Day 31 - Santiago Airport to Paris

I had churros and hot chocolate one last time this morning with Tobias and I admired all the pastries on display and bought one baguette for later.

I also picked up items from the Santiago Correos post office I had forwarded from Burgos a few weeks ago. I almost had a heart attack when Google Maps said they were closed on Sundays but it was open when I arrived.

I took the 6A direct bus to the airport from the intermodal train/bus station for 1 euro.

Den was already at the airport since he had a flight to Madrid en route to Rome. We met at the airport cafe for a bit to grab a bite and chat about the camino before boarding our flights. He said he didn't learn anything on the camino and it just felt like a holiday. For me, it felt like work!

I will stay in Paris overnight and then transfer to their other airport tomorrow to catch my final flight back to Calgary. I had booked an aisle seat but was lucky no one was in my row so I moved to the window seat!

When I got to the airport, I grabbed my backpack and was told to go to the 15a exit and wait for a hotel shuttle in the D1 station. I couldn't seem to call the hotel from my phone to request a shuttle so I asked a local to make the call for me. It took about 10 min to arrive while I waited in the chilly open station stop. My room was nice and warm though and I got a hot bath in while I waited for the Portuguese restaurant on site to open at 7pm. In the meantime, I've also washed my hiking shoes which were filthy from all the mud and muck I accumulated on the last day hiking into Santiago. They're sitting outside of my window on a ledge and will hopefully be somewhat dry before tomorrow morning.

I paid for the hotel breakfast and plan to take the shuttle back to the airport tomorrow before 10 am. I then have to take public transit to make the transfer from ORLY airport to CDG airport (which takes about an hour 15 min), check in at CDG around 11:30 am and board my flight which leaves at 2:30 pm local time and arrives in Calgary at 4:00 pm.Les mer