One Man in South Africa

Monday 31st dawned bright and sunny as I rolled over and went back to sleep. Whoever said that you can sleep on a night flight is very much mistaken! Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and one hot shower and a glass of fresh orange later began to unpack and find my way around my two-bedroom home for the next two months. As you can see my views over West Beach and across to East Beach are absolutely stunning.  Time slipped away so breakfast became brunch when I walked over to Guido's. What to have “Guido's Beefburger” leapt out at me from the page along with a mug of coffee. I felt like one of those Discovery Channel American's stuffing my face as I cleared the last morsel, it was then that my sister let on that she usually shares one! Oh well some exercise was called for so I set out for a wander along the coast road to find Kelly's Beach which is the safest area to swim. The surfers use West Beach which also has quite an undertow. It was a pleasant afternoon walk,...

For those interested in the minutia of the journey: I booked my return trip 3 days before I flew initially using skyscanner for the comparisons, economy standard all the way. My flight to Madrid was with AirEuropa costing 113.76 Euros return as I was able to claim a substantial discount on the trip to the mainland. I checked in on line so was able to arrive at the Tenerife North at about 08:15 on 28 th March, go straight to the express baggage desk and was through to security in about five minutes. Be warned, as I was carrying my camera case, laptop and kindle e-reader in my hand baggage I had to separate all of these items into separate trays and put the bag with my watch, belt and the contents of my pockets through the scanner too. This proved to be the norm for the checks at Madrid, Heathrow and Johannesburg so give yourself plenty of time. I did find that the attitude of security staff seems to have improved considerably and they were very helpful throughout. My flight on an Airb...

This year I decided to leave Tenerife for a two month sojourn in South Africa. A quick web search established that I did not require a visa and a quick trip to Tenerife Insurance Services in Las Chafiras gave me a flexible 90 day travel insurance so the next requirement was a trip to renew my travel concession document then onto the internet to find suitable flights. I advise using a desktop or a laptop, trying to complete the necessary on-line forms on my 'Tablet' proved slow and frustrating and I gave up in the end. Would you believe it was cheaper to fly to South Africa from Madrid via London than from Heathrow direct. Off to Tenerife Airport North at 07:45 on the 29th March having stayed overnight with my good friends in Santa Cruz resulted in a speedy check-in and off to Madrid at 10:00 courtesy of AirEuropa. Landing at Terminal 2 at 13:20 hours (the mainland is 1 hour ahead of Tenerife) I was surprised that I had to claim my bags, catch a shuttle bus to terminal 4 (about ...