Pagans on a Pilgrimage

Alarm goes off at 4am. Shower, cup of tea. Taxi arrives on time. We leave without ever meeting our AirBnB hosts. Through security and customs fast! Doha could learn a lot from this. Airside the cafes, bars and shops are packed. Only 1 in 30 people wearing masks - Covid long forgotten.  7am flight. Land in Bilbao at 9.45am. Lost an hour time difference. Customs and COVID Vax check easy. Bus into city centre. There is citywide free wifi, that makes navigating to our accommodation a breeze. 20min walk. Meet our host Yulia. Great views across the city. Drop off our bags and off to explore.  We've been here a few times before, the last was 10 years ago. We head to for the old town. Before long we stumble upon our first Camino sign. Walk on to the old town square Plaza Barria. It's time for lunch and there a dozens of Tapas bars around the perimeter of the plaza. After doing a loop we settle in at bar Zaharra. T...

Flight from Sydney to Doha - just shy of 15 hrs. Food was pretty good. Watched 3 movies. Managed a reasonable amount of sleep.  Kim - not so much. 3 hr stop in Doha for our connection to London. A boring and expensive airport. Not looking forward to our 14hr stop here on our return leg. Will make sure we have a good book, Netflix and snacks! Flight to London - 7 hrs. Uneventful, that's a good thing. Arrive at 2pm, Sunday. Takes nearly 1 hour to get off the flight but manage to exit the airport in record time thanks to British passports and no checked luggage.  Now we need to get to our AirBnB near Gatwick. You would think it would be simple to transit between major airports in the same city. That does not seen to be the case. On the Piccadilly line tube to Green Square, the Jubilee line to London Bridge. Change for the train. 30 min wait. Train to East Croydon, change for train bound for Gatwick, get off at the station after - Three Bridges. £32 each to get across town. Now a ...