Cancelled flights and surprise guests

Indulge me with one more post about the wedding and holiday, It's all worth a mention and writing a blog post means that I will be able to look back on it.

 You may have see or read about the flight disruptions that are happening at airport around the UK, we had anticipated long queues at security on our outbound flight but that all went quite well and we were only delayed by 40 minutes. 

I was the first time on an airplane for Bonnie, Jacob and Arty.  They all did really well managing to stay awake the whole time, kept entertained with tablets and games. 

Once we landed in Paphos we had over an hours wait for our baggage to come through as several flights landed in quick succession, it meant that we didn't arrive at our hotel until around 2.30am.  We were all very travel weary but to the hotels credit they dealt with our arrival very efficiently, we were allocated room keys quickly, given a food package and our bags were taken up to our rooms, it was much appreciated given the late hour.

Jumping ahead to our flight home for a moment because that's a tale and a half.....  Our hotel pick up was 9pm, by the time we arrived at the airport we already knew that our flight had been cancelled but were not told what was going to happen, nothing was appearing on the screens, it was only by talking to other passengers, some of whom had received text messages that we found out that another plane had been arranged for us, a Spanish airline was coming from Larnaca, (this flight already had passengers so they were being diverted to pick us up!).  

We eventually boarded at 5.15am, six hours after we should have taken off!  That was bad enough, hanging around an airport when everyone is tired is no fun, but when we landed we then sat on the airplane for 2 hours because although they had put the steps out for us to disembark, there was no bus to transport us to the terminal.  It was only when the pilot got fed-up waiting, got off and caused a fuss, (his crew had been on duty for 25 hours (!)  that a bus magically appeared.  You would think we had endured enough, but no, we had to wait another hour and a half for our bags to come through.  There are now hoops to jump through to claim compensation, we'll start that joy process tomorrow. 

So, back to the holiday/wedding...

Given the hour we went to bed we didn't have a very early start to our first day, but the next morning we discovered that our room had a great view of the main pool.  There were two other pools besides this one and one for children as well as water slides.

Although It was a lovely place with a great choice of food on offer and plenty to entertain, I'd say it was a place for younger people and couples with young families, I would have preferred something with less going on, but we weren't there for me.

Jenny, James and the boys stayed at a different hotel, apart from the wedding day we did also get together a few time over the week.  The complex they were at was definitely more for families, the boys had a blast.

They all had a great time enjoying all the activities, Jacob took a bit longer to get adjusted.

We went down to the beach one day with Bonnie and Jacob.  Jacob winged the whole time, first it was "I no like a water"

Then it was,"I no like a sand" (I'm with him on that one though, lol)

Then on the way back it was "I no like a walk"

Bonnie on the other hand would have been happy to stay and play there all day.

Everyone got together for a meal in the town the night before the wedding.  Darren had bought a colourful holiday shirt to wear and thought he was going to be the only one, little did he know that Stevie had asked others to wear one too.  I had to buy Mark one, sneak it in the case and give it him to wear on the night, he would have said no way otherwise.  As it turned out I did good, he said he quite liked it, sometimes you've just got to make the decision for them, ha ha.  

By the way, James is the one with his arm in a sling, but that's a story for another time.

Two of Darren's friends and their girlfriends surprised him at the airport on the way out, he had no idea they were coming, Stevie has had to keep it quiet about it for months, and then there was another surprise for him at the night before the wedding meal

His cousin and girlfriend had booked to come over for a few days for the wedding and arranged with Stevie to surprise him, they walked in just after we sat down

Both Darren's parents passed away quite young, both were only in their early 50's.  

His dad died quite suddenly two years ago while on holiday and his mother just as suddenly last October.    He was close to both of them and it's been difficult for him.

Two of his aunty's, his mums sisters, and their daughters and children came over for the wedding.  His mum's brother couldn't make it so when his cousin turned up it was quite emotional.  I'm so glad that he had extended family to share the day with him, I know attending a wedding abroad isn't ideal for a lot of people but knowing they had make the effort made it extra special.

Stevie and Darren will be coming home on Sunday, hopefully they will not have the hassle of cancelled flights and delay's that we experienced.   They have had a fantastic time, been on a few excursions and made some lovely memories.

I'm so proud of them, they both worked hard to buy their first house and over a couple of years fixed it up beautifully, with help from dad, of course😉  That first house then gave them the step up to enable them to buy a brand new house last year.

Stevie also starts a new job next week with Social Services, in the Children's Sector.  Since university she has worked first as a nursery nurse and then more recently as Deputy Manager of the nursery.  From a little girl she always wanted to work with children, I'm happy that she followed her dream and is doing something she loves.  Of my three girls Stevie is the more easy going and laid back one but has a quiet determination to achieve what she sets out to do.  This new job will be something different and more emotionally challenging but, I know she will give it her all.

🥂