A couple’s first holiday abroad together turned into a “nightmare” when large parts of Europe were affected by a sudden blackout.
Ash Williams and his partner Shannon Bye flew out to Portimao in the Algarve region of Portugal on Monday (April 28) unaware the country, alongside Spain and parts of France, had been plunged into darkness due to a power outage.
Ash Williams, 23, said he and his girlfriend endured a “nightmare” start to their first holiday together after a blackout in parts of Europe. Picture: Ash Williams
Even after landing at Faro airport, which had been using back up generators to run some lights, without signal or data on their phones, the pair were still unware of what exactly had happened.
“We managed to find where our shuttle bus was leaving from and it ended up dropping us five minutes walk away from the airport,” Ash, of Chatham Grove, Chatham, explained.
The 23-year-old explained once they made it to their hotel in Praia da Rocha it was in darkness and they were told there had been a blackout and they needed to walk a kilometre to another hotel to check in and get their room keys.
After getting lost they were greeted by a group of Irish holidaymakers who had been staying in the area that week and showed them the way there and then back to their original hotel.
Ash, a security officer at Medway Hospital in Gillingham, added: “We arrived at the hotel just after 8pm and the whole city was complete darkness, seeing people walking around with candles, torches or using their phone torches.”
Ash Williams, from Chatham, and Shannon Bye, from Sittingbourne, were left in complete darkness when they arrived at their hotel in Portugal on Monday. Picture: Ash Williams
Once back at the original hotel Ash claims he and his 19-weeks pregnant girlfriend, Shannon, 23, who is training to be a nurse at the same hospital, were left to find their way to their room and take suitcases up 16 flights of stairs, before eventually getting into their room at 9.30pm.
“After climbing the stairs twice for both suitcases, me and my girlfriend got into the room and were absolutely overwhelmed, exhausted, scared and hungry,” Ash added.
“We then had to push the two single beds together and make them as neither beds were prepared.
“We both broke down in tears. We decided to try and sleep but this was impossible. There was no running water so we couldn’t wash ourselves, brush our teeth.
“Eventually at 11.30pm after hours of consoling each other, the room light clicked on and water began rushing out of the tap, followed by minutes of cheering and wooing in the streets and out of windows. Some even let off fireworks.”
Ash Williams popped the question to his girlfriend Shannon Bye while on holiday in Portugal. Picture: Ash Williams
Shannon Bye, 26, enjoying Portugal after the blackout earlier this week. Picture: Ash Williams
The pair, who have been together for more than a year-and-a-half rang their loved ones to tell them they were okay before making their way into the town to try and find a drink and some food as they hadn’t had anything since their flight.
Ash said the first day of the couple’s holiday had been ruined and they were fearful of something else happening or not being able to get home.
He also planned to propose to his girlfriend but said the blackout threatened to ruin his plans.
Luckily, on Thursday (May 1), he popped the question while out on a Jeep tour, with Shannon saying yes.
The pair are hoping to return on Sunday should no further blackouts occur.
Millions of people across Spain and Portugal were left without power after two “disconnection events” at electrical grids.
It’s not thought these were caused by human error.
Spanish power company Red Eléctrica and the Portuguese government have ruled out a cyber-attack
Power has largely been restored across the Iberian Peninsula, but not before the outage grounded flights, paralysed train systems and disrupted mobile communication.
It prompted UK energy minister Michael Shanks to reassure the public here that Britain’s electricity system is “highly resilient”.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Shanks said the UK had not been affected by the power cuts but the Government continues to prepare for “all eventualities”.