I still haven’t checked the new airplane rates with Vueling (thanks anyway, Madalena) so last Friday, at 9.30pm, I took the bus to go to the White Tantric Yoga seminar in Madrid.
The good thing about the bus is I can get in in Setúbal and come back directly home too. This time I even had a bit of VIP treatment as the bus came to Setúbal only to pick me up and same thing on the way back.
The bad thing is you can never sleep properly even if it's the night bus as on each stop everybody must leave the bus "for security reasons" (ok, there are only 2 per trip. Still...).
And so it was that I arrived to...
Location: No man's land, somewhere just after (or just before depending on which direction you’re going) the border between Portugal and Spain, 25kms from Badajoz.
Time: Just when I had finally managed to fall asleep, ie round 1 o’clock.
The bus stops at the usual place, a gas station/truck night stop/restaurant-cafeteria. I’ve been there… a dozen times…? And I still don’t know the name of the place.
The management has changed, I think, no more paintings on the wall and the maids have changed, these are even more unpleasant than the others…
I can’t stand the smoke and don't really feel like asking anything. By the look on their faces, most of my travel companions are in the same state of mind.
We'd rather be sleeping but we force a smile and ask for a tea, a coffee, a latte... And we repeat the request, of course, as they never understand your accent. It's normal, the border is more than 30kms away...
Back on the bus, the lights are still on, a mobile starts ringing and rings and rings... After more than 40 secs (or so it seemed, even 10 secs it's an awful lot with some of these politones), my brain cells are all yelling: "Will you answer that or shut it off, please??!!"
The driver answers. Oh, it's ok, he even smiled when I got in so I excuse him and cover myself with my coat , trying to go back to sleep.
Next month, I'll make sure to check the Vueling site...
The good thing about the bus is I can get in in Setúbal and come back directly home too. This time I even had a bit of VIP treatment as the bus came to Setúbal only to pick me up and same thing on the way back.
The bad thing is you can never sleep properly even if it's the night bus as on each stop everybody must leave the bus "for security reasons" (ok, there are only 2 per trip. Still...).
And so it was that I arrived to...
Location: No man's land, somewhere just after (or just before depending on which direction you’re going) the border between Portugal and Spain, 25kms from Badajoz.
Time: Just when I had finally managed to fall asleep, ie round 1 o’clock.
The bus stops at the usual place, a gas station/truck night stop/restaurant-cafeteria. I’ve been there… a dozen times…? And I still don’t know the name of the place.
The management has changed, I think, no more paintings on the wall and the maids have changed, these are even more unpleasant than the others…
I can’t stand the smoke and don't really feel like asking anything. By the look on their faces, most of my travel companions are in the same state of mind.
We'd rather be sleeping but we force a smile and ask for a tea, a coffee, a latte... And we repeat the request, of course, as they never understand your accent. It's normal, the border is more than 30kms away...
Back on the bus, the lights are still on, a mobile starts ringing and rings and rings... After more than 40 secs (or so it seemed, even 10 secs it's an awful lot with some of these politones), my brain cells are all yelling: "Will you answer that or shut it off, please??!!"
The driver answers. Oh, it's ok, he even smiled when I got in so I excuse him and cover myself with my coat , trying to go back to sleep.
Next month, I'll make sure to check the Vueling site...
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