When you go away for the weekend so much time can be taken
up with travelling – often the best part of the day – leaving you not much time
to enjoy your destination.
I had always wanted to go to the Moorish city of Granada
(Spain) for a weekend to see the Alhambra, a great architectural sight that is
the epitome of Andalusian history.
So, I was delighted to hear that British Airways, the
biggest operator at London City, was operating a flight from here to Granada,
Spain. If you can use this compact airport when you are flying out of the
capital, you will be doing yourself a favour as you can travel in comfort and
style so you arrive at your destination less stressed.
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| Granada |
The BA check-in closes 15 minutes prior to departure, if you
have hand luggage and, if you want to check in your bag, the latest time you
can arrive is 20 minutes before your flight takes off.
If you arrive earlier – you can’t check-in your bags until
two hours before your flight – there are plenty of coffee shops where you can
while away an hour or so. There is free Wi-Fi and, of course, duty-free
shopping. Getting through security and customs doesn’t take long at all.
The departure lounge is reminiscent of an intimate airline lounge, except you
pay for drinks and food.
Getting to the airport is easy. Use the speedy Docklands
Light Railway service which connects with the Tube and some of London’s railway
stations. I like the fact that you can be there so quickly. It takes
approximately 22 minutes into Bank (for the City of London) and, if you want to
go to the West End, it will take you around 30 minutes. In fact, in the time it
took me to collect my baggage at Heathrow, go through the UK Border Control, I was
sitting at home having a cup of tea. Sheer bliss!
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| On route for Granada |
For those of you who later need to fly out of Gatwick or
Heathrow, you can use public transport to get there. BA recommends allowing yourself
three hours to transfer between airports.
BA operates other destinations from this airport including
New York, Florence and Nice – all great for a mini-break. Flights are usually
operated by British Airways CityFlyer which tends to use the 98-seater Embraer
and 76-seater Embraer aircraft, so boarding and disembarking seems to be really
quick.
In my books, travelling with BA from London City Airport is
how travelling should be.
I have to say that you will be hard-pressed to beat BA’s
service. At check-in, the staff is friendly and helpful, and on board, the crew's mission seems to be to ensure that
everything is done so you have an enjoyable flight – which is not what you find with a lot of
in-flight service these days. All you have to do is sit back and relax with a
drink and snack, courtesy of BA.
By Daralyn Danns
Getting there
Getting there
British Airways flies to Granada from London City Airport
four times a week and costs from £59 one way. (Price includes
free onboard food and bar service and 23kg of free checked baggage
allowance.) For more information visit www.britishairways.com/travel/london-city-airport
I stayed at the Hotel Carmen (www.hotelcarmen.com). Rooms
from €115
For more information on Granada visit www.turgranada.es and
www.spain.info
