Our Big Five

No, not the animals in Africa that hunters find most difficult to track on foot; not the lion, the rhino, the leopard…

No, I’m only referring to our holiday travels. Our big five featured on our holiday to Greece, from which we have just returned burned, blistered and a bit dazed by the intense light and heat. I loved it, but even for me, it proved a bit too hot…

Our itinerary was a rather complicated:-

  • Taxi to Waverley station, train to London Kings Cross, Train from St Pancras station (‘Pancreas’ to my daughter) to Gatwick Airport, airport bus to Airport Hotel, pause.
  • Very early (4.30 am) bus to Gatwick, plane to Kavala Airport on mainland Greece, bus to ferry port, ferry to Thassos, coach to hotel resort.

Long pause for relaxation, swimming in the sea, drinking mocktails and admiring sunsets. Then everything in reverse on the way home.

Our big five, taxi, train, coach, plane and ferry took four days out of a ten day holiday; an interesting, fun and educative experience. Would I do it again?

Well, waiting for our flight home from Kavala, I noticed that while there was one flight to Gatwick leaving at 2pm, four flights to various cities in Germany were on the boards, all leaving earlier in the day. Which set me thinking. Since most of flying travel time is taken up with getting to airports, checking in with two hours to spare and hanging around in departure lounges, the fact of already being at an airport makes a transit flight for the second leg of a journey Gatwick / Edinburgh much more obviously appealing.

So if there is to be a next time, I will enquire if there are any flights from Bonn, say, to Edinburgh, and take two flights in one day. With the time difference of two hours from Greece, what seems an impossibility while standing in an Edinburgh travel agents, becomes more obvious when glancing at the flight boards in far flung places.

Thanks so much for reading!

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