On the way…


The morning came and the adventure continues. Our ride to the airport was great. Highly recommend OnyVa. Our driver was great and got us here on time, early even. Made it through security and are ready for our flight. 

So super smooth sailing at the airport. Then the plane sat for 30-40 minutes on the tarmac. We finally took off and even arrived on time. We changed clothes because the weather here is much hotter than home. Then got our baggage and headed to meet our taxi. We had pre-booked. Will never do that again. He was supposed to be waiting on us but kept texting he was in traffic. I finally told Noël “Cancel we are grabbing a cab. We don’t want to miss our train.”

We made it to the train station 30 minutes before our departure but couldn’t find our platform. I walked up to people asking and they just pointed. Noël asked they just pointed. We took a gamble and went through security and made it through security (supposed to be there 30 minutes before train departure). Again I asked and with no eye contact the woman indicated the direction we were going. We asked a security guard and he pointed to platform 6 and sure enough it was going to Madrid but stopping in Zaragoza. Whew.

So we made it to Zaragoza early. We had to wait for two hours and had no idea where the train to Pamplona would be leaving from. We had a bite to eat. And then with only one change of the platform we got on the train. It would just be shy of 2 hours. We pulled out of the station and the train stalled. We waited and after a bit it started up and then stalled again. Finally we were on our way. And once again got to Pamplona on time.

Then it was a 3.7 km walk to our hotel. Noël suggested a taxi and I said “no way we are here to walk. Let’s not spend more money on a taxi!” Well after 2 kms and the reality of going from 17c (64F) to 33C (91F) temperature hit hard. And then there was an uphill climb. We got to where we were staying sopping wet from sweat. So we showered and headed out for dinner around 8:30 along with all the Spaniards. We had a yummy pizza and walked a little bit to let our food settle.

Tomorrow on to Saint Jean Pied de Port. More to follow!

4 thoughts on “On the way…

  1. So glad you made it to your first destination! Hope you get/got some good rest, and are refreshed for your first full day walking.
    Safe travels-safe walks!
    Looking forward to reading about your adventures! Hugs to you both!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Ahhhh, my sister and I can relate to the challenges of large European train stations! Did you know that in the Milan train stations, the departures for “Munich” say “Monaco”? We didn’t want to go to Monaco. We wanted to go to Munich. But there were no trains for Munich – only Monaco. I don’t know how long we sat before some kind businessman took pity on the two very confused American girls! Lol. Best of luck on your journey!

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