After spending a few hours exploring the Esplanade area of Alicante with Graham and Myriam we headed back south on the A70 for the 12 km drive to the airport. They were due to fly to Barcelona and then hire a car to drive to Graham's sister just across the French border in Argeles whilst I was flying to Italy to start the next chapter of my journey. Our flights were scheduled for 18h10 and 18h15 and were both with RyanAir. They left their hire car with a parking service outside the new departures hall.
The check in was fairly quiet and we proceeded to security within ten minutes. I was travelling in my hiking boots which are far too heavy and bulky to pack in any bag. I was asked to remove them whilst passing through security. I had travelled many times locally and internationally with my iPad in my cabin baggage and had never bothered to remove it and send it through the x-ray machine separately as a computer. This time the scanner picked it up and I was asked to go back, remove it from the bag and go through again. We did not go through a separate passport control.
After the security check the route to the boarding gates takes you temptingly through the middle of a large duty free shop. You are permitted to carry an airport shopping bag on to the plane in addition to your strict allowance of one bag. I could not shop as I had absolutely no space left in my medium sized suitcase for onward travel. It already contained hiking poles, gaiters, waterproofs, hat, gloves, compass etc - all the stuff required for 7 days of hiking at an altitude of over 2000 meters in the Dolomites. This alongside the cold weather clothes for the UK, hot weather clothes for Spain and some of the shopping that Myriam had lured me into buying in the Spanish markets........
Eventually my flight left Alicante fifty minutes late at around seven pm, but looking on the bright side at least it left. I am still nervous after the EasyJet flight which Peter and I had checked in for in June 2010 was cancelled when we were supposed to be flying from Luton to Inverness - that flight had clashed with a certain World Cup Soccer game between England and Germany and the crew had not pitched for work!!! Luckily, Spain did not have a Euro 2012 match scheduled.
At this point in the blog I would just like to divert your attention for a word of warning. At the Boarding Gate for RyanAir a guy was pulling passengers out of the queue and asking them to slot their cabin baggage into a metal frame to check that the dimensions did not exceed those advertised. The attention of the entire queue of waiting passengers was diverted as person after person had their luggage red carded. Whilst it relieved the boredom of waiting it was excruciatingly embarrassing for those that were being picked on. Weight did not seem to matter - most bags failed on thickness, some were successfully squeezed into the blue frame but then became stuck and could not be pulled out again without the assistance of friends - be warned. If your bag failed you were sent to pay excess baggage. You were also not permitted more than one piece of luggage, handbags had to go inside cases, not even pouches around the waist were allowed. Even if hidden they were discovered at the security check. Two enterprising ladies in the queue ahead when pulled aside and told that they had too many separate pieces of luggage went directly to the nearby airport shop and asked for plastic carrier bags. They then put all of their bits and pieces into a plastic bag and passed the test! Crazy!
The flight from Spain to Italy across the Mediterranean was surprisingly long at just over 2 hours. You forget how large the sea is, even this western end. The plane headed north east over Benidorm, the islands of Ibitha and Majorca and then along the south coast of France and Monaco before descending over Italy. Coming down towards Bologna airport I was impressed by the endless neat fields surrounding large square farm houses. I did not notice any signs of the recent earthquake. It was also greener than south eastern Spain.
Luckily you could get off down stairs at the front and the back of the plane as the Boeing 737-80 had been almost full. It had 3 seats either side of the aisle and 33 rows. I am always amazed at how many people need to travel. Two buses waited to carry us the short distance to the arrivals hall.
The baggage was already being put onto the conveyor as we arrived in the baggage hall. Once again there was no passport control or customers check, we simply walked out.
I was a bit apprehensive about arriving at the B&B late. They had only 3 rooms and although I had booked through RyanAir and received a confirmation from EasyToBook, I had not heard from the establishment itself and secondly they did not permit arrivals after 22h00.
I should have liked to have booked their shuttle but they did not have an email address. There was no point in my phoning as a guest review had mentioned that the elderly proprietor did not speak a word of English, and I almost no Italian.The lateness of the flight meant that I did not have time to walk to Via Licinia so I signaled for a taxi and showed the driver the address of the Accorsi B&B. The journey was about 4 kms and it cost €10.50.
When travelling alone I prefer to stay in inexpensive accommodation. You can save a lot of expense if you are prepared to forgo air conditioning and to share a bathroom. I paid €25 per night for bed and breakfast. Villa Accorsi was spotlessly clean and the rooms large. There were 2 bathrooms to be shared by the 3 bedrooms and there was a communal kitchen where you could help yourself to breakfast. Luckily a Polish lady arrived shortly after myself and she could understand some Italian. The owner had thought that I was she and indeed did not have my booking. Luckily there was space for me. Later she found my booking "in the computer".
I wrote out my directions to get to the old city centre and back to the B&B for the next day, I was looking forward to exploring.
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Location:Mediterranean
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