Newly opened Costa Coffee

For those departing from Alicante airport or arrived and waiting to be collected you can now visit the newly opened "Costa Coffee". In a smart move, the kiosk is located outside on the ground floor - departures level, which allows the smokers to be able to sit in peace and chuff away!

There was a steady stream of customers either buying and sitting down or ordering a take away. I must admit I was rather surprised at the prices - a small cappuccino was 4.10 euros; medium 4.50 and large 5.00 especially as in Benidorm a cafe con leche is around 1.50 euro. But, when my medium sized one came it was at least a double if not triple measure of a standard coffee - I will still be wide alert at midnight I think!

Me getting my fix of caffeine!

The kiosk is open from 7.00am until 22.00pm and they also sell tea, cold drinks, sandwiches and a selection of pastries. It is certainly a brand name that Brits recognise - strangely enough there are none in Benidorm nor any of the other big coffee chains which are so prevalent on a typical UK High Street. That´s not to say there aren´t coffee shops - in fact, that is probably the one thing that Spain is over-run with. As soon as one opens you can almost guarantee that another will pop up either next door or opposite! Offices in Spain do not have any facilities for making drinks and everyone goes out for their mid morning break, which is usually at 10am. Try not to go to the bank, post office or builders merchant at this time as the majority of the staff will be at the local bar having their bocadillo!

Almost hidden away

For the smokers among you many may not be aware that there is an official "Tobacos" outlet at the airport - and I don´t mean the so called duty free on the other side of security, where the prices are actually more expensive! If you go down to -2, where the shuttle buses depart from, in the far right hand corner, opposite the Fly Bus stop you will find it..... but its easy to miss as it is virtually a doorway. They are open Monday to Saturday from 9.00am until 20.00pm - closed on Sunday.

Make sure that you buy your cigarettes and tobacco from these official shops, which are widely found all over Benidorm. Do not be tempted to buy "bargain" ones offered from behind a bar claiming to be off the back of a lorry or bought over from Gibraltar - they are most probably counterfeits containing goodness knows what. If you are going to kill yourself by smoking at least ensure its with good quality tobacco!