The Journey

All up, I was probably in transit on one plane after another for about 40 hours. Fortunately none of the layovers were too long. In fact, the stop in Frankfurt, Germany was so tight (partly due to a late departure from Sydney) that I had to skip my one opportunity to take a shower on the journey. Invercargill to Christchurch was an early start that almost didn't happen - I'd neglected to confirm my shuttle the night before and was lucky to have the guy bother to get up early enough to pick me up. Christchurch to Sydney was uneventful, but my travel companion improved markedly on the way to Singapore. I got to share that time with a really wonderful (and beautiful) biochemist cum administrator who was off home to see her family in Bulgaria. We had a great time and the hours flew by (no pun intended).

After a short stay in hot, muggy Singapore airport's outside bar, I slept most of the way to Germany, where we arrived at sun-up; perfect for synchronizing the body clock. The last hop was on a 20-year old plane ran by Iberia airlines (I was booked via Qantas). But actually the seat was in some way more comfortable that the newer plane? (Speaking of new planes, I got a good view of the new Airbus double-decker - amazing! It made our 747 "Jumbo" jet look positively puny in comparison.)

I arrived in Madrid, Spain, somehow with any jetlag. I stored my luggage and arranged a night bus ride to Lisbon, Portugal, for 11pm that night. Which gave me about 12 hours to explore this classic city. I was very impressed with the cleanliness while it retained its old-world charm. The public gardens were equally impressive, while the public art museum was a work of art in itself - abstract art it turns out, as there were hallways and stairs that led nowhere (literally). A fitting home for some classic Salvador Dali pieces.

The center of the city was a mass of ethnicities: I spent lunch chatting with two girls from Switzerland who'd come to shop for the weekend, and didn't speak a word of Spanish (though their English was exceptional); and while exploring one museum, I befriended an American girl with whom I talked for a while. And then bumped into about an hour later in a different part of the city - what are the odds!?

I believe the secret to avoiding jetlag is to sleep as much as possible, which normally isn't easy, but somehow I managed 6+ hrs on the plane, and then slept most of the way on the bus to Lisbon. Having only achieved about 5 hours sleep the night before made it a bit easier to get some rest. This bus trip was scheduled to arrive at 6:30am, but got in around 5am - scheesh, not what I needed. Stranded in the middle of nowhere with no map, two big heavy bags, and a metro that was closed for the night, I had arrived in Lisboa.