Pat on the back for Majorca

Firstly, the weather has been wonderful this last month, people have been on the beaches and in the sea in November! The shops and businesses have been friendly and offered discounts, but it was on my way home from Stansted that I really appreciated one facet of Majorca that mainly residents complain about-public transport. We arrived at Stansted at 4.45pm and my son who was supposed to meet us had to work late and couldn't get to and from the airport from Cambridge for a couple of hours. He suggested that rather than wait we catch the train, so we trudged in the rain down a flooded ramp to the station only to be told that the 5.15pm was cancelled, but we could catch the 6.15 and change at Bishop's Stortford, then wait for the next available train to Cambridge - no time given as they are subject to cancellation. As I knew this was a commuter train from London and that with 2 large suitcases, one small and a large piece of hand luggage, this was impossible as this train would be crammed with people. A taxi would cost £40+ so we decided to see if we could get the bus. The timetable said that we had missed the 4.40 and there wasn't another for 2 hours. I discovered that there was one at 5.40 but it wasn't advertised in the timetable, I had to ask at the desk. Down the ramp we trudged again to wait in the cold and wet for this bus. By 6pm it still hadn't arrived and we were told that it left Heathrow half an hour late. It arrived at 6.30pm. It took us twice as long to go 25 miles between Stansted and Cambridge than it did the 800 or so miles from Palma to London!! For this we were charged £12. In all our years of travelling in Majorca we know that for the most part, the buses run on time, are clean and inexpensive. If anyone complains about public transport in Majorca they should be sent to the UK to try their luck here! Yours sincerely

PS: One small incident at Palma Airport - a German man came up to us while we were sitting in the “patio area” in the general concourse. He said he had to get the bus to Cala Ratjada with his kids and their bikes but the bus wanted 4 euros for each bike and he didn't have enough money so could we lend him some. We said no as we had no change, but we thought it was a “scam” (apologies to the man if it wasn't!). Have any of your other readers been approached in this way?