Tayside residents were among those caught up in flight and supermarket chaos after a huge power cut in Spain and Portugal.
Large areas of the two countries were left without power after a massive outage on Monday.
Power is now returning in some parts as an investigation into the cause takes place.
However, the power cut has caused travel chaos for thousands, including some trying to make it back home to Tayside.
The Courier reporter Logan Hutchison, from Forfar, was due to fly from Lanzarote to Edinburgh on Monday evening, but was forced to stay an extra night.
Delays and card payment issues at airport
He said: “The island of Lanzarote did not actually lose power, but phone signals were down for large spells of Monday.
“The first sign of any real problems was at security in the airport, where there were significant delays.
“Once in the departure lounge, the relatively small airport seemed crowded, and it was clear there were going to be issues.
“My flight to Edinburgh, due to leave at 8pm, was showing as being delayed by around 35 minutes.
“In the airport, card payment systems had broken down, meaning many stores were only accepting cash.
“I boarded my flight at around 8.30pm and had been on the plane for around an hour and a half when we were told the plane would not be departing for at least another two hours.
“Some passengers became extremely disgruntled after this announcement.”
Fellow Forfar resident Fraser McIntosh was also aboard the Ryanair flight from Lanzarote, which was eventually cancelled, and said the experience was “extremely uncomfortable”.
The 22-year-old sports coach said: “It is definitely not the way you’d want a holiday to end.
“Being trapped inside a static plane in the heat for hours is not fun.
“The fact the air conditioning wasn’t on for the first hour or so and we had no water made it worse.
Gladiators star Sheli McCoy stuck at airport for 9 hours
“It was extremely uncomfortable.
“I’m now going to miss a day’s work, which I could really do without.
“It’s been a bit of a nightmare.”
Gladiators star Sheli McCoy, from Dundee, also faced disruption.
She posted a photo taken from a plane on Instagram, saying: “Power cut over the whole of Spain today, nine hours in an airport, two shuffled flights, change of Edinburgh to Glasgow destination, three (hours) on a stationary grounded plane, offloaded bags, onboarded bags and a captain with a sense of humour.
“But free Pringles and a mini can of Coke.
“I’ll be back in Dundee by 6am tomorrow (Tuesday).”
Another Courier reporter, Ciaran Shanks, arrived in Porto, Portugal, on Monday morning, just hours before the power cut.
He said: “There were all sorts of electronic systems down, and traffic lights were out.
“Cars were beeping everywhere, and police were drafted in to help clear the traffic.
“It was probably lucky we got to Portugal when we did – otherwise we would have been stranded at the airport.
“At the supermarket, there was a queue of around 20 to 30 people, with only two being allowed in at a time.
‘It was like the start of Covid all over again’
“People were buying large bottles and bags of water, and crates.
“The bread and bakery aisles were decimated – it was like the start of Covid all over again. There was definitely some panic buying.
“Immediately, a lot of restaurants and cafes shut down.
“We were worried and managed to get our hands on whatever we could, just in case.
“Thankfully, we were still able to get food at the hotel.
“We were also cut off from the internet for about two or three hours, so we couldn’t let our family know we were OK.
“I think it was quite concerning in the UK to see what was unfolding.”
He said the electricity was back on by around 10pm on Monday.
Meanwhile, author Sir Ian Rankin – originally from Fife – was in Lisbon when the power cut happened.
He posted on X: “A 65th birthday to remember.
“Power went out as we boarded an underground train. Stayed off around 10 hours.
“Top tip: always book a hotel with natural light in its corridors and stairwells. Ours was like the blitz.”
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