IanHi all! Travel day has arrived, Gatwick to Seville! We’re finally on our way to Seville! It was a long and tiring day, but we got here safely. Also, a quick note: this is my 100th post on the blog! I can’t believe it! So, join us for travel day!
Off to Gatwick
As I mentioned in my packing blog, our flight was in the afternoon, which honestly felt really weird! Most of our flights have been in the morning, so wandering around the airport in the afternoon felt strange. Here’s a quick introduction to our travel day:
From there, I packed my suitcase into the car, picked up my friend and headed to Gatwick! The drive wasn’t too bad for a change. I guess that’s the benefit of an afternoon flight! There was the usual traffic on the M25, which is no surprise at all. Overall, it took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get to Gatwick, even if Gatwick initially confused us about where to park!
The lounge and boarding
We got through security really quickly, but we had fast track, so that wasn’t too surprising! Our Business Class seats also came with lounge access, so we headed to the lounge and relaxed until our gate was announced.
Once our gate was called, we headed over. The screen said boarding, but when we got there, they hadn’t even started, which was a bit confusing! Eventually, we boarded the plane and were on our way to Seville. We even left early, which was good, as it meant we didn’t arrive in Seville as late as we’d expected!
The flight
The flight itself was comfortable, and the food was awesome! It was a shame that my friend’s vegan meal was spicy, though, as they don’t usually like spicy food, so that was a bit disappointing. My meal was really nice. See the picture below!
Landing and the new border checks
We landed at around 18:40 Seville time, so it was pretty late by the time we actually left the airport. Seville Airport has the new border system in place, so we had to provide a photo and fingerprints.
There were a few teething problems, though! The machine couldn’t take a photo of my face because the camera wouldn’t go high enough (the joys of being 6’2″!), and I got the dreaded message “Awaiting police decision”, which scared me a bit! What I didn’t realise is that there’s a desk with border officials not far from the gates. They opened the gate from there, and I was let into Spain!
So, if you get the same message, don’t panic! The officials are right there and will sort it out.
Arriving at the Hesperia Sevilla
We headed to the taxi rank and grabbed a taxi to the hotel. It was a smooth ride and reasonably priced too, at 26 euros, which is about £23. The driver dropped us right outside the hotel, which was nice.
Check-in at the Hesperia Sevilla was very efficient. We signed for our rooms and headed up. First impressions are good, and I’ll be sharing a full room tour soon!
A quick supplies run
Once we’d settled in, we made a quick trip over to the express store to grab some supplies for the night. We also had to pop to the pharmacy for some paracetamol, as we both had stonking headaches, probably from the cabin pressure on the plane!
Tomorrow: Day 2
So that’s pretty much travel day! We’re both exhausted after today, so I’ll be heading to bed shortly to get some rest. Tomorrow is Day 2, and it’s a free day, so we’re planning to explore Seville and the shopping centre. I hope you’ll join us!
Don’t forget, there’ll be weekly videos from the trip on my YouTube channel, The Forward Shift Journal, too.
Thanks for reading, and see you tomorrow for Day 2!
