River of Gold Viking River Cruise
Day 14: Thursday, November 21, 2024 - Travel from Santiago de Compostela, Spain to Home
The day's statistics:
- Weather: rainy, low 50s
- Steps: 8,368 Linda; 10,064 Steve (including any pre-trip / leaving home steps)
- Miles traveled (approximately): 3,860
The alarm sounded at 3:00. Gah! 3:00!
We took quick showers to help wake us up, put what few items we had to in the carry-ons, and headed down to the bar
area as that is where a grab-and-go / light-fare type breakfast was put out for us. We had coffee and pastries.
The shuttle was to depart at 4:00 for the one hour trip to the airport for our 6:30 flight.
After our snack, we headed to the restroom before boarded. I first had to figure out what I had to do to turn on
the water to wash my hands. Admittedly, I didn't notice the sign above the faucet while I was trying to use it. I
passed my hand under it thinking it was an auto-faucet since the lights and urinal were automated. But while I waved
my hand underneath, I hit the lever that turned on the water. I took this shot of what the faucet and lever looked
like - underneath - because this was the first time I ever saw anything like this.
We had about an hour drive to the Vigo airport. And it was dark - of course, because it was so early.
We arrived at the airport at 5:10, and made our way to check-in.
Linda's bag weighed 19 kg (42 pounds), and mine was 21.5 kg (47.4 pounds).
At 5:30 we had our tickets.
At 5:40 we were sitting in the waiting area to board at Gate 3.
The flight was currently on time - the first flight of the day for the airport.
By 5:50, people started getting on line, even though no announcement had even been made - even the tickets showed boarding
started at 6:00. At this hour, we didn't feel much like standing on line either.
Group 3 - our group - was called at 6:04.
By 6:07 we were in our seats.
We started to taxi at 6:30, sat for 2 minutes, then taxied until taking off at 6:40.
The sun was sort of just starting to rise.
As we decended on Madrid, we saw what looked like some commuter traffic.
And we landed at 7:30 in Madrid.
At 7:44 we deplaned.
By 7:56 we were through passport control.
After entering the main terminal, we found a signboard that showed our flight was currently on time.
Then we came across a Starbucks®. Linda found a seat while I ordered our coffee.
Linda found two empty seats next to a young lady that worked in IT. We talked to her for a bit before she had to leave.
Then she was replaced with a young couple with an even younger child (still in a stroller). They sat away from us a bit.
At 9:20 we headed to our gate, S8.
Nearby was a Starbucks® self-serve hot coffee kiosk.
Also nearby was this vending machine that was dispensing one of the most unique collections of food I can recall seeing
in a single dispenser - usually beverages, sandwiches, and candy are all in separate units.
The area overlooked the plane parking area, and it looked like our plane was right there, but not at the gangway.
As we bided our time, we saw a couple other travelers that were on our extension - one was the
older woman with the cane I referenced a couple days ago - and Linda went and said "hi".
Our flight was origianlly scheduled to take off at 1:30 local time.
We had about an hour delay before we boarded, and at 1:35, the process began.
By 1:52 we were seated.
We moved at 2:16, then sat, then moved again.
At 2:28 - just shy of an hour late - we finally took to the air.
We fired up the movie Twisters not long before we were given a small bag of pretzels at 2:45.
At 3:20 we had our main meal.
Both meals consisted of cheese, bread and butter, salad, and cake. And wine - we both had red wine.
For entreé; Linda had vegetable lasagna; and I had chicken in tomato sauce, mashed potatoes, and peas and string beans.
At 5:43 we had an ice cream cup.
At 8:30 we had a spicy chicken flat bread sort of thing. And wine - we both had red wine.
Landing was at 10:15 European time.
At 10:09 we arrived at the gate.
By 10:25 we were at luggage claim 1, as the verbal announcement and the toteboard indicated.
However, another traveler - not with our group but on the same plane - said that she thought our luggage was
at claim 2. I said no, the announcement said 1. I looked over at claim 2 - and saw our dark orange luggage. I
ran over and grabbed it, and Linda followed. THEN we heard the announcement that our claim was at 2, not 1.
We collected both our bags - we obviously had our carry-ons in hand - and made our way outside.
I called the parking lot shuttle service and they were on theur way to pick us up.
We eventually got in the car, paid the parking fee, and headed - not home at first, but rather the supermarket.
And once we got underway, we found that because the parking brake wasn't engaged - at this point I don't remember
if that was intentional or not - for the almost month, there wasn't the thumping as we had the previous few
times we parked for that long. I think that it actually isn't good to park the car with the parking brake engaged
for such a long period of time as it must leave a slight indentation on the rotor.
We stopped by the market to acquire the perishables to restock the fridge.
We were home at 7:00 local time.
Our entertainment system - BluRay, DVD, DVR, TV, and amp - are all powered, even if ever so slightly, when they aren't
in use. Since we were going to be gone for a month, we decided to unplug the system. When we plugged it all back in
when we got home, that's when we realized we failed to record the month worth of shows we missed when we were away.
In the long run, we didn't really miss anything, and we even wound up streaming a couple of our more favorite shows.
That is all we have for now.
Our next adventure is expected to be four capitals -
and about a dozen national parks - of the southwest US.