We recently flew to Greece from Manchester. Now, last year we were supposed to do the same trip but disaster struck! We decided as we were flying from Manchester we wouldn’t bother staying in a hotel overnight (spoiler: big mistake!). We had a fairly early flight but set off in plenty of time in the early hours of the morning.
About 12 miles from home, the car started making some strange noises and it soon became apparent that we had a flat tyre! Mr. W and our eldest came to our rescue and changed the tyre by the side of the road. It didn’t take too long and we were all very relieved afterwards until about 5 mile further down the road the same noise happened and a different tyre was flat! In the 20 odd years or so we’ve been together. I can only remember getting one flat tyre so to get two flat tyres in the space of an hour on the way to the airport is just crazy! Of course we didn’t have another spare tyre so we rang the RAC who did eventually come to rescue us but not soon enough for us, of course to make our flight.
Any last minute flights were astronomically priced and our insurance refused to pay out, so that trip just didn’t happen (and is still a bit of a sore spot!).
So, this year for our trip to Greece, we decided that staying over in Manchester the night before was the way to go! We booked a hotel and parking package with HolidayExtras, which was better value than booking both separately.
As part of the deal we received overnight parking at the Crowne Plaza hotel followed by parking at Jet Parks 3 for the duration of our holiday. The hotel was a 5-minute walk from Terminal 1 and our flight was very early the following day. So rather than leave the car at the hotel overnight and then drive it to the car park following day, we decided it would be better if we took the car to the car park the night before.
Our car park booking was made for the following day and you can pay for additional nights of course but it’s worth knowing that Jet Parks 3 have a policy where if you arrive 6 hours before your set parking time there will be no extra charge. Our parking time was midnight that night so we took our car at 6pm, which meant a far more relaxed start the next day with a quick walk over to the terminal from our hotel.
The Jet Parks 3 car park was quite automated with an ANPR camera that recognised our registration and raised the barrier to allow us entry. We then drove around the car park until we found a space (has to be said it was quite busy!). It was also very wet!
Once we found a space we took a note of our parking position and walked to the nearest bus stop for the shuttle. I would recommend taking a photo of where your car is parked and which bus stop to get off at as you might think you’ll remember, but post holiday sometimes you don’t!
We were very lucky and the bus came as we arrived at the bus stop and was very quiet with plenty of room. It was then a quick drive to the airport stopping at one of the other terminals (I’m not sure which one!) before going on to Terminal 1 which was the one we wanted.
It was all very straightforward and efficient!
On our return, the Jet Parks 3 bus stop was immediately outside Terminal 1 and the bus picked us up quickly before depositing us back at the bus stop where we got on. From there it was a quick walk to the car. Once again the ANPR camera recognised our registration and the barrier lifted as if by magic and we were on our way home!
This post was produced in partnership with HolidayExtras, as always all opinions expressed are my own.
