The flight from Gatwick wasn’t due until 2.15 pm, but I am nothing if not paranoid about being late. After a fitful night’s sleep and a reasonably decent buffet breakfast, we were on our way to the long term parking at the airport’s North Terminal in dreadful weather. I shall be glad to get away from this……

Found our way there without too much difficulty and the number plate recognition system worked, thank goodness. We eventually parked in Zone T, Rows 10/11. Just so you know…… We left from bus stop T1 along with about 15 other wet and bedraggled passengers, deposited at the terminal building some 10 minutes later.

Up in the lift to Easyjet check-in. I had pre-booked our seats – sadly not contiguous – and were entitled to so-called Speedy Boarding. Erm – the queue was colossal, longer than the standard queue. In fact, one guy moved to the latter queue because his wife was moving faster than he was! However, we were in plenty of time, so we just stayed where we were. 

As most people know, these days one has to check one’s own bags in on those infernal machines. My heart sank as we approached, as I always seem to cock it up in some way. However, to my surprise and delight, the bags were labelled and dispatched to the nether regions of North Terminal with little trouble.

I had also booked Premium Security for faster transit through the hated gamut of the jobsworths there. I sailed through, which always makes me feel good. Jean had some trouble with some of her unguents but joined me about 15 minutes later.

We still had about 2 hours before the flight, so time for the bar after purchasing some water, snacks and reading material for Jean. Found a very congenial spot and settled down in time honoured fashion…..

Comfortably in time for our departure gate and through Speedy Boarding expeditiously. Then a long wait whilst those with reduced mobility were seated first.

I had a seat booked in the front row to give me space for my long legs, with Jean about 4 rows behind me. Very jokey crew, but actually in a good way. The plane left around 35 minutes late, and we settled down for an uneventful 4 hour flight. 

Landed in Puerto de Rosario, capital of Fuerteventura, and breezed through the minimal passport checks. But we got a stamp in our passports, which Jean always likes!

We had pre-booked a transport to the hotel via Trailfinders, but there was no-one around to collect us. After much puzzled casting around, we joined the queue at the Holiday Taxis booth. Fortunately, the lady there knew what she was doing and directed us to a particular minibus. We were then driven in splendid isolation northwards to our hotel, the Barceló Corralejo Bay, a journey of about half an hour through some very arid and rocky scenery.

Checked in with very little trouble and found ourselves in a very nice room, the centrepiece of which was a humungous jacuzzi! We’d booked a room with a hot tub, but this certainly exceeded our expectations!

Next priority was to find some food as it was around 8.45 pm and we were hungry. The dining room was pretty full and we found pretty quickly that it was self service. Good food, though, accompanied by a nice bottle of Tempranillo.

I am already feeling smug about having booked all inclusive terms here…

Thence to the Lobby Bar to listen to a woman in bright orange trousers gyrating karaoke style to some well known bangers. Not bad, particularly as it was accompanied by a very nice G&T.

Finally made it back to the room, unpacked rudimentarily, and fell asleep in a nice comfortable bed almost immediately.