Chapter two of the holiday is drawing to a close. Spain and Portugal have been very enjoyable – in fact I’d go so far as to say it’s been my best trip to both countries. Going with someone who not only speaks the language but has lived here really makes a difference. My own familiarity with the culture has improved and I am impressed that I managed to do a grocery shop by myself.

Last night we finished up with Eurovision at 1am and, as always happened before a travel day, I had a terrible sleep. It’s not such a bad thing though as Luke will also be dead tired after his flight from Korea.

We cleaned the apartment then left at midday. In Australia having a check out time after 10am feels like luxury but here it’s quite common. Our flights (Danny, Peter and Ash are flying back via Dublin with a different airline) are only five minutes apart and leave at almost 5pm so we stopped at a sunny cafe for a bit of lunch.

We caught a taxi to the airport and I now know what it’s like to do 80kph over speed bumps. The driver was a nice old guy but his disregard for speed limits and parking guidelines was a quintessentially Spanish experience.

We had a slice of cake in the airport while we waited for the check in counters to open. It’s a local delicacy made with almond flour.

After checking in separately we headed to the VIP lounge. Danny has membership and we could pay a bit extra to be guests. We made an effort to get our money’s worth and enjoyed the very comfortable lounges.