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An early evening flight
to Bordeaux
and a night in an airport hotel
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Finding a flight from
London to Bordeaux that fitted comfortably with our embarkation
plans proved surprisingly difficult. Our original flight
was scheduled to depart at 6.30am on Saturday 30th May,
the day we were due to board the ship, so we booked an
overnight stay at a hotel near Gatwick for Friday night,
to save us an extra-early start from home.
Unfortunately, British Airways subsequently changed the
departure time from 6.30am to 8.00pm on the same Saturday.
This would have meant arriving in Bordeaux late that evening
and reaching the ship very late, leaving us with little
time to settle in.
Rather than risk such a late start to our holiday, we
decided to switch to the 8.00pm flight on Friday 29th
May, the evening before embarkation, and spend the night
at an airport hotel in Bordeaux. This would allow us to
enjoy a much more relaxed start to Saturday and, hopefully,
board the ship around lunchtime rather than waiting until
the published embarkation time of 3.00pm. With hindsight,
it turned out to be exactly the right decision!
A scene we have become
quite used to on recent travels... the view from the lounge
at Gatwick Airport.
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Once on board, the
food and the service was up to the usual high standard and
before we knew it, we were beginning our descent into Bordeaux. |
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The Garonne River, leading
to the centre of Bordeaux. |
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Same photo, zoomed in
to show some landmarks in a bit more detail. The closest
bridge is Pont d'Aquitaine. The distinctive Pont Jacques
Chaban Delmas lifting bridge is next. The centre of Bordeaux
is just beyond that on the right, where our ship will be
docked tomorrow. Pont de Pierre, with its 17 spans across
the River Garonne is just visible as the river turns left. |
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On final approach to
the airport at Merignac. |
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Bruce decided that the
hotel was within walking distance of the airport. Geoff
went along with the idea, but did ask once or twice "are
we nearly there?". It really wasn't that far! |
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First impressions of
the hotel were good... |
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...and our room was very
comfortable. |
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We could have gone for
meal in the hotel's restaurant, but as we had been well
fed on the plane, we decided to have an early night. |
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