To Cyprus today ...

And so the fun begins dear readers of Wear and Dao ... three weeks winter holiday in Cyprus!

Since the flight is due to depart from Manchester at 9am we travelled down last night to stay at the Holiday Inn by the airport and arrived in good time to check in, though not without some difficulty finding the entrance even though we could see it right by terminal 2 ... so, spotting two police officers asked them for assistance, which they kindly offered and escorted us to the entrance.

So, at approximately 5am, we set off from the hotel to drive the short distance to the parking place where an airport bus was booked to take us to terminal 2 and Paphos. This left us with plenty of time to check in ready for boarding at 8.30 ... hey ho, theory is one thing practice something else and sure enough sat nav had us demented as the clock ticked relentlessly towards deadline time! Just when it seemed we'd miss the flight, we found the car park and stood in the rain waiting for the airport bus, which took a while ... then the first bus went past us full. Finally we got to terminal 2 with an hour to spare to take off and the Jet2 folks rushed us through the baggage checks leaving us with just the hand luggage to check which they never rush for obvious reasons. We finally boarded the Paphos plane at 8.45 and took off at 9 on schedule.

4 and a half hours later we landed in Cyprus, cleared passport and other checks double quick and found the bus to our hotel. The beachside Athena Hotel is delightful and the 3rd floor room overlooks the sea and a veranda means we can sit out and ponder how lucky we are ...

After unpacking we went to the restaurant for a buffet dinner then a walk along the beach before calling in to a bar at the hotel for a drink and a band playing light music. Tomorrow is free to explore Paphos and plan some trips around the island for the coming 3 weeks.