Day 1 and 2 – LAX to LISBON

The journey from home to the downtown bus station to catch the bus to the airport was enough to make me glad I was leaving Los Angeles. Traffic, impossible to understand directions at the bus drop off area, along with screaming uniformed transit rent-a-cops (who have absolutely no court authority, but act like they do).

At the airport it was the usual 60 minute wait to get through security.  But once on the plane it got much better.

The A380 is large, quiet, smooth,with comfortable seats, and really is a pleasure to fly.  British Airways cabin crew were genuine in wanted to make our flight enjoyable (a surprise). I loved the 747, hated the 757, liked the 767 and tolerate the 777.  But I really liked this airplane.

It’s really big!

And roomy inside!

 

We arrived in London (Heathrow) an hour early! But that didn’t help much since I was only able to sleep about 3 hours on the flight, and now had a 5 hour layover instead of 4.  British Airways would not announce the gate for the Lisbon flight until 50 minutes before departure so I could not go the gate a few hours early and snooze.

All seemed well, I was on the plane and in my seat in plenty of time for the 3:25 departure. Unfortunately the plane had a mechanical problem and we had to switch to another plane. We were supposed to arrive in Lisbon about 5:30 but didn’t get there until 8:30.

By the time I was in my hotel (right next to the train station and very nice) it was about 10. I went to the bar, and ordered a glass of the recommended red wine and some tapas (corn soup, and a plate of Iberian ham, black figs and bread sticks).  The small portions and rich flavors made this an wonderful end to a stressful day.

I had been up for about 30 hours with only 3 hrs sleep on the overseas flight.  And was only able to doze for about 45 mins on the flight to Lisbon.

DAY 2 – Next Morning – After a nice 8 hrs sleep!

Breakfast (full buffet with a wide variety of choices), hotel check out and across the street to the train station.

The Oriente train station in Lisbon is architecturally stunning. The photo below is trackside, – look at the towering roof.

My train arrived at the station at 10:05 for a 10:09 departure – Yep just 4 minutes to get on board so it was a real scramble.  Also boarding were a number of retired (or close to retirement) American couples on vacation.  Mostly they were trying to move their luggage into the storage areas in each car.  But the bags were LARGE and looked heavy.  Much heavier than they were used to handling.  The poor guys were pulling, lifting, pushing with great effort and barely able to control the bags.

It finally dawned on me that these couples were on their way to Porto after a red-eye flight from the USA.  There were there for a week’s river cruise up the Douro Valley.  It was harvest time in the Douro Valley.  My guess is in the first few days there will be extra ibuprofen consumed for back pain.  The couples were talking to each other but the couples were not talking to other couples yet.  In Porto they were getting into taxis couple by couple so I am sure they are part of a tour, but just had not joined it yet and didn’t know who their fellow travelers would be on the cruise.

The total transit time from Lisbon to Santiago was about 8 hours including train to Porto, bus to Vigo and another bus to Santiago, including connection times.

I am staying is a really small but very attractive hotel just a few hundred yards from the Cathedral in Santiago. My room is not large, but comfortable and inexpensive.

Dinner tonight was tapas, Padron peppers, Serrano ham, bread, olives and local red wine. Just perfect!

Tomorrow I will get a Simm card for my phone, buy a data package for the tablet so I can post on the move without wifi, check into the tourist office for a discussion on the available routes and obtain a new credential and pickup whatever else I need.