Hi we're having so much fun exploring in and around Javea, but before we show you
that we want to show you how we got from Australia to Spain.
In this episode of Sailing ABC we get to experience what it's like to fly
business class on our 35 hour 18,600 kilometer journey from Brisbane in
Australia to Javea in Spain on Etihad Airways. After our emotional farewell to
our son Luke, Aannsha and I headed for the Etihad check-in. It was a short delay
before the check-in opened which allowed us to regain our composure. Then it was
through to see what it's like to travel business class with all the bells and
whistles! Once inside the lounge we relaxed into some comfy chairs, poured
ourselves a couple of drinks from the self-serve bar and plugged our phones in
for a recharge. Our plane for this leg of the journey was a Boeing 787-9 with 28
flatbed Pearl business seats and 271 standard Coral economy class seats. Okay,
so this is the next leg of the adventure! It's a bit exciting! We're just about to get on the plane.
Yeah, just got priority check-in which is nice. Priority boarding. And we're sitting in the
business section - Air New Zealand - it's really nice. Yeah so it's all good. As business
class ticket holders, you get priority boarding and I have to admit I had a
huge grin on my face as we entered the airplane and turned left instead of
right. The business class seats offer a six foot one inch full flatbed, direct
aisle access from every seat, a 15 inch LCD screen, noise cancelling headsets,
in-seat power sockets, in-seat massage luxury comforters and pillows and I can
tell you all of that comfort makes a huge difference as to how you physically
feel when you get off the plane at the other end. Is it expensive? Yes. Would I do
it all the time? Yes, if I had the money.
The first leg of our journey had a flight time of 14 hours and 20 minutes
and we landed in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates six minutes ahead of
schedule at 6.39 a.m. So just done a 14-hour flight. It was great!. Landed in Abu Dhabi,
on time. It's pretty dark outside it's just that's just after 6:00 in the
morning, so we're about to find the lounge and
settle in for about an hour and a half, maybe two hours I think.
Yeah and then take the next step which is only eight hours flight. All right. See you soon!
Our stopover in Abu Dhabi was a short two hours and 25 minutes, and after clearing in there
was just enough time to hook into the free Wi-Fi, eat, drink, shower, and go
through security to board our next plane which would whisk us off to Charles de
Gaulle Airport in Paris. At 8:20 a.m. we were welcomed aboard the Etihad Boeing
777-300ER by the ever smiling crew.
Business seats on this aircraft are split into two sections. Forward of the
door there are eight seats in a one to one configuration and I was in seat 6c
which was luckily a window seat. Once again my jacket was taken and hung
up; champagne and hot towels were offered; and we settled in ready for departure at
9:05 a.m.
Right on schedule we landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport
in Paris which was shrouded in thick fog created by the five degrees Celsius
temperature.The plane taxied a long way and paused before crossing live runways,
taxied some more, crossed over a two-lane road via a bridge and then taxied some
more. It was the longest airplane taxi I have ever had.
All done with visibility down to just five meters in some places. I'm not a
nervous flier but in the back of my mind was the memory of the deadliest accident
in aviation history in which 583 Souls perished when two 747 aircraft collided
in fog at Tenerife North Airport in 1977. Once
through security we boarded a bus for a six-minute drive to our departure
terminal somewhere in the fog-shrouded confines of the airport. We arrived at
the departure terminal and went through passport control and entered the fray of
humanity that I haven't encountered for twenty years. In Australia places never
really get crowded. It's just too big of a country with very few people. But we
weren't in Kansas anymore Toto, we were in one of the busiest airports in all of
Europe where people barged past, refused to move to let you through and only the
strong and determined win. Luckily our gate was only a short distance and as we
got there priority boarding had just opened up so it was with great relief
that we showed our boarding passes, walked down the passage aboarding bridge.
Final aeroplane plane. It's this is teensy weensy Air France one that's
gonna take us two hours to get to Valencia from Paris. Hopefully it's a bit warmer down there!
This plane for the final leg of our journey was on an air Europa Boeing 737-800 and it was
disappointing. There was no turning left as we entered, unless you were the pilot.
Their idea of business class was to place a small drinks table in the middle
seat of three. We did get offered champagne though and when the French guy
in the seat behind me asked the smiling lady if he could have some too, he was
politely told that it was only served to business class customers and he'd
have to wait until the flight was airborne and trolley service was available. I had
a little chuckle to myself. " Bonjour. Are you still feeling fresh? Yeah, I am actually!"
No swollen ankles! I'm sure it's cause I was lying down, not sitting up!
I'm not looking forward to the hour and a half drive when we get to the other end!
Just when it gets to dusk, that's when the kangaroos come out and hop across
the road that cause car accidents! I'm gonna stop there!
The flight time was only 1 hour and 40 minutes so I decided to get some
shut-eye. We still had a 90 minute drive ahead of
us once we landed in Spain and I wanted my wits about me. It turned out to be a
good decision.
It was dusk as we exited the plane at Valencia Airport in Spain, found nobody
manning passport control and only one very bored looking official sitting at
the Something to Declare customs point. Unfortunately two of our bags got left
behind in Paris but the nice lady at lost luggage arranged for them to be
delivered to us in Javea the following day. Clutching our lost luggage ticket
Aannsha and I exited the airport into a now dark night and boarded the shuttle
bus that would take us to the car rental place. 15 minutes later with our luggage
loaded into the car we set off for Javea. We didn't have our Sat-nav - it was
still in Paris and we had no data on our smartphones, so taking the bull by the
horns, I figured that if I stuck to main roads there would eventually be a
signpost which would either say AP-7 to Barcelona or AP-7 to Alicante.. So we just
drove, Aannsha looking out for road signs and me looking out for Spanish drivers
rushing to get home from work. At one point we both looked at each other and
Aannsha asked if I was okay. "How you feeling?" Okay I guess,
but this is it - it's all part of the adventure. We're on the adventure! I know
we're missing two suitcases, we don't know where we are or where we're going.
But we're getting there. We'll get somewhere eventually. And eventually we did. After we'd been
driving for 20 minutes, Aannsha excitedly announced "There it is! There's
the sign for AP-7 Alicante!" So with some relief we entered the motorway and
headed south.. Driving on the motorway was a breeze after the Valencia traffic and
one hour and thirty minutes later we took the turnoff for Javea. There's a sign ...
So Javea is to the right Baz. Yeah. Yeah. Oh Yeah.
Gawd that was hidden! Well hidden that wasn't it! See how far away it was? It didn't say. Okay.
So right here. Right yeah, yeah. Here. Wow it sneaks up. Yeah oh, oh it says look: Javier 8
We had a rough idea of where my brother Phil's place was. We'd seen it on
Google Earth in Google Maps and we also had the address stored on our phones. My
plan was to find Javea port and work backwards from there, What we hadn't
counted on was that Javea is a maze of one-way streets.
I don't know that we're gonna be able to get out of here bud
Where're we going... No it's no entry! How'd you get out of here then? Don't know. Maybe go down the other one.
Can you go there and reverse it in this little lane?
Ooh, what about down here? Oh this looks okay. Don't know if it goes anywhere, but yeah.
It's going somewhere.
These must be like the original old roads do you think? They're very small aren't they? Yeah.
Ok we can't go that way... No entry that way ... so I'd turn right here. Right here? Stop? Stop. Ooh look. Wow. Ooh look, isn't it pretty?
Scary 'coz we don't know where we are. Okay we can only go right here. Okay well let's
go right then. I reckon we should go right. Eventually I stopped at a late
opening big supermarket and once again, using my rapidly returning Spanish
language skills I emerged with a mud map. Baz is going to ask directions en Espanol. Espanol! Okay good luck.
Are we close? Are we close? No it's open. No, are we close? Oh we're very close yeah. It took two managers to
figure out the way but it's just around the corner. Phil's place was just a three minute drive and
once we got there we realized that we'd actually driven past it twice in the
dark. Okay so let's get the key before we get the bags out. Yeah let's. Let me get my handbag.
And erm, we'll get that sorted out and we'll come and get the bags. All right.
The keys to the apartment are kept locked away in a coded locked box near to the front door
and I eagerly put in the code. It didn't unlock. I swirled the numbers around a
few times and tried the code again. Nothing. By now I was having visions of
Aannsha and I spending the night sleeping in the car as the temperature slowly
descended to the predicted lower four degrees Celsius. I called my brother Phil
in the UK and was greeted by his message service. I they later found out he
wasn't feeling too well that day and had turned off his phone and gone to bed
early. ... and it's not unlocking so if you get this message can you give me a call
back on this number. One last chance was to phone my other brother in the UK.
Thankfully Steve answered after a couple of rings and was as perplexed as I was
that the code didn't work. He said he'd make some inquiries and call me straight
back. I hoped he wasn't relying on a phone call to Phil to get it sorted.
Eventually Steve came back with a new code which to my great relief was
correct and we had the keys. Thank God! ... All right bro. Yep I'll call you, well I'll email you or I'll call you
tomorrow. Yep, got the keys. Okay, see ya. So here we are eighteen thousand six hundred kilometers
and thirty five hours later at 8:30 p.m. local time, surrounded by our bags and
getting our priorities right by doing nothing else but opening a bottle of red
wine and toasting ourselves on a job well done
Cheers! We made it! We did, well done! Let's go get the bags then go and get that red wine and get it open!
Sounds like a plan! Yeah!
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