What a journey to get to Europe. First, just getting off Vancouver Island is lengthy. We left for the ferry just after 7am and although it was stormy and windy overnight, the morning was beautiful and the crossing left on time.

Coreena picked me up on the other side about 11am and we made it to YVR about an hour later. Jen rocked up to the British Airways counter just as we were checking our backpacks and we were through security shortly afterwards.

Our flight left on time and all in all it was comfortable and we were well taken care of. We managed an hour or so of sleep but not much more. Then we arrived at Gatwick at 9am. Ugh. We had to clear customs, pick up our bags and turn around to drop them again and clear security. All was going well until the TAP Portugal attendant noticed a small tear in Jen’s passport. She was pulled aside and there was much discussion, frowning, and head shaking about letting her travel. Thankfully, they waived her through after many phone calls and a stern warning to have it replaced.

Then I was pulled aside in security and my bag was rifled through after a long wait. Looking for explosives apparently. Maybe I look shifty, not sure.

Finally, we made it our gate and our flight was delayed. We felt like Gatwick had it out for us and were very pleased when our flight finally left. I put my earplugs in, eye mask on, pillow arranged just so and I was out before take off. I woke up when we hit the ground 2 hours later. Refreshed and ready to go!

We arrived at our rental in the heart of the historic district by about 6pm Portugal time. This was Saturday. So many, many hours of travel with about 3 hours of sleep. We were all dozy and jet lagged however we pulled it together to go get dinner before calling it a night.

I had arranged for a driver to get us from the airport http://theroadbutler.com and he supplied us with a list of hidden gem restaurants to check out. We chose Restaurant Za and it was amazing. Great wine (so cheap!) and the food was so fresh and delicious. It was a tiny place with 6 tables or so and we squeezed in to the one. Then it was a slow stroll home and straight to sleep.

Sunday brought a slow start, a fight with the coffee machine ( it won, we lost) and then a wander around town to the river and across to Gaia. The sun was shining and it was a great time getting our bearings and seeing the sites. We stopped for a latte and a famous pastel de nata which is flaky pastry filled with custard. Really nice and not too sweet.

Nick arrived later that day as we are doing a house sit in Porto for a month and he is going to hold the fort while I am hiking the Camino. I’ll meet him back in Porto on October 12th.

So it was more site seeing, more food, more wine, more everything! We tried the Portuguese “bifana” as well as the “francesinha” which are traditional foods. The food here so far is meat and bread heavy and all of us are longing for a good salad and some veggies.

Now we are on the train to Tui to start the Camino. We are walking the central route over 6 days and will cover about 120km. Our packs are heavy and we are starting on a grey, drizzly day. I am excited for the journey and what we will see. I am also a little nervous about sore bodies and long days of walking. More to come!