Waking up early to catch our taxi to the airport, we packed and tidied up the house. After a month living here, it was finally goodbye. Seeing the stars as we bustled into the taxi, I realised how eerily quiet it was. Too early for me, and everyone else. Trying not to fall asleep in the back of the taxi, Funchal rolled by the window. Then soon we did the good old road of tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge on the highway.

We soon we left the highway and spiralled up to the airport. Entering the airport we had breakfast at a cafe, composed of pale-yet-burnt tarts and okay coffee. Still, it was food. Then when the gate was open, we went through security and waited for boarding to begin. We watched our plane getting refuelled, then made our way across the tarmac, onto the plane and into our seats.

After a quick safety briefing, we began taxiing out to the runway where we watched another plane come in. Then we were rolling. This departure was smooth. Thankfully none of the wind Madeira is famous for. With a short (and floating) runway, the pilot had to slam the throttle all the way down. But once in the air, we settled back and watched as Madeira faded away. Until next time…