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Spain & Portugal

Traveling with Explore Europe Tours with 25 new friends! Read more
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  • Plata PanaceaSpain & PortugalPlata Panacea
    1

    The sleepless night.

    October 6 in Canada ☀️ 13 °C

    Day 1 part 2
    The looooooong airplane ride!
    Cramped and crowded doesn’t begin to describe our 7.5 hour flight to Barcelona. I fully expected I’d get at least a few hours of shut-eye but I’m not sure my eyes closed for anything closely resembling sleep.
    I could tolerate the baby in the back of the plane or the two chatty girls who laughed and giggled the entire way across the Atlantic… but the cramped seating and nearly no way to actually get comfortable was a real challenge. We’ll definitely have to consider upgrading our seats on the way home if possible!
    The highlight was Air Canada’s food and beverage service. Good food. Good beer. Good wine. Decent light breakfast. Lots of TV, movie and music options certainly helped me pass the hours!    Read more

  • Plata PanaceaSpain & PortugalPlata Panacea

    Day 1: Travel

    October 6 in the United States ☀️ 13 °C

    We got home from Mom’s funeral about 7pm Monday night and had to get packed. Quick. Only carry-on bags allowed so it was gonna be super tight for a 12 day trip!
    By bedtime we at least were pretty organized. Then first thing Tuesday morning I realized we had no coffee in the house! First stop on travel day would be the grocer for a bag of beans!
    Then the real adventure began!
    Our hired driver was late. He later texted “Here” and I replied “No you’re not!”
    Thirty minutes after we planned to leave, a ratty old Chevy Suburban came bouncing and squeaking onto our drive.
    He had for force open one of the doors for us (the other was stuck). We threw our bags in and I literally asked “Can you get us to the airport”? Saying quiet prayers and desperately hoping we weren’t going to be broke down on the highway we sat and held our breath. Did I mention it smelled bad too? One of the still more interesting features was that he would slow down when he saw a bump coming on the road…. Not for our comfort but because I’m not sure that beat up old buggy had any shocks! SCRAPE it would go as it bottomed out many times. We were reminded of Thomas the Tank Engine… I think I can… we think we can.. we pray we can… SCRAPE! again and again!
    We did make it to the airport with no real problems but we had soooo many close calls… We’ve had scary rides in Mexico over the years but this may have been my most intense ride EVER!

    Our flight to Montreal went smooth enough. The folks in first class got their hot towels while we were still wedging ourselves into our spots. I had my packed PopTart for breakfast and secretly hope those first class towels were just a little too hot to handle:)    Read more

    Trip start
    October 6, 2026