Sunday 21/5/2017.
We are off to Fuengirola! We got up at 6:15 a.m. as Neen was picking us up at 7:30. The journey to Bristol airport was uneventful, apart from them closing the Brynglas tunnels, but the diversion didn’t take long. It wasn’t Venice repeated. Baggage drop off was incident-free, and Cat actually got through security without being patted down. Lynx and Neen didn’t escape the bleeper’s attention. By the time we’d done our makeup, we had 15 minutes until our gate opened. We heard “Keith Allen” being called over the tannoy and joked that it was the actor.
Lynx was right at the back of the plane in the very last seat and sandwiched between two large men. The man to her left was very nice. She couldn’t put her case up because everyone was boarding, so had to wait for them to pass. He kindly put her tripod, camera and Kindle on her seat for her. The guy to her right blocked most of the window every he put his arm up, which was a lot.
Cat sat between two women and behind a whinging, snotty baby. It turned out, the person called over the tannoy was Keith Allen, the actor. The guy to Lynx’s right was his security. He was filming something in Spain. Keith was across the aisle in the window seat. We would’ve thought the production company would have shelled out on something a bit more upmarket than Ryanair Economy. And that they wouldn’t have separated him from his security.
Fuengirola, here we come!
The landing was a bit rough, which seems to be the case with Ryanair flights.
The pullup handle on our suitcase broke, so we had to wheel it by the fixed handle, which isn’t easy. Our friend, Cinta, who we’re staying with, met us at arrivals then joined us on the shuttle bus to fetch our hire car. They’ve upgraded us from a Polo to a white Toyota Verso, which is much bigger. We were not happy. We drive a Smart ForTwo, Renault 4s and our mum’s Mini Cooper convertible. So not only do we have to adjust to driving on the right, we have to get used to a bigger car too. Our spacial awareness will be very unaware.
Neen drove out of the rental place, as she’s used to a big car, and driving in Spain. Not sure we’ll master traversing roundabouts the wrong way. It’s all very terrifying. It wasn’t that far to Cinta’s. Her apartment is lovely with beautiful stone tiles on the floor. We met her husband, Mark, her dad, and her dad’s carer. Neen left to go to her uncle’s, where she was staying, so Cinta took us on a tour of Fuengirola. She’s not far from the beach. People seemed to love our outfits, so they probably don’t get many gothic people around here.
Gelato, por favor
We found a vegan gelato place and got fruit lollies – strawberry and raspberry – they use real fruit. The gelato wasn’t out as it was quite late on a Sunday and not many places are open on a Sunday. The lollies were lovely. If you think we go abroad and just eat gelato, you would be absolutely right. We are simple creatures.
We spent the evening hanging out in Cinta’s and catching up, as it’s been five years since we first met her. She came to Oxford for a Jane Austen writing course in 2012, and as we’d been Facebook friends for a few years, we decided to meet her, and spent the day with her in Oxford. Then not long after we got back from Venice, she invited us to stay with her in Fuengirola. Naturally, we said yes. After Cinta put her dad to bed, we did some flexibility then wrote our blog. It’s so weird being in Spain. Can’t believe we’re finally here.
Read Day 2.