We made it!

We arrived in Porto, Portugal after a mostly uneventful trip. Both flights (Detroit to Newark, and Newark to Porto) arrived early. The only hiccup was with the car we hired to take us from the airport to our apartment in Porto. We were delayed deplaning because of a passenger medical emergency that had to be dealt with, then off to passport control and luggage pickup. Passport control was quick but it took nearly 35 minutes for our bags to be unloaded and dropped off on the carousel for pickup. Instead of waiting, our hired driver left because we had ‘exceeded his allotted wait time’ of 45 minutes. Sunita reached out to the company and they hired and paid for an Uber to take us instead. All good.

The apartment we rented is small, but nice and in a perfect location to begin the Camino on Monday. The Pilgrim Office is practically next door, and the apartment is actually on the Camino path. So, good job Rich, right? Well, not so fast. The Uber driver dropped us on a Main Street near the Douro River. We asked him which building was our apartment building and his answer was “I don’t know for sure, but it’s right here according to Google Maps, so it must be one of these.” Wrong answer, Bob! We had to drag our bags up these crazy cobblestone steep hills and steps for about ¼ of a mile. When we located our apartment, it was not open for registration yet, so we walked a bit further down the narrow street and found a large parking area with benches. “Wow” we said! “What an excellent place this would have been for the Uber driver to let us out. We decided to chalk it up to ‘training’.

Once we settled in the apartment, we headed to the pilgrim office to get our Compostela (Pilgrim Passport), find some breakfast and pick up a few groceries. Check!, Check and Check!!