It was both flattering and complicated to be asked to come back to the office for a few days for important meetings - it was made optional, but I was keen to go along and have my say in changes that were going to affect my future in the company.
So we spent an evening early last week searching for routes from Transylvania to Cornwall and back - two pretty remote locations as far as commuting is concerned! Eventually we realised it would be easier to change our travel arrangements than to make the journey options mesh, so we arranged a flight from Sibiu (2.5 hours away), coach travel from Luton Airport via London to Cornwall, and on the way back, flights from Newquay to Stansted to Budapest.
This gave us the option for two days at Lake Balaton, a definite silver lining! On Wednesday morning we set off for Sibiu, planning to take the opportunity to visit the town and eat lunch there.
We managed to find a place to park after a bit of driving round, and walked back to the centre. There was a lovely square but we were a bit pressed for time so started our search for a lunch venue. Prices were definitely a lot more than we'd seen in the countryside, so we passed on a very nice looking cafe with a pianist and instead opted for a cheap grill with a menu of the day for 19 leu.
The food was OK, but nothing special, and took an awfully long time to be served. We still had a reasonable amount of time before my flight though, so headed back into the square for Lowenna to do some shopping at the small market there, and then back to the car.
The flight back to Luton was fairly uneventful, although clearly I was having a shifty looking day because I got frisked at security. I managed to grab an early coach to London so I'd have some time to grab something to eat before the next one, and took the opportunity to eat some traditional English food, i.e. KFC. That done, it was time for a somewhat sleepless overnight journey to Redruth, arriving just across the road from the office at 7.30am, time to grab a quick shower before my colleagues arrived.
I'm fairly sure you have no desire to know about my meetings. They went OK, it was nice to see my colleagues again and to socialise after work. I'm particularly grateful to Daniel and Maria for letting me stay overnight. The second night it was back to see Dad, and we had a relaxing morning on Saturday.
I also managed to catch up with my parents in law and our dog who they're looking after while we're away. He was very excited to see us (the dog!) but had a good sniff around the car after we got out and was clearly disappointed that James wasn't there too!
I'm really not a fan of flying, and the outgoing flight had lulled me into a false sense of security. The first flight started well, with amazing views over Cornwall as we took off, and most of the way to Stansted, but it was a very rocky descent. Then we arrived at the airport to find the ground staff were all busy doing other things and there was no-one to escort us into the airport, so were stuck on the plane for an uncomfortable 20 minutes after the doors were opened.
After finally getting off the plane, my hopes of a simple transfer were dashed when the only way I could find to proceed was to leave the terminal and enter again. This brought me through Stansted security, which is nothing at all like Newquay security. I'd scoffed at Ryanair's £7 'fast track' security voucher, but now I could see why they sell them!
After a painful 20 minutes or so queueing to go through the same procedures I'd gone through just hours before, I found myself rushing through the endless duty free section of departures to get within reach of the gates. I found time to stop in Pret a Manger to grab something for tea, but when I arrived at the waiting room, there was no gate up for my flight anyway.
I waited... And waited. My flight time came and went and still no sign of the gate. Not even a message saying the flight had been delayed - just nothing. And every other flight on the board had something. I was just beginning to get concerned when finally the gate popped up... One of the ones that was 10 minutes walk away.
Along with a number of other passengers, I rushed to the gate, but of course I needn't have bothered. Our plane wasn't even there yet. I was second in the priority queue, but I had to stand there for nearly an hour while the plane landed, arrived at the gate, passengers left and all the other stuff that they do to turn around the flight happened.
Finally it was time to board. Boarding took a while but eventually the passengers were all settled... nearly an hour after the stated departure time. Then the captain announced that he was sorry, but the ground crew hadn't arrived to unload the previous flight's bags yet, and we'd have to wait there while they did that and then loaded the ones for this flight. Oh, and it was difficult flying conditions with strong winds and thunderstorms around Budapest but we'd be on our way as soon as possible.
Thus reassured, we watched as the flight attendants began their safety demonstration, only for the power on the airplane to cut out part way through. A few minutes later, after an uncomfortable silence, it came back on, but I was very much hoping it didn't happen again mid air.
After all this, the flight itself was actually far better than expected. In fact I was quite relaxed when we started our descent, until I saw a bolt of lightning hit the ground not that far away. As you've probably gathered, we made a safe landing and I was very happy to be reunited with James and the kids at the airport, ready to continue on the last month of our travels!
Published on Sunday 22 July 2018
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