#14 - On the hour 23:00

Nearly bedtime...

It was an early start, 5:30am, as I hate packing so much. I'd packed inexpertly and mentally several times the previous evening, but had to do it physically that morning. The wine made me sleepy, and I left without finishing it all... back to the hotel and waiting for the morning. I read in a paper recently, some (business woman?) had said she liked arriving in a place in the dark, and finding out where she was when she opened the curtains... I prefer to know where I am, I think.

#13 - On the hour 22:00

Dinner time at last...

I finally found the hotel after wandering blindly and asking a few people. The rain had mostly stopped but I did feel stupidly helpless and lost. The TomTom battery doesn't last 5 minutes away from the car so I got partway there, then it gave out. The iPod needs a wifi signal to show me where I am... The first thing I got at the hotel was a map, then directions to a restaurant. This restaurant wasn't it, but it was open, near and robust. Wine and fried sea bass and chocolate tarte...

#12 - On the hour 21:00

And I arrived...

Santiago is confusing at the first instance. My TomTom keeps trying to send me up the wrong streets. It's raining, sometimes heavily. I find my way to something approaching the town centre and head for the first signed car park. I remember to take a picture of the street so I might find it again! I take myself & my bags up the steep slopes into the old town.

#11 - On the hour 20:00

It's nearly dark. I am driving through Spain, I passed some wonderful sights in the twilight, a suspension bridge over a long sea inlet, lights and dusky wedgewood blue water, south of Pontevedra. I felt like I was driving onto a magic island.

#10 - On the hour 19:00

And en route...

it isn't easy to take pictures while driving one handed... this is the only one with a remotely straight horizon! The sky gets cloudier as I go north, but it moves, the wind is strong...

#9 - On the hour 18:00

I picked up the rental car, after waiting 30 minutes for the shuttle bus to come. Thanks Sixt. Probably won't be choosing them again. And set off, with my TomTom's Dalek voice gently guiding me through some back streets in a rat run to the motorway...

#8 - On the hour 17:00

I got confused when I stood at the baggage reclaim, waiting and waiting. The time was wrong. I hadn't realised Portugal & Spain were on different time zones.
My bag didn't come, a whole flight of people watched as a handful of bags eventually flopped out. A grey tray was deposited onto the track, and then the track stopped... The lady at the info counter said, just wait, and a few minutes later it started up again...

#7 - On the hour 16:00

Still not landed...

I have a slight tick when travelling... as long as the tray table catch is properly vertical, everything will be OK...

#6 - On the hour 15:00

The view...

Not so great, it's bright above the clouds of course, but we are below other clouds so we don't get full sun. I go back to reading my book, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. I decided, since I did not have so many Spanish books on my shelves, that I would go international, and so I have brought with me The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov, and The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk. I wonder if I should have brought something lighter for a change of pace...

#5 - On the hour 14:00

Heading the same way...

For now, at least... I am sat between two Portuguese girls, the one in the window seat is tiny, sitting, her head barely comes up to my shoulder, and she listens to her iPhone all the way. The other side, she is taller, and reading Dan Brown. I don't suppose that translation into Portuguese ,makes it any better... She falls asleep quickly, her hand in the book to mark the place, and snores softly.

#4 - On the hour 13:00

On the bus...

Always with the bus... In this case, two double (bendy) buses are needed to get everyone to the plane. We will not set off on time...

#3 - On the hour 12:00

And, waiting...

I always get to the airport early. There is always a lot of waiting around. I drink a bottle of coke, eat something, and am too warm. Everyone is waiting, and there are a lot of people, the flight must be fully booked as I only had the choice of 3 middle seats when I checked in. There are even 3 flights per day to Porto, it surprises me that a Sunday is so busy... I hear Portuguese (at least, what I assume is Portuguese), Spanish, English as well as German.

#2 - On the hour 11:00

Where to today?

I love these huge boards, with all the different destinations. This is in Frankfurt, terminal A. Lufthansa has automated check in machines, and now, automated baggage drop machines, and the board stands above the queues. There is even a flight to Koeln from here, which seems strange when the train I have just arrived on made it here from Koeln in 50 minutes.

#1 - On the hour 10:00

Setting off... Gleis 6

Waiting for the ICE to whisk me to Frankfurt, a platform space free of footfall for a moment. Even though the skies are white grey, it's not raining, in fact it feels mild, and I stuff my fleecy cardigan thing into my backpack and watch the other people on the platform. More people than get on the train, as the goodbyes spatter out like drops pushed forward by the onrushing train (if it were raining, yes I know I am mixing my metaphors dreadfully); the non travellers, the left behind kiss and fall back.