Fun and games flying from Funchal...

Monday morning arrived, and as Mum and I weren't leaving for the Airport until 11:00, we had plenty of time to walk into Funchal and get our last minute purchases - which in our case meant buying corms and seeds, as well as wicker-work. I got a replica of the Monte toboggan which I thought would be perfect to keep my car keys and security pass in, whilst I'm in the office.

Once we'd gotten what we wanted, and had packed it was off to the airport. And that was where the fun started. We were told the the flight was delayed for a couple of hours - and that it was due to adverse weather conditions in Birmingham. Great - just what Mum and I needed to be told - rotten weather back home.

So, we killed time by wandering around the very small duty free area, and watching the antics of the terminal maintenance crew, who were trying (unsuccessfully at first) to deal with a blocked drain line on one of the big overhead air-conditioning units.

Mum got tired, so I did my normal trick and left her with the hand-baggage, whilst I scampered off into Duty Free. I was under instruction to get a decent bottle of whisky for one of my neighbours, and I wanted to see if I could get a particular aftershave I'd been after (Boss Selection).

Given the size of the Duty Free area, it was almost as good as the ones at Heathrow (and much better than the one at Birmingham!) I not only managed to get a bottle of single malt, but I managed to get the aftershave and some of my perfume - Cartier - Declaration (I think that's how you spell it!)

We finally got onto the flight, and it was almost as bad as the in-bound trip. We also found out why we'd had the delay... The aircraft had a technical fault at Birmingham, thus delaying the outbound flight, which had a knock-on effect on the return flight that Mum and I were on.

This time, I was lucky enough to be seated by the window, whilst poor Mum was stuck in the middle seat, and was tremendously uncomfortable.

But, once we'd landed back in Birmingham, we knew that it wasn't going to be too long before we were home.

If anything, this trip has made me more determined to go back to Maderia, as the people are really friendly, and the scenery? Well, that's just spectacular, and deserves a longer trip to do the island justice.

Would I recommend going there? YES.

If you're into gardening, walking and good food, it's a real must see place, and one that I have every intention of going back to, as a week just wasn't long enough to see and do everything that I wanted to.

Ah well, guess I should call this quits - I've got bits and pieces to sort out before I go back to the playpen that I call an office, next week. (Boo, hiss.)

Karen

Learning to fly, but I don't have wings