Night Plane to Lisbon

There’s a famous book called Night Train to Lisbon.

It’s about a rather serious teacher in Switzerland who suddenly gives up his job and embarks on a journey to Portugal. This is my version, though I can’t take a train from here and I do like to plan my trips in some detail before I set off. My plans so far:

Feb 28	dep PER 10.20 pm
Mar 1	arr LIS. Train to Porto
2	Porto. Sandeman
3	Porto. Sandeman
4	Guimaraes
5	Guimaraes. Porto
6	Madeira. Allegro
7	Madeira. Allegro
8	Madeira. Allegro
9	Madeira. Allegro
10	Madeira. Allegro
11	Madeira. Allegro
12	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
13	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
14	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
15	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
16	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
17	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
18	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
19	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
20	Lisbon. Lisbon Lounge
21	Dep LIS 13.35
22	Arr PER

I’ve always been interested in the idea of Madeira and its botanical gardens, where spring flowers bloom apparently out of season in an island paradise. Now I’m going there. I’ve also allowed plenty of time to explore Lisbon and maybe do some day trips.

In 2024, I had more or less decided I was getting too old for long distance travel, but now I’m tempted to do one more trip. I’ve been watching travel documentaries on TV with Miriam Margolyes (age 83) exploring NZ in a campervan and Michael Palin (age 81) in Iraq. If they can do it at their age, so can I. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Today looks like being the hottest day of the year in Perth, with 44 degrees forecast. I feel like the conditions envisaged in Juice are coming true and we all need to be underground, or at least in the swimming pool for a few hours.