Thursday 23^rd October – Cagliari

39:12.064N 9:07.510E

We were packed and ready early for our flight home to England to visit family and friends.  Eventually it was lunchtime and time to head off to the airport.  We were fortunate to get a lift to the airport with some new friends who were flying back on the same flight.

Disappointingly there was no tax-free shopping at the airport, however, Easyjet were as punctual as ever and we were soon climbing out over the bay, looking down on Cagliari below. 

As we approached Luton it was clear from the grey skies that the weather in England was not going to be as warm and pleasant as it could be.  All was fine as we started our descent, then suddenly just as we were about to land, the engines roared and we started to climb again, the flaps came in and the landing gear came up – obviously we weren’t going down.  

With strong winds forecast across the UK we wondered if that was why we were circling again.  After a few tense minutes with everyone looking at each other, the Captain explained what was going on – the plane in front had burst a tyre on landing and so he had had to abort the landing while they cleared the plane from the runway and checked for any tyre debris.

The good news was that we were going to be the first plane down but we would have to circle for a while; the bad news was that it would remain quite bumpy as we would have to circle in the low cloud as there was another plane waiting above us. 

Fortunately we soon got the all clear and our second approach went without incident, despite the windsock flying straight-out horizontal in the strong south-westerly winds. We stepped off the plane into the cold blast and hurried quickly across the tarmac to the terminal.

Our slight delay meant the passengers from the previous plane had already cleared through Immigration and so we were soon picking up our luggage and going out through Customs.  We were pleased to find my parents patiently waiting for us in Arrivals, complete with welcome sign.  We said our good-byes to our friends and were soon outside in the rain to find the car and then on our way up the motorway.

There was only one way to end a long day and mark our return to England – so, nearly home, we stopped at the local chip shop to pick up some fish and chips J

Cagliari:  From above (marina bottom left)

© Pyxis 2008