Holiday first days

Does anyone else find the first day of every holiday the worst day? Particularly if it involves flying somewhere. They seem to have got it just about right with the security channels but the glaring disco floor and bright lights in the funnel you have to walk through are just mind numbing. It was an ok flight but we were sat at the back and so it took ages to disembark but the mortifying embarrassment of not being an EU citizen and joining the other aliens queue always upsets me. By this time, I am tired. So everything from then to actually getting inside the apartment just seemed difficult. We queued again for the car hire – hate the upsell – and then it’s dark by the time you find the car. It has lots of scratches so in the dimness of the parking lot we take loads of photos. I have to really concentrate hard to work out which side of the road I am driving on – my trick is to say to myself “I am in the middle” (of the road). Try it – it does work! Getting out of airports and finding the right road and the right direction on the road takes patience which has started to wear a bit thin through the tiredness. Husbant is patience personified. Google maps can be confusing so I don’t get cross if we take wrong turns. Sometimes it is also my fault because I vaguely know which direction we are going in. Suffice to say that Husbant had not been to Cadiz before and now he has. It was a little dark so he didn’t see much but we are going back tomorrow for a better look. There was an amazing full moon that appeared just at the right time which I kept looking at, worrying Husbant as I apparently swerved a bit when I was looking at moon and not the road ahead. Oh, and by the way, have you ever driven a car that tells you to drive straight and seems to take control of the steering wheel if it thinks you are driving badly? What nonsense was that! Dangerous I think – particularly when you are overtaking a big lorry at 10.30pm at 120kph. I know what I am doing, thank you very much.

So a few hours later than we thought (slight exaggeration) we arrive in Vejer and I park in the only place I know that is free. The instructions for the apartment included a free parking space but I was too tired to think about how to get to it, and tap in codes etc etc. so we walk to the apartment in the dead of night and have to rouse the person who looks after the flat as we didn’t go to the right car park where the key for the apartment was. Bless her she came out and let us in.

By this time, Husbant was hungry. The only available food was camomile tea so I half-filled the mug with sugar. He loved it.

So it was good to get the first day done. Second day was just sleeping and sun bathing and going to get provisions. We met up with the lovely AnnieB for dinner and copious amounts of Xixarito at my favourite restaurant, Casa Varo. Husbant caught up on all the missed meals too. I must have been a little unsteady as I used the travel wash to clean my teeth…