At Last!!!

Well, after two sessions of  self-isolation and twelve days late, I finally boarded a plane this morning bound for Lisbon.

I had a 9:00 AM appointment to get my fit-for-travel certificate and had set my alarm for 6:00. I needn't have bothered. Like a sprinter that jumps the gun in anticipation, my eyes popped open at 4:00 and refused to remain closed, no matter how hard I tried.
Needless to say, I was at my appointment on time and, by 9:15, I had my travel certificate in hand.

Protocol for international flights requires arrival at the airport three hours before departure. By the time I checked in and cleared customs, I was still three hours from flight time. What happened to the  long lineups they had last week? In the end, my 1:00PM flight finally got off the runway at 1:35, but still made it to Toronto in just over four hours.

 Once I get to Lisbon, I'll make a beeline to the train station downtown and take a two hour rail ride to Coimbra, where I'll finally catch up with Brenda, Anita and Ernie.

Despite speaking with Brenda almost daily and religiously following her blog posts, I remain very disappointed to have missed out on so much of the Camino. On the plus side, it looks like the recent heat wave is subsiding and temperatures will be much more bearable for my first  few days on the trail.Read more