It finally arrived. We had been talking about our flight for weeks. We had never heard of FLYBE airlines prior to booking our flight from Harrogate to Plymouth. To avoid having to change trains we thought flying would be the best way to cover
the distance involved. We were told to be there 1 1/2 hours prior to departure. Well.... We needed every minute. Here's the story. We had purchased tickets for a reasonable price but we didn't know if that price included any luggage. We had all decided that we were going to check a bag regardless. We walked to the counter and began the checking in procedure. We smiled sweetly and said we wanted to check a bag. She looked at our bags and asked if they fit into their little mock up luggage bin. They had to be kidding- my shoes wouldn't fit in there. So... Next plan. We wanted to check all our luggage - only 40 pounds a bag:-). The agent checking JoAnne and Ginger in looked at Sharon's and my agent and asked if 40 pounds ( that's English money) per bag per leg was really the cost? I almost dropped my teeth and they are not false. Since we had a stop in Belfast that would be 160 pounds for bags which is equivalent to $269.00 for bags. Fortunately the supervisor just charged us the 80 pounds for our two bags. You might think ,well that was easy. Nope! We had to leave the line, go to a service desk to pay for the bags,go back to the line and get our boarding passes. At last we are on our way, 45 minutes to Belfast, time for a quick breakfast, ( we had to get up at 5:30am) and catch our 45 minute flight to Exter, just minutes from Plymouth. Oh no! Not minutes -1 hour. Do we catch a cab,train, or bus. I had gotten some info from a local who told me the train would take 3 hours , an express bus was also available but of course we 'd have to catch a taxi, get to the bus station, and get on the bus, catch a taxi at the other end. All the while doing this with our precious bags! We checked into the cost of a cab -90 pounds. What the hell...go for it! We knew where the workhouse was in Ripon. It took about an hour and our cab driver gave us some information on Plymouth so all in all it was worth the money. She also let us know that the train was only an hour,too. I've learned you don't always get good advice or good information. A cab was door to door. Much better. As it turned out very much better for Sharon and meI since we were staying at a guest house and our room was on the top floor,only 62 steps! Felt like a 162 schleping our bags up there. We could only do one bag at a time so actually it was more then 162. We did contemplate just staying in our room for 3 days but after catching our breath we thought better of it. Besides, guess what? We were hungry.
Obviously this was taken before we knew we had 62 steps we had to climb. I mean look at that smile on Sharon's face.
After dropping our bags, literally, we headed out toward the water hoping to find a place to get some good food. We lucked out and found a very nice restaurant with a beautiful view of the water and a very famous chef.
The rest of the day we spent looking for the tourist information center. Since there were 2 listed on the sign we elected to go to the one closest to our quarters.
Ginger and Sharon , our trusted guides study the map and off we go to City Center. Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to town we go...
This is us hours later. "I know it's here someplace"!
" You find it Ginger"!
I always ask someone but these two gentleman were no help!
We finally did find someone who informed us the only information center was located in the Barbicon. We immediately, in unison decided that could wait until tomorrow and we were heading back to our guest house to rest for the remainder of the day!
Tomorrow Plymouth Visitor Center, here we come!
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