A shitshow at Customs, and this was in Spain

I love arriving in Malaga, southwestern Spain's biggest city and international airport hub - gateway to sun-splashed and cultural bliss (Picasso's home town)  So it was disappointing to have to go through the shitshow us passengers from Manchester on a Ryanair flight had to experience Sunday at Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport. We were confronted by the brand new EU Entry-Exit system's fingerprint and photo recognition machines (photo), half of which didn't seem to work. You place your passport over a scanner - that worked. Then it adjusted to take your photo, similar to what you have at Canada Customs at Toronto's Pearson. Then the fingerprint capture. You place four right fingers (not the thumb) over a glass pad and the fingerprints register on a screen. Except they didn't. I tried five or six times and still they didn't take. Finally a notice on a bigger screen popped up saying, "proceed to a manned kiosk." Except...the electronic gates didn't open. I wasn't the only one caught in this bind. About a dozen of us couldn't get through. The Spanish Customs officers were only about 10 m away but seemed oblivious to our plight. Passengers shouted and waved at them but they paid no heed. After a few minutes one finally strolled over and looking at us like we were slightly idiots, said to simply walk round to the booths. The problem? The other lanes were cordoned off with official tape (known as stanchions), usually making passage verboten. A couple of us "risked" it anyway, ducking under the stanchion and making our way to a booth. The officers simply took our passports and stamped them as if nothing had happened. And I don't imagine they got our fingerprints.

Walking out of Malaga airport towards the suburban train station and my train/bus combo journey to Elviria, about 50 km west, I noticed a brand new and spacious Pret A Manger. Pret of course is usually found only in the biggest or swankiest urban and tourist capitals. And I thought: "Malaga has arrived."

I flew Ryanair between Manchester UK and Malaga. It was my second time flying the Irish-based discount carrier, perhaps best known of Europe's budget airlines and notorious for owner Michael O'Leary's sometimes outrageous suggestions for making travel even cheaper - i.e., having passengers stand. The Boeing 737s have a tacky interior with safety instructions stuck on to the back of seats and no seat pockets. The airline's new policy is that you must use a digital boarding pass or risk a £55 ($100.17 Cad) penalty. Since I had paid for my carry-on when booking  ($35.56 Cad for a total one way flight of $94.05) I was deemed "Priority" and could board from the tarmac by the front door. The airline has a nifty app and you can use this to order in-flight meals. I tried but it didn't work. A fellow passenger told me you had to do this before the flight left the ground. Otherwise you have to wait for the food cart to come down the aisle, which took awhile when I was famished not having had breakfast after an overnight flight from Canada. 

At my resort or "apartment-hotel" - where I stay every year - I notice a few subtle changes. There's one paper cup in the bathroom compared to two last year and one dish cloth in the kitchenette instead of two. But since I am on the third floor instead of my normally second floor apartment, perhaps the offerings diminish as one rises higher? Otherwise, this is a great place (pic above) - reasonably priced, efficiently managed and choice location - one of the best finds on the Costa. 

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller