SP18 - Day 8

Up, packed and breakfast had before we set off at around 10am for the 332km drive back to the airport hotel where Centaur have their rental office.

Unfortunately, I had a dickhead moment getting the car out of the parking space and bumped the rear into a concrete post. The underground garages are a forest of posts and some of them quite large to hold the building above up off the ground!  I was just rolling back and "bang".  

There was a  minimum of damage, just a little paint chipped off the bumper. More my pride was hurt. It is lucky I opted for the "smart" all inclusive insurance. I hope.

The 1.0L Polo seemed very economical to run. Admittedly it is a little underpowered on the autovia but cruised at 110 to 120km/h okay.

It was supposed to be full when we left last week but this might have been the gauge rather than the actual level of fuel.

I filled up in Badajoz and it took 8.78 gals to the "click" and we had done 313.5 miles. That comes out at 35.7 mpg.

Remember the "click"? On the way back today the trip meter had 129kms on it before the gauge dropped from full!! It's calibrated in 8 "bars" between empty and full.

Having to return the car "full" looks like a bit of a con. I stopped a few kms before the check-in and it only took 5.18 gals for 283.5 miles or 54.72 miles per gallon.

Driving conditions pretty much the same. But a lesson learned. Leave the ignition on and watch the gauge creep to Full and stop there in future. The difference is too startling to be driving differently.

Anyway. The car was checked in and we arrived at the airport way before the flight appeared on the board to say what check in desks we needed. We had a McCafe con leche and a couple of the little "magdalena" cakes from the hotel breakfast to fill the lack of lunch hole in the belly.

The info boards suggested a good choice of desks,few of which were actually open. After about 20 mins of queuing at Iberia we were told to go to British Airways check-in as we had bought the ticket through them, even though the flight is operated by Iberia..... . Another 20 minutes and we are told to go back to Iberia as it is their flight and BA only has the flights they actually fly on their computer.

In the end we managed to check- in with a different staff member at Iberia who seemed bemused when Claire told her the tale. 

Security checks took a little longer as I set it off when going through the scanner. I had my belt on but so did all the other men.  After a thorough pat-down search I was released air-side. Claire often gets stopped due to her metal and ceramic hip!

And so to the gates shown only as HJ.  with the best part of an hour and a half to wait we settled down on some seating.  It's always annoying when there is minimal seating that people stretch out and lay across the seats taking up two or three to themselves.   

Waiting for a gate we decided to have something to eat and drink. As there is no (free) food on the flight so we had a Starbucks coffee and a Iberico Jamon baguette. Very nice it was too.

On the way back from the loo I checked the board and it was showing our flight at gate H8.  It was easily a fifteen minute walk down there and Iberia operate a "group" system on the boarding card.  A lot of airlines load up by row.  We were Group 3, the last group.  I had already booked seats before we came out and so wasn't in any hurry.  Our two small suitcases had gone in the hold, which was good as the overhead luggage bins were already full with similar sized (and some dubiously larger) cases so that I had just enough room to squeeze my laptop bag in, but no room for Claire's little backpack.  We wanted that out anyway, so it could go in front under the seat.

Despite warnings about switching off electronic gear and setting phones to "flight mode" people around us were tapping away sending texts and emails even as we taxied to the runway.  WTF?

In the end the flight left about 10 minutes after the rescheduled 1840 timing. It has been moved from 1805 to 1835 before we left UK, and we hadn't been told it was changed again.

But Iberia Express claim to be the most punctual budget airline and we landed at London Gatwick a good ten minutes before scheduled arrival.... Pretty decent going.

After another long walk we retrieved our bags and headed through the green channel "nothing to declare" in the customs hall. Despite not carrying anything elicit I always feel guilty!

Outside the bus to the car-park had just pulled up and we got straight on.  Some ten minutes later we were back at the car and getting ready to leave for home.  The ANPR worked this time and we were soon heading home.

Despite the at times chaotic driving in Spain especially around Madrid and the number of cars with little dings and knocks the M25 seemed far more dangerous! A stop at an almost deserted Tesco and by 9.30pm I had the pizza we bought in the oven and we could unwind.  

Tomorrow we'll go and get Reggie back from his holiday in the kennels. 

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