Big news - I've made a move to Malaga!

PIGSY in Spain

After a lot of planning and a long time (our initial plans were scuppered in March by the Covid pandemic) we have finally made a move to Malaga.

Both of us have taken breaks from our careers in Ireland and we have plans to live here for awhile with Ciaran concentrating on his art work - see www.ciaranmccoy.com

We are all set up with a rented apartment in the centre of the city (pics to follow in future blogs and studio space for PIGSY) and our flights went very smoothly - and most importantly Bones the dog arrived with no issues - he travelled in the hold on Ciaran's flight, as cargo.

I set off from Ireland on a 3.20pm Aer Lingus flight after leaving Bones & Ciaran in the dog friendly Travel Lodge in Airside, Swords. Then Ciaran checked Bones in to cargo on Tuesday morning at 4am and then made his way to Dublin Airport to put his baggage and bike on to his 7.20am Aer Lingus flight to Malaga.  We would have preferred to take Bones in the cabin with us but this is currently not possible with airlines from Ireland to Europe, it seems.  During these Covid times it could be a source of additional revenue for airlines (as passenger numbers were low on both our flights) so perhaps it will change and pets may be allowed in the cabin.  My sister's cat travelled in the cabin with her from Oman in the Middle East to The Netherlands so I am unsure what is the issue with travel from Ireland.

I arrived in to Malaga promptly on Monday evening and deplaned quickly and made my way to immigration to present my passport and after that went through a Covid check where I presented a QR code on my phone where I had completed a self declaration that I was well and gave my contact details for where I was staying in Malaga.  I then made my way to the carousel where my bag was sitting there waiting for pick up.  Honestly, it was like flying on a private jet in to a private airport.  It was pretty much deserted and probably took all of 10 mins to do the above!!!

From the airport I took the bus to Malaga and got off near Calle Larios and walked to the apartment.  It was that easy and felt very safe as everyone was wearing masks.  

As mentioned Ciaran was on the flight the next day so I got up and took the bus again to the airport and met him about 11.30am.  From the airport we took a taxi to the cargo terminal and paid a ground handling fee for the dog in the office and then went to the unit next to the office to pick Bones up.  He came through in a crate which I was under the impression that we had rented for his transport but they gave it to us to keep.  He hopped out of the crate and we put his lead on and he walked smartly to the taxi without a look back!
The taxi driver had no issue with Bones hopping in the back with us and he loaded up the crate in to the boot.

We were then on our way to Malaga with the taxi driver dropping us off at a spot a short walk to our apartment.  The bus ride in to Malaga costs €3 and the taxi cost us less than €30 and was well worth it as there was no way we could have walked to the cargo terminal with all of our baggage and in the mid day sun.  Additionally I am not sure if we could have taken Bones in the bus.

When we arrived, we had a good look around at the apartment to see if there is anything we needed to organise or buy. The place was spotlessly clean as we are the first tenants since it was refurbished and it has just about everything we need, bar two sun loungers for the terrace.  We will get that organised over the next few days.

So that's the state of play for the moment.....do keep any eye on this blog as I will post all about what we are getting up to and how everything is going.

Additionally for lots more pics follow the PIGSY insta page