Belfast to Malaga to Almería

Ken and I had to be at Belfast International Airport for 0630, so it was an early rise at 0400 for us. Patricia got us there in good time, and we got our bags checked and were through security in no time at all. It was my second flight in two days, having flown over from Edinburgh the day before. It reminded me of a passage in missiologist Michael Frost's book Incarnate: the body of Christ in an age of disengagement, in regard to airports, he writes:

"Cultural commentator Richard Sennett has claimed that the primary architectural emblem of contemporary life is the airport departure lounge. It’s a telling symbol and reveals something of the excarnate nature of things. The departure lounge is full of people who don’t belong where they currently find themselves and whose interactions with others are fleeting, perfunctory and trivial. Airport lounges are highly depersonalized spaces. Even those of us who travel a lot have difficulty telling one airport lounge from another. They are bland, liminal places, and their lack of specificity makes us yearn for somewhere real, for our destination. Nobody belongs in an airport lounge. Most people make the experience bearable by focusing on their mobile devices, thanks to the recent innovation of airports providing free Wi-Fi access (even airports don’t want you to belong in their lounges). Travelers’ heads are elsewhere, checking email or social media, listening to music or watching films or television programs on tablets or phones. There is also a very obvious, yet unspoken, etiquette in airport lounges. There’s no yelling and screaming, even when passengers become frustrated with airline service. No one even talks loudly. There is a quiet order to the environment. But none of this behavior is enforced by signs that say “Don’t talk too loudly,” “Don’t move the chairs,” “Don’t occupy more than one seat.” These things happen due to an invisible hand of design. The environment has been manipulated to elicit certain behavior. The seats are arranged so that people talk to those who are close, and they don’t shout across the room. This makes the departure lounge a non-world of individual choice and endless mobility, and we reach it by undertaking an arduous assembly-line process of check-ins, security screenings, moving walkways and internal skyrail trips. In a sense the airport departure lounge is the end point in our disassembly line, as we move endlessly, lining up in zigzagged queues, each stage stripping back our sense of belonging, our sense of rootedness in place and culture. This is even symbolized in the removal of various items of clothing, wristwatches and laptops during security screening. By the time we reach our gate lounge we have become less truly present in our own space. But of course, I speak of this not merely as a problem for air travelers. Richard Sennett sees the gate lounge as a symbol for all contemporary life."

I think that is a fairly accurate description of modern airports and modern life.

In the depersonalised space of Belfast Airport, we treated ourselves to an Ulster fry and bought some sandwiches for the bus journey to Almería. The flight to Malaga was exactly the kind of flight you want to be on...uneventful. We had the bonus of extra legroom because we were sitting at an emergency exit. I was really looking forward to this trip, but as you can see from the pictures, the excitement was too much for Ken, and to be fair, he is a lot older than me, he needs his afternoon nap.

The sun was shining in Malaga, and we were on time... until we got to the hall for passport control. Malaga is a popular holiday destination and transport hub for other resorts. There were hundreds of people in front of us queuing to get their passports stamped - thank you to everyone who voted for Brexit. However, the Spanish border staff did an excellent job and the queue moved steadily. It actually took a lot less time than we thought it would have, but it did eat into the time safety net between arriving and getting the bus to Almería.

It was easy to find our bags on the carousel. Our backpacks were in 'glow in the dark' brightly coloured travel bags. By now we had about an hour to get to the bus station, buy our tickets and find the right bus platform. A guy on the flight had kindly told us how to get there by public transport but there just wasn't time. So, we took a taxi, and that was the right choice. We got there with 30 mins to spare, so, no stress running for a bus. In fact, we had time to eat our sandwiches.

The bus journey was as eventful as the flight. We could see the Sierra Nevadas in the distance and noticed snow on the peaks, hoping it would be gone by the time we were walking over them in the coming weeks.

When we arrived in Almería we immediately encountered a problem. The albergue we had planned to stay in was closed. We phoned the hospitalera, who gently reminded us of the need to book a bed (someone had been tasked with that but...). In most caminos there is little need to reserve a bed, except in high season and even then only occasionally, but not many people walk the Mozárabe and so the albergues have fewer beds. In addition, they are not staffed and so they need to know you are coming so they can open up etc.

The hospitalera (Nely) recommended another one, so we set off using Google maps (helpful about 50% of the time), and 30 minutes later we arrived there to be told they were full. The hospitalera there recommended another one about a 30-minute walk away, and so we set off again. We had only been walking for about 10 minutes when Nely phoned to see how we had got on, and when she realised our situation she very kindly started phoning around places to see if anyone had room. In the meantime, we continued on to the one that was recommended., and we managed to get the last two beds. It was just as well as Nely phoned back to say that she hadn't been able to get a room for us, but she was glad we were sorted. We confirmed that we would stay with her tomorrow night, and that turned out to be a great decision.

The albergue was ok but not great, but it did have a decent shower. If you have never been on a camino before, one of the most important grading factors in the quality of an albergue is the shower. Once we got our stuff sorted we went out for dinner, and it was ok, but to be honest we had spent so long travelling and then trying to find a bed for the night, having eaten nothing but a sandwich on the bus, we were very hungry and if there had been a McDonalds, I think we would even have gone there - it is my least favourite eating establishment, but I am not a fan of fast food generally.

We went to bed tired, but glad to be there, and to know that our bed for tomorrow night was organised.Read more