Bob and I had a good night at the Hilton Hotel near the Gatwick Airport on Sunday night. We had a drink in the lobby bar and then had dinner from groceries we had picked up in the M&S market in the airport. We had learned earlier Sunday that our scheduled 11:05 am Aurigny flight to Guernsey on Monday was delayed until 1:20 pm and had let our homeowners know.
Regardless of the delay, the airline still wanted us through security by 10:20 am. Being the overachievers that we are and the easiness of the check-in and security processes, we were through security by 9:20. We decided that with all the time to kill maybe we should have a breakfast at an airport restaurant.
I don’t remember the name of it, but the food and service were great. Bob had salmon and an egg on toast, and I had smashed avocado.
Gatwick is one of the airports that doesn’t post the departure gate for a flight until so many minutes prior to boarding, so our gate information wouldn’t be available until 12:40 or so. But we noticed that other flights to Guernsey were going from gates 1-5, so we decided to head there. We spent the next 3+ hours mostly in that area. I read a couple of free newspapers that were available, a UK paper and “The New York Times.” At one point, we checked to see if there was availability on the 11:20 flight, which was leaving at 12:40, but no luck.
Long story short, we started boarding about 1:20 and got into the Guernsey airport about 3:00 on a fairly small plane about 70 seats). The delay was due to staffing shortages/illnesses. The weather was great, and we got some good shots of the island as we landed.
Our homeowners picked us up from the airport, showed us a couple of parks to walk the dogs and the closest grocery, and made us a lovely meal, including some peas from their garden.
But most importantly, we got to meet Rosie and Daisie, their adorable Westies that we’ll be caring for until the 21st while their owners are having a belated birthday trip to Barbados.
Peckish Travels 