With Caro due round at 11am to collect Rog and his belongings, I plan to be packed and ready by then. I am slightly anxious that my big bag will be too heavy and I get Caro to bring her scales to compare the weight with ours. Phew – 22.6kg and I’m allowed 23kg. So most of my books have to go in my rucksack. I bought lunch in the morning at MnS – super wholefood salad to eat in Madrid airport, plus nuts and dried fruits, apples and bananas. That should keep me going and avoid me needing to eat the ghastly plane food.
The taxi arrives in good time and I am very happy and excited to get going finally. This is going to be one fantastic trip – not that I would choose to travel alone – I do feel that I am now able to be in complete control of my life. No one to tell me my packing skills are seriously lacking or that I have brought too much. No one making me feel rushed or stupid. No one taking over my conversations on the journey – I can choose exactly whom I do or do not wish to chat to – and that goes for the whole trip …..
Flying from Terminal 5 was simple and really pleasant. And my bag weighed in at precisely 22.6kg! The flight uneventful – sitting next to a very glam Spanish woman made me feel frumpy in my leggings and birkies. But hey ho she wasn’t travelling on and I don’t really care about looking glam. My slight anxiety about changing terminals was totally unfounded, as there was an official waiting for me to show me to the transfer bus. I wondered whether I was going to vanish in a never ending loop of the transfer bus circling the peri track forever. I was the only one on a huge bus! I began singing, ‘The Story of the Man who’ll never return, riding beneath the streets of Boston!” But that didn’t happen to me and the bus eventually plopped me out on to an escalator into the departure lounge. Dinner, emails and yoga in a quiet corner and then ready to board. I’d paid extra for a quiet window seat. My neighbour was an elderly Uruguayan man who seemed so anxious. He must have been on a plane before, but he sat for the whole 13 hours in the same position without taking his blanket or pillow out of its plastic bag, nor did he watch his little screen. He didn’t even pop to the loo!!! How?
My plan was to stay awake as long as possible so that I’d get used to the new time. With my watch on Uraguay time – just four hours behind UK, I was able to watch two films. I’m struggling to remember what the first film even was – shows it made a great impact eh! Oh yeh, it had had great reviews as a home grown film and was good – about a young Glaswegian Country singer – just a bit of a cliché. The second was a documentary of the first twenty years of Coldplay. Really interesting – loved it and the music. Then fitful sleeping for a few uncomfortable hours…
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