Those of you in the Southern Hemisphere might think immediately of Wellington NZ. 

In the South of France, we were told it is Perpignan. Which by the way, had the closest international airport to where we have just spent seven lovely weeks. But, we were going to fly to London Stansted out of Carcassonne. 

Last night,  we were to meet our hosts at Carcassonne Airport at 5.20pm. They were flying from Stansted on Ryanair and they were to drive us to our Carcassonne hotel where Mick and I were looking forward to a relaxing dinner in a nice restaurant (not kid-free, but animal-free) and they were to head home to their healthy and happy animals, their beautifully clean home and a rabbit and mushroom pie cooked by Mick. A great plan. 

We were at the airport on time – I was with the car and Mick had gone into the terminal. We  saw the plane approaching the runway – great. But, it suddenly took off and disappeared. 

Mick found out after quite sometime that the plane had diverted to Perpignan (the supposedly windy city) because it was too windy in Carcassonne. Ironic! Also because it did not look or feel windy to us. 

With some intermittent wifi access we heard from our hosts that they were on a bus heading back to Carcassonne Airport. They’d be there at 7.30pm. Which actually became 8pm. 

After a very chatty drive back to our hotel, telling them all the stories of our adventures and their animals (I should have given them my blog details), we said goodbye at 8.20pm. They had quite a drive home. 

We did have a nice meal and enjoyed a deep sleep. We woke refreshed to a cold but clear, calm day. 

We arrived at Carcassonne Airport with our “priority boarding” status on Ryanair at 9.15am this morning. Our flight was to depart at 11.10am. It was too early for a last local red wine, so we settled for a coffee. 

Around the expected arrival of our plane, we heard engine noises getting closer and then moving away. After a long 20 minutes or so we noticed on the display monitors that the plane, our plane, had been diverted to Perpignan. 

Two long hours later, with little or no change to the monitors, and no announcements explaining what was going on, plus the safe arrival of two more Ryanair flights, we were told to board a bus. We weren’t told we were going to Perpignan, but that is where we headed. Four bus loads of passengers. Some of them not too happy about it. 

We drove past large numbers (I’m talking 100s) of these, attesting to the existence of strong winds, on the 120km drive to our plane.

 As we got closer and closer to Perpignan it got windier and windier. 🌪🌪🌪💨💨💨💨💨. 

The bus was getting buffeted by strong winds and I was getting nervous. Based on my experience, Perpignan was windier than Carcassonne and did deserve the title. So, why were we flying from here ????????

Once at Perpignan Airport the only announcement that was made was “passengers with checked luggage are invited to collect their bags from the bus and re-check them here“. 

Invited was what it said. Nothing about “priority” and nothing about what was to happen next. 

Oh, and once I linked into the airport wifi I got this helpful email message. 

We had to go through security and customs again, and we eventually boarded the plane and departed at 4.20pm for a 100 minute flight – which actually took over two hours. Only six hours later than we were supposed to. 

On the plus side, we got to enjoy looking at some more of the South of France countryside 🇫🇷 as we spent almost 1.5 hours on the bus. 

The plane flight went smoothly…

… and when we came through Customs we were the only non EU passengers. 

Mick had “smuggled” three bottles of French wine in his checked luggage to share, which to my surprise and Mick’s relief, had survived the baggage retrieval systems in Carcassonne, Perpignan and Stansted. 

We did enjoy one of those with Edward.