General Chat

went into the UK many times, while we were living in Europe.

I'd wait to see what the queues were like before making up my mind. Didn't do it when OH was with me (somebody has to carry the bags lol)

Having dual nationality & two passports is really useful

Used to be one queue for European passports & another for everyone else. Have they changed that to only one queue now?

I always set the alarms off. I keep telling them it's because I have metal in my body (don't ask) but they still think I have evil intentions :-D

:-(

A friend whose daughter is off to Madrid to university in a few weeks time was telling me this morning that to fly from Menorca to Madrid, with luggage costs near enough €1000, so they are going by car & ferry.
Another friend by coincidence e mailed me this morning to say that he had been planning to come over in September from England, but the prices are still sky high in spite of the fact that school holidays are well over. He´s now looking at early October but needs to be careful because of half term.
If we go to England, my husband only has to show his Spanish ID card. I need a passport & I´m English.

Perhaps people are fed up with all the hanging around at Airports and all the extra charges, now have started to go on Cruises from British ports,not a lot of hassle and various ports of call. :-D

You´re probably right Merlin.
I haven´t been off the island since my mother in law´s funeral in Barcelona 2 years ago. Because that all had to be very last minute, it cost a fortune & we spent twice as long in the airport as we did on the plane.What a faff & it was only an internal flight.
OH now goes by ferry when he wants to visit family. Half the cost & he has the car with him at the other side. Yes, it takes longer, but not that much when you consider all the hanging around at the airport.

I am a British citizen with Spanish residency and I can travel on my ID card in Europe but I usually have my passport with me just in case there is a problem.

My latest passport (2007) has a chip in the back so I can bypass the queues and use the automatic screening thing where you put your passport in a slot and look straight ahead into screen, a light flashes and the barrier lifts. So much quicker but not all airports have them. I also set the alarms off as I have had a hip replacement and I always have to take my shoes off . Security passes a wand over me and checks my hip area.

Merlin - I love cruising but I still have to fly to wherever the ship is leaving from. Cruises do come into Santa Cruz but hardly any actually leave from here.

Detective - don't worry I didn't think that you were putting Tenerife down. A lot has changed in 40 years ;-)

Scozz, yes still two queues.

Wendy the last time we flew in there seemed to be trouble with the automatic scan. We don't have the chips so have to endure the queue. It always seesms wrong that we have to queue for ages while non EU nationals sail straight in because there are fewer of them. I have to say Heathrow T5 is the worst.

Hi, Ann I have never used Heathrow and I have only been there once to see my daughter off when she went to work in America for a while. I Imagine it must be very busy now.

When we went to New York a couple of months ago we had a double whammy!

Arriving at JFK we had to queue for three hours......while U.S. citizens sailed through :-|
Then on return home at Heathrow we had to queue for two hours for a one hour flight back home, being English citizens didn't mean a thing :-|..:-0 the experience does sometimes put you off traveling by air.
Mau

Wendy I haven't seen the Romeria but have seen the sand carpets, they are amazing.

For anyone that is interested I think this youtube clip is a great way of seeing the sand carpets,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uktrOTYRIQU

Thanks for the clip Lesley.The sand carpets are wonderful, there's some clever folk in this world.

I've visited North & South Tenerife but not been to Orotava Wendy,it certainly looks a beautiful place.

Thanks Lesley for the link I have been to Sri the sand carpets many times, usually because we have visitors staying that haven't seen them before.

Mau, La Ototava is a lovely small town steeped in history and I should make a point of going there more.

Wendy

Fancy living in North America??


No food on domestic flights ............ buy your own food (but NOT drinks) in the airport before you go through security.

Oh, right, THIS airport doesn't allow that ....... get the food confiscated.

Wait until after going through security ............... choices, choices ............. one of the burger chains or pre-packaged sandwiches.


My daughter lives on the opposite coast of Canada ............... it is 7-8 hours in the air ............. but neither of the 2 airlines goes direct. The best you can do is a flight that lands in Toronto and then takes off again 50 minutes later. You do not have to get off the plane ............... BUT it is considered a break in the total flight time.

Vancouver -> Toronto, ca 5 hours.

Toronto -> Halifax, ca 2 hours

No food served on either leg .......... although you can buy soggy cold sandwiches, etc, from the cabin crew for some massive price (twice the cost "on land").


Plus ................ it costs us more for the flight than it does for us to fly to England or Europe!

I can no longer fly economy because I need extra leg room (arthritis), I have to go either Business or First. That costs minimum $1600 each way (limited number of seats at that special price), full price $3,000+ each way.

That's $12,000 (or about £5-6,000) for the 2 of us ....... and we haven't even left the country!!

But we do get fed .... and it is usually pretty good.


The US is the same, and has the same long distance flights ................ no food on domestic flights. :-S



We would much rather take the train ................same journey takes 5 nights and 6 days on the train, 4 or 5 star meals, fantastic scenery, and comfie beds.

It's like taking a cruise on land :-D

and is very relaxing


It costs less than the Business Class airfare!


We have so far done the cross-country train trip 8 times since 2004 ...... and will be doing another 2 (return trip) this coming Christmas.

We have done the return trip twice before, the other trips have been fly one way and train the other.



My reasons for preferring not to fly really are ....

hassles at the airport with security

cramped seating on the planes

all the excess charges for baggage ................ some US airlines are now charging for carry-on bags, as well as for checked bags.

no food

cost


However ................ we are retired, we both love to travel, and currently have enough money to be able to indulge ourselves, at least for the next few years. So we will fly ............ especially to Australia, NZ, or even the UK :-D ........ just not while you have the Olympics and Paralympics!



sylvia

I thought I had problems trying to get off of our little island to anywhere but England. The train journey sounds quite an adventure and having someone to travel with makes it fun too.

I have been invited to some friends who live in central France which means three flights each way. Tenerife, Madrid, Paris, Orley. And then about two hours in the car. I could go back to the UK and then on to Orley but it would be very expensive and a lot of flying time. I asked them if they would like to come here but too late, they had already done the Maths!

It´s almost as cheap to fly from Menorca to England & England to Barcelona as it is to fly direct Mahon-Barcelona.
Think we´ll stick with the ferry.

Wise child, have you got Spanish residency? Here if you have you get big reductions with Spanish airlines to and from spanishe airports. The flights are more expensive in the first place but the reduction in price makes it a good deal.

Wendy

No, cos I don't fly! (except on Halloween, on my broom) haha.

Shelley Rose, do your trips require a passport or do you stay close to home? :-D

Hi Wendy.
have had Spanish residency since 2005 & am married to a Spaniard.
Fares to & from Menorca are eyewatering even with the residents discounts.
Incidentally, we no longer have residence cards, just pieces of paper which are valid for 10 years but are not proof of ID, so we have to carry our passports as well even in order to use a credit/debit card when shopping.
This change took place in Catalonia (don´t know about the rest of Spain)in about 2009. Apparently it has been decided to start issuing cards again, but the paper can only be replaced with a card when it expires after 10 years.
Doubt if I´ll live that long & even if I do, travel will be a thing of the past by then.

What a pain having to carry your passport all the time. It worries me when in tenerife that I have to carry mine to use in some places with credit cards. I am always afraid I am going to lose it.

Ann we used to just carry our ID photo cards ( or a very good copy!!) but the UK objected to the information that could be obtained from them and the fact that you also have your finger print on them. For this reason they were stopped for UK citizens and possibly for some other countries. The Spanish still have theirs. They worked for everything, travel, bank, verification of credit/debit cards etc. As wise child said they were changed for an A4 piece of paper without the finger print and the photo, so still need passport, that soons gets tatty and worn. I don't carry my passport as the supermarket accepts my photo driving licence and the bank knows me for any other nescessity out comes the tatty bit of paper. The cards are being reinstated still without the photo and the finger print so not much point really.