Final Look

The last breakfast at the hotel was a bit subdued. The hotel felt even emptier today, and almost nobody was at breakfast. Even the guy who wears either an all-black or all-white outfit each day was missing.

Our transport picked us up at 9:30 a.m. to take us back to the airport. Unlike our arrival, this was not a taxi but a minibus that weaved up and down the hills to hidden coves and bays, stopping at small hotels you would never have known existed to pick up others who were ending their Corfu adventure today. On our journey into Corfu Town, we approached the airport, and the six of us onboard prepared for arrival, only to find that we sped past the entrance towards more pick-ups at the Kanoni hotels before coming back around to the airport.

When we arrived, the British Airways desks were not open, but there wasn't much else to do, so we waited behind the short queue of passengers who had arrived earlier. After about half an hour, there was so much activity from staff putting up signs and rearranging the lines that we knew check-in was imminent. It was quick and efficient as we were pretty close to the front. Security was similar.

We saw an enormous queue for passport checks when we arrived in the departures lounge. So, we bought some food to eat on the plane before joining the end of the line. It took a good half-hour or more to be face-to-face with the border guards; the stamp was swift, and we were in a smaller area where flights to the UK depart. We were called forward quite quickly, and I imagine that because others were stuck in the earlier queue, we were on the bus to the plane fast.

On the plane, there was much waiting around for the following buses to bring people and a lot of luggage rearrangement to accommodate those who had brought large cases. PY's backpack was handed to him as it was considered small enough to go under the seat. I always find this frustrating: we purposely avoid bringing cases on board so that we can have the legroom. Luckily, we had one of the few spare seats in our row, so the bag got its own space.

After a slightly bumpy flight, Gatwick was relatively quiet, and so we passed through reasonably quickly. On this trip, every passage through an airport, in the UK or on Corfu, has been much smoother than I expected. Again, my passport failed at the automatic gates, but there was no queue for the manual inspection. We were through and on a train within 30 minutes and home before 5 p.m.

We decided to keep the Greek theme going, so rather than cooking for ourselves, we had a kebab from the local shop for dinner, using the excuse that we could extend the holiday. It was, as always, delicious.