I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockBy T.S. Eliot
Why would we fly to Larnaca, Cyprus. a third of the world away from us, especially since we traveled there almost exactly two years ago?
Cyprus of course is an island nation in the eastern Mediterranean with a total population of well under two million people, south of Turkiye and close to the Middle Eastern countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.
In no particular order, we can offer up at least three reasons.
First, we still enjoy flying long distances in business class on bargain fares. As we wrote here, we agree with financial guru Clark Howard, whose secret trick is to "buy the deal first and then figure out why you want to go there."
British Airways (BA), a OneWorld Alaska partner, was offering a cheap business class fare with a connection at London Heathrow. In fact, flying to Larnaca was considerably cheaper than flying only as far as London.
We enjoyed our first visit there in 2024 and were happy to return for a low-key stay featuring leisurely walks along the Mediterranean beaches and tasty meals. We also spent less for food and lodging there than we did in Tampa, Charleston, or Puerto Vallarta on our first three trips of 2026.
Second, we're hoping to re-qualify for at least one more year of elite status on Alaska Airlines. The benefits are significant, including access to some splendid OneWorld first class lounges like the Cathay Pacific First Lounge we just visited at LHR on our way back from Cyprus. As of now, Alaska remains one of the few airlines still awarding a point for every mile flown, with no reference to the cost of the fare.
This trip earned us each a total of 37,202 points (miles), of which 16,910 are status points, sometimes referred to as Elite Qualifying Miles or EQMs. Alaska is making changes to the program that may make it more difficult to earn miles, so it's timely to add some to our accounts under the current rules.
Third, and with reference to Mr. Eliot's aging Prufrock quoted at the top, we want to test our own somewhat diminishing powers of endurance as seniors traveling overseas. After all, between March 1 and June 1 we've scheduled two trips to Europe and one to northern Australia.
We've reassured ourselves, reading articles like this one, that jet lag does affect you more as you get older. It’s normal. It's not just us!
The author of another article concludes with these realistic comments: "After investigating jet lag for older adults, it doesn't mean I won't be travelling; it simply provides me with a better understanding of how to prepare, what to expect, and to allow adequate adjustment time when I return home."
This trip to Cyprus involved overnight hotel stays in London going in both directions, a significant help, and no strenuous activities, not even a guided tour.
Still, while the U.K. is eight hours ahead of our Pacific Standard Time Zone, Cyprus is a noticeable ten hours ahead. Just as we were starting to adjust to the local time, it was time to fly home.
Several days later we're still prone to restless nights and afternoon naps. We choose not to worry about it, and eventually our sleep cycles will return to normal.
The journey itself started with what's ordinarily a 45-minute drive from our house to YVR. We got caught in the afternoon's Greater Vancouver "rush" that cost us nearly an extra hour to get through Highway 99's Massey Tunnel bottleneck. Ugh!
Before dropping our venerable Subaru at the Vancouver Park'nFly near YVR, we rewarded ourselves with a quick stop at what is undoubtedly our highest-ranked food court eatery in the entire world (and there's nobody in second place), R&H Chinese Food in Richmond's Lansdowne Mall. Yelp Canada agrees.
There we shared an order of one of our favorite comfort foods, Xaio Long Bao, while watching two employees making the soup dumplings by hand at the front counter. We added green scallion pancakes, all for about ten bucks, and savored every morsel before making the short drive to YVR. Yum!
YVR, Vancouver International Airport, is a well maintained, soothing, and thoroughly pleasant facility with Aboriginal art displays, aquariums, and generous seating.
It never fails to put us in a good mood for travel.
BA's contract lounge, the Plaza Premium Lounge, was overcrowded and its modest buffet was depleted. A half dozen teenagers, a rare sight in a lounge, were noisier than we would have allowed back when supervising field trips in our own teaching days. (Hey you kids...get off our lawn!)
Once aboard the A350 in our flatbed "suites" complete with sliding doors,we enjoyed a decent nine or ten hour flight YVR-LHR, punctuated by dinner and breakfast.
Brian limited himself to an appetizer and found the jumbo shrimp delicious and filling. He caught perhaps four hours of sleep, while Kathy didn't sleep at all. Brian opted for a continental breakfast, while Kathy limited herself to coffee.
We landed at LHR's Terminal 3 Our onward BA flight to Larnaca, Cyprus (LCA) was departing from Terminal 5 the next morning at 7:01 AM, and we had a plan. We took the 10-15 minute bus ride from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3, went through immigration e-gates there without having to talk to anyone, turned right as we emerged into the terminal and easily found our way to the Sofitel, attached to the terminal by a walkway.
Our room was ready for us, and we were pleased to see a separate bath and shower, not a given even in five-star hotels.
If your LHR plans include Terminal 5 and an overnight stay, we can enthusiastically recommend this property. Sign up for an Accor Hotels account and download the app, and you'll get an automatic 5% discount. It's not much but every little bit helps, especially as the Euro climbs in value against the U.S. dollar. Accor, while not a major presence in North America, has properties ranging from budget (Ibis) to Luxury (Sofitel) in many parts of the world.
The next morning we were up earlier than we needed to be, and found our way to T5 and BA's Fast Track security entry at the far end for security and direct entry to BA's First Lounge, to which our OneWorld Emerald status entitles us. We enjoyed two of the best machine-made Cappuccinos we've ever tasted, and limited ourselves to one glass of Champagne each at 5:30 AM.. Moderation in all things!
The four to five hours of flying LHR-LCA in BA's intra-European configuration added up to an experience we endured rather than enjoyed, but other than crowded knees we somehow managed.The blocked middle seat in business class allows us to squirm a little without encroaching on a seat-mate's space.
Larnaca's airport is modern, and the immigration lines are short, especially since we bought ourselves access to the Express Lane for five Euros each.
As in 2024, we again used George Cyprus Taxi for a pre-arranged transfer to our hotel, the Mercure Larnaca Finikoudes Beach, another Accor property. Between our five-night stay here and our stay at the LHR Sofitel, we've earned Accor Silver Status for the year. Look at us!
Our room, other than its slightly awkward entranceway shape, was quite comfortable.
The air conditioning was turned off, but fortunately a fairly large window in the bathroom opened and kept the temperature down to a comfortable level. Now that we were settled in, how were we going to spend our time?
During our five days on the ground, we didn't once feel the need for transportation other than our feet. We walked two to three miles daily, mainly along the waterfront esplanade framing Finikoudes Beach, only a block or two from our hotel.
We would have walked around nearby streets more, but several were torn up as a result of some major street renovation project. They were mildly hazardous at worst.
The local residents we spoke to had no idea when it would be finished, but they cope the best they can.
We visited two of the area's best known landmarks, starting with Larnaca Castle. a twelfth-century structure used variously as a fort, a prison, and an administrative center over the centuries.
We also stepped inside the Church of St. Lazarus, whom the Bible tells us in the Gospel of John was raised from the dead by Jesus. At some point after the death of Jesus, Lazarus was forced to flee Judea and came to Cyprus, where he was appointed a Bishop. His reputed tomb is in the basement of the church.
Our other pastime was dining. We subscribe to the late Luciano Pavarotti's view: "One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating."
For our opening night of dining (not opera) we walked around the corner from our hotel and managed to find a table at To Edesma Tou Paradisou, a Greek Cypriot taverna ranked by Trip Advisor as Number 5 of 384 restaurants in Larnaca.
The service was friendly and the food, served in ample portions, was reasonably priced. A rough online translation of the name is "The Savory Food of Paradise," and we wouldn't argue with that.
Still, one visit to a taverna with its meaty menu sufficed for a short trip, and we sought variety for the remainder of our stay. We almost always revert to Italian and Asian cuisine in such circumstances, and Larnaca was no exception.
This included pizza at Pizzeria Napoletana 485.
Notice the thin somewhat soggy crust and "skimpy" toppings by North American standards. That's authentic Italian-style pizza and tasty in its own way. It featured an impressive Italian wine-by-the-glass menu.
We returned to the Mystic Bar Lounge & Restaurant, where we'd chatted with the owner in 2024. He remembered us because he'd been fascinated with the photos we'd shown him of our 2021 Colorado mushroom-foraging expedition with Kathy’s brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Ellyn. Mystic features both Asian and Italian food, the owner's wife being Asian.
We savored duck salad, bao buns, sushi and a Thai green curry. They squeezed us in for an early Valentine's Day Italian dinner the next night.
One slightly rainy day we ducked in for lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall joint called the Potbelly. We dined on hearty pulled pork sandwiches with fries (Brian), onion rings (Kathy), and a local beer, Keo, for each of us.
That rather basic and filling meal set us back only 27 Euros and we had neither need nor desire for dinner that evening.
Incidentally, throughout our Larnaca stay, we noted with interest the thriving food delivery business, with delivery riders on motorbikes picking up orders constantly from various eateries.
Soon it was time to go home.
Our return flight LCA-LHR was an evening departure, so we left our rollaboards at the hotel and wandered back down to the waterfront for a leisurely lunch at Aldente Cucina Italiana, another beachfront Italian joint, this one run by two friendly young brothers from Nepal of all places.
The exterior of Kathy's Calzone was impressive, but all that she found inside was a bland combination of luncheon-meat ham, not the prosciutto advertised, mushrooms, and cheese. Brian's risotto dish, nesting in a Parmesan shell, was more successful.
Back at the hotel, it was time for a George Taxi transfer to the airport, a visit to a bright and uncrowded lounge, a tiring night flight to LHR that landed at 10:30 PM local time, an overnight at the Sofitel, a free Heathrow Express transfer from T5 to T3 the following day, an already-documented visit to the marvelous Cathay Pacific First Lounge, an enjoyable LHR-YVR flight (we both got more sleep than on the outbound overnight flight), and an easy drive back across the border to our own bed - air travel can work so well.
By the way, do check out the impressive list of LCA’s flight destinations in proximity to ours.
Now it's time to review the details of our next trip that starts in a few days. That 22-day excursion includes a Mediterranean cruise, a visit to a “wine resort” near Orvieto, Italy, and a side trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia, flying into and out of Frankfurt on Condor Airlines, so there are lots of details.
Think of our trip to Larnaca as a good dress rehearsal.
