Found this in my outbox, from 2021…different times.

Today, I found myself flying high, literally. We had made the decision to brave it on our jollies. 2 weeks in Kefalos, in Kos. I won’t lie, I have had a very stressful 10 days, trying to work out which PLF , PCR, lateral flow etc etc we needed to make our annual (or biannual this year)trip to Greece. Double vaccination letter…check PLF check… Pharmacy booked for 2 days before returning in neighbouring village for some test or other…check Overpriced test from Randox already sitting at home waiting for our return to do on day 2…check. To be dropped off at our local venue of Birch Services on the M62. Apparently some chappie in an articulated lorry speeds up and down the motorways of the UK picking up these tests and then hurtles over to Ireland with £200000 worth of tests to be looked at. Then came the packing, what do I take on holiday with me? Everything used to be second nature to me, could pack in the blink of an eye, but now, I had to think. The random stuff, like, marmite, teabags, pegs, came flooding back to me, but I really had to delve deep to think about chargers for my kindle, earbuds (didnt have them last time I travelled) oh and I mustn’t forget my aloe vera lip balm spf30. Couldn’t find it anywhere, so bought a new one from my friend Lindsay, only to find it in a pocket of my beach bag, en route to the airport. So now I have 2. But turns out ok, as Dave goes to Boots in the terminal to find something similar, haha I say, here is one I bought earlier! Result. Then we had the, ‘ is my bag too heavy syndrome?’ ‘ do I need the 5th pair of sandals’ 7th pair of shorts?’ During lockdown I purchased a large Tripp suitcase for when I eventually return to finish my trip in New Zealand that was very rudely cut short by the pandemic, looks like it might be a bit further away now, so I had plenty of space for all my unnecessary stuff to take away. However result! Only weighed in at 20.6kg of my 23kg allowance. I could have added the pumps I would never wear and all those cereal bars that would come back untouched but in a kind of crumpled cardboard mush ready to be thrown away on my return. We made it to the airport in plenty of time, our car was booked in terminal 3 carpark, even though that terminal isn’t operating at the moment. Took us a while to find it as the satnav thought we wanted to go to arrivals in terminal 1. As it was still dark it was hard to read the directions we had been sent, but the barrier lifted as we approached, hopefully meaning that we prebooked and recognised our numberplate. Time will tell 2 weeks on if they don’t let us out! Headed over to terminal 1 to check in, thank goodness we had booked speedy boarding as out bag drop off was 5 mins opposed to a much much longer queue otherwise. Our bags didn’t get pulled up for searching either ( thank goodness I had found that lip balm before!) as there was a long wait for them. Straight to breakfast in Giraffe, a very tasty bagel with smoked salmon and scrambled egg and cup of Earl Grey tea. Whilst eating we were called to board, the furthest gate of course, but made it in plenty of time. The flight was OK, must admit was a bit daunted at wearing my mask for so long, but it was fine. The answer is, you don’t wear it whilst eating or drinking, so just buy lots of alcohol to see you through! 2 g and t’s and a bottle of prosecco ( well we are celebrating 🍾) plus my large tube of pringles from home sorted us well. I have written this on the plane, we are about to land, will continue later…we are about to land, cant contain my excitement. This girl is back!! Took about 20 minutes to get through passport control as we were almost the last off the plane. I now am the proud owner of a Greek stamp in my passport, the guy checking it chuckled to himself as couldn’t find an empty page for all the visas for Nepal, China Cambodia etc then looked in Daves with blank pages. We then walked to the place where they were checking the Passenger Locator Form, with 2 scary looking nurses standing guard beside. We were ready to be taken aside to have a stick thrust down our throat and up our noses, but no nothing at all. They didn’t even look at the form I was bravely waving in front of them. Cases were there, ready and waiting, so we headed out to find our transfer to the resort….but no, a customs officer stood in our way and took a fancy to Dave. I did declare the litre of gin stashed in my hand luggage ( it would have been rude not to purchase it on the plane) but it was Dave’s bag he wanted to rummage through. Sadly his wardrobe purchased over the last 30 years were of no consequence to him and he let us out…freedom, we had made it! I have since read that apparently dairy and meat products are now illegal to import, lucky he didn’t pick my smalls to rummage through as he would have found a tube of Primula toothpaste cheese, only 2 months out of date, bought for our New Year holiday that was cancelled. €5000 fine apparently! So we made it to the resort of Kefalos, have shopped and had a couple of hours by the pool, was it worth the stress – damm right it was!!