Chipiona Day 1

"Getting there is half the fun." This statement was uttered by either a sadist or an idiot.

I left work to repack for about the thirtieth time, went for a run, showered, repacked and headed to the train station. Flying from Dundee is impractical for the simple reason that it's nearly twice as expensive as from other places, and the planes only go to one other airport.

So, I took the train to Edinburgh arriving around 11pm and crashed on a friend's couch an hour later.

I count all of this as "Day 1" seeing as it was all part of the enjoyment that is "getting there."

At 5am, having barely slept due to my habit of nightmares about crashing planes every night before flying, I found myself half-awake waiting for the bus to the airport alongside other half awake people all shivering slightly in the morning rain. Eventually, the late bus rolled up and we departed. I arrived at the airport in time and said a soft, heart-felt farewell to my luggage before stripping for the experience that is now routine airport security.

Three nerve-wracking flights and seven hours of layovers and I had arrived. Typically my luggage did not make the flight. But, I've experienced this before and had packed the essentials in my backpack. This is survival after three days of washing the same pair of underwear in France. Always bring a prepared bag on the flight with you.

Next, I preceded to the car rental. Of course the security of my credit card had put up a wall. Again. Apparently, the chatty lady on the other end of the line a day earlier had assumed I just wanted to discuss travel plans rather than alert my paranoid card company that I would be traveling and using the card out of the country.

So, expensive cab ride to the bus. Or rather the autobus estation. My Spanish is pretty much nill so it can be a real adventure to find the right bus when exhausted, lost, and irritable.

Still, I boarded the correct bus, somehow, and made for the coast.

Arriving at the city I hoped to, I stood at the bus station for a few minutes wondering exactly what to do next. No taxis, nothing on the edge of the town. So, I randomly picked a direction that looked like it should lead to the ocean, and walked.

The first blast startled me.....