On to Cyprus

From Gatwick to Cyprus

I’m jolted out of a deep sleep at 3am when John accidently flicks the overhead light on his way to the washroom…we still have another hour before we need to get up. Muttering protests, I  close my eyes and roll over only to be startled out of sleep again  by the loud theme song from an uber masculine video game that Graham has picked for his alarm. Yep, this time it’s 4am and time to get going.

In minutes we pack and board the airport shuttle. This time we fly EasyJet to Paphos. Cyprus. Baggage restrictions are much more stringent with this carrier but fortunately we gave Zoe all her presents (wine, maple syrup, chocolates etc) yesterday so our bags are lighter.

Security is tight in the airport with heavily armed guards highly visible. Going through security and getting to our gate is busier than yesterday’s flight but still quick and smooth.

John comment’s about how the duty free stores are filled with people buying perfume and booze at 5:30am. Even the bars in the terminal are lined with people drinking beer and cocktails.

Mask restrictions are less strict in UK than Canada. I find myself wearing masks even when others aren’t. Between the mouth mask and eye mask, my face is fully covered when sleeping on the plane. The upside of that is that no one will know if i drool in my sleep.

The 4.5 hour flight passes quickly. On the way John gets a beautiful picture from his seat of the sun rising above the clouds.

Arrival in Paphos

Cyprus is warm and sunny. After much mulling around, looking for our car rental company, I take matters into my hands and ask directions. We make our way to the rental car shuttle stop. I make a friendly comment to a large, ominous looking, bald guy with lots of tattoos who is also loading his bag onto the same shuttle. He deliberately  ignores me. A few minutes later, Graham quietly informs me that based on the specific tattoos across the guys knuckles, he suspects that the guy is a white supremacist. Very disturbing.

People drive on the left side of the road. John immediately turns on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal…which is also on the opposite side that we’re used to. Thank goodness it is John driving. He’s doing a great job.

We make our way to Paphos (also spelled Pafos), the landscape is dry and we pass citrus groves and mostly white or golden sand coloured buildings; squarish structures, most no more than three stories high.

Our Cyprus Home Base

We find our Airbnb accommodation which is in a 3 storey residential apartment complex surrounding a pool. Only problem is that we can’t get in. The code we have to open the lock box to retrieve the door key isn’t working. We all try the code with no success. We do have the wifi code and get a weak signal by pressing ourselves against the front door. By this method Graham is able to use his phone to text the owner who lives in England. After 10 minutes of texting it turns out that the lock box still had the code from the previous guest. With the new code we had no trouble getting the key and getting inside.

The 2 bedroom apartment is clean, comfortable and spacious. We are tired and hungry after all the travel so we head to the grocery store and have supper on our balcony overlooking the pool.