The Final Countdown

Our flight isn't due to leave until 8pm tonight, so we have most of the day to enjoy before returning to Edinburgh.

We were both pretty tired after our escapades yesterday so we had a long lie before getting showered, packed and checked out. After leaving our luggage, we headed off to the old town and to a restaurant we saw yesterday; it was called Urban House and the breakfast looked pretty good.

After enjoying Eggs Benedict and avocado toast, along with some coffee, we decided just to take it easy and not to bother with any more museum tours or sightseeing.  Instead we found Sladovňa - House Of Beer which had a lovely courtyard off the main tourist street leading from St Micheal's Gate. I had a large beer whereas Iain went for the tasting flight with 4 beers. We stayed there for a while, giving me a chance to blog and also fill out the track and trace from for the UK government. Anyone travelling from a different country has to fill this form out before arriving in the UK now, and it must be done within 48 hours of arrival to the UK. 

One thing we realised we had not tried throughout the last few days was currant wine or Ribezlak. Slovakia is famous for its fruit wine so we decided to find a different place to try it. After wandering around for a while, we ended up at the Craft Beer Pub. I had a small wine, and I'm glad I did, as it was so sweet. It tastes a bit like Ribena, but its around 14% alcohol.

It was now nearing 4pm, so we decided to find somewhere for dinner as I had read that there was nothing available in the airport. We went to the main square near to our hotel and settled on an Italian called La Pala. I had amazing homemade lemonade which was strawberry and basil flavoured along with Linguine which couldn't have been any "greener" if they had tried. The food was average but it was good enough to keep us going for the rest of the day. 

We dashed back to our hotel as we had a taxi pre-arranged to pick us up at 5pm, which in hindsight was far too early. Normally I'm happy to wander around the airport, looking at duty free, but departures wasn't open until 2 hours before the flight. As ours was the only flight at 8pm, we had a good 45 minutes to hang about. 

As there was only our flight leaving, we got through security quickly and headed to the duty free shop as I wanted to get a bottle of Dunaj, now my favourite slovakian wine! We also bought some Tatratea which is composed of black & white teas, herbs and natural fruit extracts. It comes in many flavors and you can get bottles from 17 to 72 %. It is best is to drink it chilled or with an ice cube, but can also be served as a long mixed drink.

After blogging for a bit, we headed through passport control to gate 13; thankfully I'm not that superstitious.  The flight started boarding early, although we were actually only being herded into priority and non-priority lanes. Again, Iain and I were not sitting together but this time I was in 12E and Iain in 26E. We were both in the middle but thankfully no-one was at the window so we both moved, leaving the seat in the middle empty. The flight was horrendous as I had 2 screaming kids two rows in front, must remember to pack my headphones next time!

After 2.5 hours in the air, we landed in a wet and windy Edinburgh. We were still able to go through the gates at passport control so I assume the passport check also confirms you have filled out the online form. We boarded the bus to airport parking and headed on our merry way.

I certainly haven't been put off travelling given the pandemic, but it definitely was more complicated. I am looking forward to another trip in the near future but we need to see what happens in the world, as there have been spikes of Covid cases in a number of countries.

Until next time, stay safe!




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