Travelling back to Cádiz after Christmas

It would seem that you really can’t take us anywhere, especially on a plane, without there being some form of luggage drama, so we really should have been expecting it on our journey back to Cádiz. Kath, Claire and I decided to meet in Birmingham as it was easy for us all to get there, stay at my parents house for the night then catch the 6am flight from Birmingham airport to Malaga, so that we could get the afternoon bus back to Cádiz. So after a few hours sleep we woke up to be dropped at the airport by my dad, I said goodbye to my mum and Bramble, woke up my brother to say goodbye (aren’t I such a lovely sister?). Once at the airport we headed for check in where we encountered our first luggage issues, Kath’s bag was overweight by 3kg and Ryan Air wanted to charge her £60 for it. So instead we opened up her case and took out some heavier items and distributed them amongst the three of us in our hand luggage, I got some hair straighteners, a jacket and a shoe, lucky me! The case was then just under the weight limit so we headed on through security, I was pleased that my packed lunch from my mum wasn’t confiscated from me, but upset to see that the chocolate roll my nan had sent me had become a little bit squashed.

We had some time to waste in the departure lounge before our flight, so went for a wander around Boots to pick up a meal deal for when we were feeling peckish, then had a browse in WHSmiths. Once we had done that it was time to head towards our gate for boarding. Once we arrived it was time to run the dreaded gauntlet with the Ryan Air staff who are always intent on catching you out with your hand luggage. Kath was particularly worried, as hers was definitely the wrong size, the woman on the gate was taking no prisoners, asking almost everyone to check the size of their bag. I was asked to check my bag, and thank goodness it was okay, somehow Kath managed to sneak her way past without being stopped and so we avoided a second luggage issue – for now.

Surprisingly the plane was packed, so we were unable to sit all together, Kath and I sat together and Claire sat opposite us and one row behind. I was unfortunately sat next to a lady who was apparently a nervous flyer, she cried through take off and landing, which made her nervous to the point of flatulence, which was unpleasant. On top of this we had a pair of terror twins in front of us, who couldn’t sit still for more than two seconds and wouldn’t shut up the entire way. As if Ryan Air flights weren’t unpleasant enough already, we were kicking ourselves for not paying the £5 extra and getting the Monarch flight that left 15 minutes later than ours.

The flight itself was uneventful apart from the masses of advertising over the speakers the whole time. We managed to get broken sleep most of the way, despite the uncomfortable seating, but I can safely say we were all very relieved when we landed and were able to get off the plane. After waiting what seemed like an age our checked-in luggage finally arrived on the carousel. Once we had put away some of Kath’s things that we had been carrying around in our backpacks we headed for the airport train station. None of us could quite remember which train station we were headed to, but one of the names sounded familiar so we opted for that one. We bought tickets at €1,60 each and headed down in the lift to the platform. A short train ride later we were at the right train station, the same one we had waited in opposite the bus station before, so we headed straight to McDonalds for some lunch as we were all hungry by this point.

After the food we headed over to the bus station to buy tickets for the 1.30pm bus, but at €26 they were a bit more expensive than they were last time. We were quite early, so waited around for a while, reading and playing a game of the chase enjoying being back in the warm sunshine. The bus arrived and was mercifully quite empty, we nabbed the seats at the back so that we could each stretch out. I slept pretty much the whole way back, making up for the early morning, but woke just as we were getting back to Cádiz, it felt really nice, like I was coming home.

Once we had all got home and started to unpack Claire discovered a problem, the case wasn’t hers. It was an identical case, but instead contained some mans clothing. I almost thought that Claire had made it on a plane journey without having a luggage issue, no such luck! After some frantic phone calls to the coach station, all of which were unanswered we headed down with the case to return it. The man on the desk seemed pretty clueless, but luckily a woman came out and helped us, she took Claire’s details and assured us that once her case was returned she would contact us. She also asked if there was any contact information for the man who owned the case, but all that was there was his name. It was such a coincidence that there had been someone on the same coach as us with exactly the same Primark suitcase as Claire, who had flown into Malaga airport on the same day (according to his luggage label). With the festivals the woman thought it may be at least Tuesday before Claire would be reunited with her suitcase. However the following day we got a phone call to say that Claire’s case had been returned and that the man had left his number in case Claire wanted to meet him for a drink. This scared us quite a bit, as the contents of Claire’s case (including 2 One Direction calendars and a Snow White costume) would lead you to believe that she was a young girl. Luckily the call came before Claire had to invest in emergency supplies.

So, if you want to glean anything from this story it would be this:

-          Travelling in Spain is a lot nicer than in England, it is nice and sunny. So if you get the opportunity to fly from your nearest airport then take it.

-          If you can avoid travelling with Ryan Air, then please do, for your sake. They weren’t voted the worst airline this year for no reason

-          Make your luggage as unique as possible, wrap funny coloured ribbons around it, write your name all over it, whatever. Also, remember to leave your name and contact details in your case.