My latest EDT was a trip to Alicante. I’d heard good things about it as an EDT on the Facebook groups, so I thought I’d give it a try. It was a bit more expensive than other EDTs I’ve done, because it was peak season and a Saturday but having previously done Menorca and with Ibiza still to come, I really fancied trying main land Spain.
The timing for the flights was really good, an 0550 flight out and an 2350 flight back home, really maximising my time in Alicante. The flight out was Ryanair and the flight back was Jet2.
It’s generally a little bit safer to book both flights with the same airline on a trip like this. The worst case scenario is your outbound flight is cancelled. The airline would have to compensate you but it would be harder to get the money back for the return flight.
As is becoming the custom for these trips, I started with a walk to the airport as I only live about 3 miles away. It takes an hour, at a leisurely pace, setting off at 0230 in the morning. The official advice is to be at the airport 2 hours before your flight, but I add a little bit of extra contingency as I’d rather be safe than sorry, and Manchester is a very busy international airport.
I got through security smoothly, got some breakfast and an iced coffee to wake me up from Costa and headed for the gate.
Getting the first flight of the day reduces the risk of delays. Low cost airlines turn around very quickly. If the plane isn’t in the air, it isn’t making money, so they try to squeeze as many flights as they can in. Sometimes delays from flights earlier on in the day can stack up. They’re very efficient and good at pulling back time, but if you can get a flight between 0530 and 0700, you’re less likely to be delayed and it maximises the time at the destination.
As it happened, the aircraft for our outbound flight was changed to a slightly smaller aircraft and Ryanair were looking for 8 passengers willing to swap for a later flight to Murcia or Alicante in exchange for 250 euros voucher. If I was on a week long trip, I’d definitely take the offer, it’s more than you’re paying for the flight so you’d already be in a profit, but with it being an EDT, a later trip would be a disaster. I wouldn’t like to be a passenger at the rear of the boarding queue, only to find the flight is full. If you’ve paid for specific seating or priority then you’re probably less likely to lose out.
It’s actually fairly routine for airlines to slightly overbook flights because, believe it or not, it’s not uncommon for passengers to fail to turn up.
I watched a few YouTube videos I downloaded (a perk of YouTube premium) about Alicante on the plane. One showing where to go to get the bus into Alicante itself.
When I arrived, the airport wasn’t too busy so I got through the dreaded new EES system, which was organised very well in Alicante, almost entirely automated. I went up to departures, went outside and the C6 bus was already there waiting.
It wasn’t overcrowded either, 4.50 for a ticket, which I paid with a contactless card and it was only a 15 minute trip. I got off the bus at the side entrance for Santa Barbara castle. There is another stop on the sea front where you can access the castle via a lift for a charge of 2.70 but I decided I’d take the walking path up instead. There was a constant high pitch hum from the insects in the trees, I assume crickets. The sun was beating down but the walk wasn’t too steep, just very exposed with little shelter. There were golf buggies offering to take people up but I enjoyed my walk in the sunshine.
The castle and grounds are free to visit, although there was an exhibit you could access for a fee, but I didn’t bother. By the time I got up to the top, I was dripping with sweat a bit, so I went into the souvenir shop and brought a Spanish fan, and a small hand towel to dry myself off with. Oh, and the customary fridge magnet, wherever I go, I get a fridge magnet, preferably a nice interesting shape one rather than the boring printed kind.
Souvenirs sorted, I found a drinks kiosk and got some nice cold water and a slushie, then took a few pictures.
Something always goes wrong on these trips, and today was no exception. I managed to lose my selfie stick on the plane, which made it much harder to take selfies but a nice man came up to me and offered to take some. I’ll be honest, I was a little bit nervous letting a stranger handle my phone. It was both my digital wallet and my boarding pass too, but then again, where we were was very public and he got some full length pictures of me which I struggle to get myself. The joys of being a sole traveller.
The last three EDTs I did, to Menorca, Cork and Cologne were with other people I’d met from a group and I really enjoyed having the company. It felt a bit strange doing it on my own without the nice people I’ve met through these groups.
The views of the beach were stunning, the Mediterranean see was looking very inviting with the sun beaming on full power. The floor was a bit slippery and uneven, and I had to catch a lady who was struggling getting down from one of the steeper parts of the castle in flip flops.
I decided to get the lift down. The queue for down was much shorter than up and the lift is hidden in a nice cool tunnel. I was expecting to pay but it appears they only charge one way. There was a long queue to get up in the other direction. It’s not a big lift so only takes about 8 people at a time.
I walked around the sea front, got some pictures of fountains, did a bit more shopping, buying yet more cold drinks. I wasn’t planning on doing any swimming on this trip, I’d only packed a change of top, not spare shorts and underwear but the sea was just looking too tempting so I decided to pick up some cheap flipflops and a pair of swim shorts and I looked up a place where I could leave my bag online.
It was a place in a residential building just one block away from the sea, close to McDonalds where you could leave your luggage and there was also the option for a shower. The guy that owned it was really lovely, he had a cute dog that doted on him and he was very kind, constantly offering people drinks of water and coffee. You had to book a time for a shower, but I wasn’t going to take anything electronic like my watch to the beach so I guessed that 1930 would be a good time for a shower, and went off on my way.
I walked down Calle de San Francisco, a street lined with mushroom sculptures, and you know me, I’m a fun guy, so I couldn’t resist.
There were lots of bars and tapas places. I stopped for an ice cream, mint choc chip and tiramisu flavours, and I also got another slushie.
After drinking the slushie, I felt a little queasy. Just to explain, I had a gastric sleeve op in December, and sometimes your body rejects food. It doesn’t happen often by my stomach didn’t like the slushie, I think it was too much sugary syrup in it and I ended up being sick in a plant bed. I’m sure if the locals saw me they’d have thought I was drunk or something. I immediately felt fine afterwards though and carried on towards the beach.
When I got to the beach I realised that there actually were lockers there I could have used to put my bag in. The sand was warm and soft white sand, the sea was very clear and clean and I must have spent a couple of hours just floating in the warm sea water, having an amazing relaxing time.
I didn’t have anywhere to put my flip flops so I wrapped them around my hands, which probably made it look like I couldn’t swim but I really didn’t care what I looked like, I was just loving being in the sea.
There were no clocks anywhere so I had no idea what the time was. I might invest in a cheap waterproof watch and some googles the next time I do a trip like this.
When I got back to the locker place, it was only about 1730 but the owner managed to squeeze me in for an earlier shower time. It was nice to wash away the sand so I was nice and clean and comfortable for the journey home.
I found a nice little place called Lu & Lus to sit down and order some tapas. It was simple food, small portions and absolutely perfect for my needs, and I enjoyed a Pina Colada to go with it.
I noticed a few English people sat on a table close to me. They struck up a conversation, asking about my camera. I was wearing a DJI nano action camera which clips to a magnetic necklace on my chest.
At first I thought he was just interested in what the camera was, but I think he thought I was actually filming. I just carry it like that so I don’t lose it. He was with another tattooed English gentleman that had a cute miniature sausage dog. I think these guys were ex-pats living in Spain.
I then witnessed the three of them threatening to fight each other. They were clearly looking for trouble and the worried female Spanish waiters were trying to keep them apart and considering calling the police. It’s no wonder why many Spaniards don’t like the English when they see people behaving like this. It was totally unnecessary. I kept out of the way but I felt really sorry for the waitresses having to witness that kind of behaviour.
It was time to head back to the airport, I caught the C6 bus back to the airport. Again, I was impressed with how quick and efficient security was. You never know what you’re going to get with some of these smaller airports, but there was plenty of places to get food in there, two burger kings, a subway, a Budweiser bar. Loads of different shops.
Jon being Jon, it didn’t occur to me when I booked the trip that there was potentially a world cup quarter final that weekend. If our flight was on time, I would have missed the majority of the England vs Norway game but it wasn’t on time, the flight out from Manchester to Alicante was an hour late.
Here’s a tip for you, often airlines and airports won’t tell you if your flight is going to be delayed until late on but if you use flight radar 247 app, you can look up your flight number, then you can find out which aircraft is allocated to your flight, and you can see the previous flights that aircraft has for the same day. If you look at the flight before your one, you can see if it has taken off on time or not. If it hasn’t, then you know to expect a delay way before the boards tell you.
It was a very strange atmosphere in the airport, it was full of English fans watching the game on their phone. When Norway scored, there was a small cheer from Burger King, I’m not sure whether there were Norwegians there or just Spaniards that didn’t much like the English, but when England scored, it was like an acoustic Mexican wave filling the whole building with sound.
By the time we boarded, it was close to the end of regular time. The flight was actually only about half full and the middle seat between me and a young woman was empty. We were all captivated by the football so I put my phone in the middle seat angled towards her and her friend across the aisle so we could all watch the game.
England scored in Extra time just after we took off, so we had to wait another couple of hours before the captain announced that the game had indeed finished 2-1 to England. Nobody was paying attention to the security briefing on that flight.
I have to say, the Jet2 A321 neo aircraft we had is my favourite short haul economy flight I’ve had so far. The air conditioning works well, the seats are comfortable and the windows are nice and big. I actually fell asleep for part of the flight, which is unusual for me.
Overall, this was my favourite EDT so far, I think because it was very relaxed and just what I needed after more hectic trips. I would highly recommend Alicante