Right then. After a quiet few days of family time, we say goodbye to my folks and head for MAN, back where it all started in early June.
After a week of hot weather (including the extreme heat earlier in the week), it is cold and raining as we drive over to the airport (just as it was when we arrived). We drop the car back at the “rental village”, which is round the back of the airport, and catch the shuttle bus to the terminal.
We’re in LCC territory again today. Flying with Veuling. Check in takes about an hour, with only two desks open for a full A320 and multiple people ahead of us initially denied check in due to having the incorrect Covid paperwork (all of whom subsequently make the flight).
Spain has dropped most requirements now if you are entering from other EU countries, but of course that doesn’t apply to us coming from the UK (thanks Brexit!) With Aussie vax certificates you have to fill in a form on the Spain travel health website, and it gives you a QR code, which I flash at check in when asked.
After hearing some horror stories, security is mercifully brief and we are through to the scrum of the airside area in about 10 mins.
Bit grey out there…
That’s ours on the left:
Boarding is delayed, then we miss our slot, so takeoff is delayed. Eventually we push back and are in the air about an hour late.
The Veuling seat might be one of the most uncomfortable I’ve travelled in. A very thin shell, wedged way too close to the seat in front.
Also, what is going on with that lasagne? Is it made of plastic? It’s a no from me.
Views of BCN on the way in.
Arrival formalities dealt with swiftly. After passports and before baggage we are funnelled to the Covid check: the QR codes from the Spain travel form are scanned. I wave the actual Aussie vax certificates, expecting these to be checked too (given that the form itself doesn’t check them, it just asks you to manually input the date of last vax) but she waves them away (“no, it’s ok”) So, really for all the check in faff, ultimately a bit of an honesty system there.
30 minute wait for any bags from our flight to come out at all, but when they do arrive ours are close to the first. No wait for a taxi and we are soon speeding into the city (quite literally—looked up at one point and clocked 128 km/h, in an 80 zone).
After a week of hot weather (including the extreme heat earlier in the week), it is cold and raining as we drive over to the airport (just as it was when we arrived). We drop the car back at the “rental village”, which is round the back of the airport, and catch the shuttle bus to the terminal.
We’re in LCC territory again today. Flying with Veuling. Check in takes about an hour, with only two desks open for a full A320 and multiple people ahead of us initially denied check in due to having the incorrect Covid paperwork (all of whom subsequently make the flight).
Spain has dropped most requirements now if you are entering from other EU countries, but of course that doesn’t apply to us coming from the UK (thanks Brexit!) With Aussie vax certificates you have to fill in a form on the Spain travel health website, and it gives you a QR code, which I flash at check in when asked.
After hearing some horror stories, security is mercifully brief and we are through to the scrum of the airside area in about 10 mins.
Bit grey out there…
That’s ours on the left:
Boarding is delayed, then we miss our slot, so takeoff is delayed. Eventually we push back and are in the air about an hour late.
The Veuling seat might be one of the most uncomfortable I’ve travelled in. A very thin shell, wedged way too close to the seat in front.
Also, what is going on with that lasagne? Is it made of plastic? It’s a no from me.
Views of BCN on the way in.
Arrival formalities dealt with swiftly. After passports and before baggage we are funnelled to the Covid check: the QR codes from the Spain travel form are scanned. I wave the actual Aussie vax certificates, expecting these to be checked too (given that the form itself doesn’t check them, it just asks you to manually input the date of last vax) but she waves them away (“no, it’s ok”) So, really for all the check in faff, ultimately a bit of an honesty system there.
30 minute wait for any bags from our flight to come out at all, but when they do arrive ours are close to the first. No wait for a taxi and we are soon speeding into the city (quite literally—looked up at one point and clocked 128 km/h, in an 80 zone).
