booked transfer driver was waiting for us and we smiled to see that instead of my friend's name Josephine Hill, his sign said Josephine Kill!

The drive to our hotel took about twenty minutes with our friendly driver chatting a bit about sights in Split, food we should try and recommended ice cream. When we got to the hotel, Azur Palace (which despite the name is more boutique hotel than Palace!) he wasn't quite sure where the entrance was in a maze of old streets, but a woman came out to meet us, checked us in and showed us to our rooms.

My room was great - large, clean and modern with plenty of space for my things, a smart bathroom and comfortable bed. I had a quick chat with Chris, unpacked and caught up with messages before bedtime. Tomorrow we would explore Split!