Day 1 – October 2nd -Travel to Lisbon

Plan for the Day (This was written in advance):

Today is the first travel day on my Camino. I am flying Air Canada to Toronto on a flight leaving at 13:25 and scheduled to arrive at 21:00. At 23:00 I am scheduled to fly to Lisbon, Portugal arriving at 11:05 on October 3, 2026.

I have pre-booked a hotel (Lis-Aixa) in Lisbon for two nights.

In the past when I have flown to Europe, I was really affected by jet lag. I am hoping that the two nights in Lisbon will give me an opportunity to recover from the jet lag and adjust to the new time zone before starting the actual walk.

Typically, I overpack when travelling. For this trip I have deliberately tried to control that urge. As part of the tour, luggage is moved in a van which accompanies the walkers (I haven’t yet started thinking of myself as pilgrim. In part,  this is because I haven’t yet started to really think about any spiritual aspects to the walk and, in part, because the word “pilgrim” invariably invokes an image in my mind of John Wayne addressing me as “pilgrim” and telling me to put down my luggage or I’ll be dead where I sit!). So, for the walking part of the trip, luggage will not be an issue. I  am mindful that most of the time will be spent walking  and there will be limited demands on my attire (I am fairly sure that I won’t need my tuxedo!). But, I do not want to be having to deal with/carry too much luggage when travelling to and from the tour. In the end, I decided to travel with just a carry-on and the backpack which I will use on the walk.

I chose my hotel because it is (I think- if I have read the maps correctly- which is always a concern) located in the historic part of Lisbon and is close to the Santa Apolonia train station where I will be catching the train to Porto on Monday, October 5^th.

So what actually Happened

To be continued …