London

So I'm in London and very tired. I left home early early Sat Am to make sure I had time to deal with any problem or delay on the highway. Got little sleep the night before with my 'logic being that being really tired would mean that I would sleep on the flight and arrived early this morning in London having slept on the filight. I slept about an hour or so. got to my hostel and will get to bed early this evening so as to get lots of sleep and be fresh and enthusiastic when arriving in Spain tomorrow. Made arrangements to get to the airport tomorrow AM. Will end up getting to my starting point sometiem late afternoon I estimate so I will find a place to stay and check out the town/city of Oveido and get an early ande fresh start on the Camino the next morning. Havng fun wandering the streets here. so much to see and discover. stumbled upon the Samuel French bookstore (theatre junkies will understand) and have been seeing many bikes with the Barclay's name on and 'docking' stations for them. A public bike plan I think and I gatehr the docking stations minimize loss from theft. Going out for another walk as otherwise I would fall asleep. Found a good and cheap place to eat I remember fondly from the last ime \I was here. Still there and expanded hours. good. Will be fun when I am back here ina month or so.
john

3 more sleeps!!

3 more sleeps and I am on the road to Calgary to catch my flight for London. Had all my stuff spread out on the dining table last night to make sure I had everything. A couple of things to pick up today - immodium, visine etc and tonight I see if it all goes in the pack. It will althought I may shift stuff things from the "it would be good to take" to the "I don't really need" category. And I have to organize such that stuff that I won't need until Morocco or London go at the bottom of the pack or elsewhere where they won't be lost and they won't be in the way.
I take my time packing and am quite thorough. Making sure I am organized relaxes me in that I know things will happen that are unexpected but if I have got my shit together I will manage fine. Of course once I leave the house early Sat AM I am off and waht happens happens.
John

getting ready and am excited

will pck this eeekend and make sure I ahve everything I need. Gonna cut he grass this weekend too and it probably won't grow too much when I am gone. I may have lucked out with a place to park my car while I am gone in Calgary. I REALLY wasn't prepared to pay for long term parkig at $70 a week while I was away which meant taking the bus in to Calgary and a shuttle from the Greyhound. To make sure to be at the airport in time I would need to cathc the 2:25 AM bus from Golden. A casual conversation in the pub with a friend may provide a place to leave the car. I find out Monday and it would be so nice! After the Camino in Spain I fly to Marrakech to hook up with a tour group (Morocco Explored and they have two places left on the trip). I checked out different tour operators and these seem very good. A woman from Chilliwack with a Moroccan partner. I get to Marrakech early in the morning and meet the group late the next evening. I've arranged to stay at a hostel the first night (less than $9 Cdn) and then will check in at our hotel the next day. Robbin from Morocco Explored sent me the contact information for the hotel so I know where to go to meet the group and I checked out the hotel's website http://www.riadomar.com Very cool and unlike anywhere I have been. Well gotta go and mow the lawn. Put lots of bugdope on so that the mosquitoes don't eat me alive!

Getting started

Hi

so I'm starting my blog and don't know if anyone will read it. I'm travelling to London-Spain-Morocco-London and home. I don't expect anything too exciting but if anyone is interested in what my experiences are like walking the Camino (pilgrimage) routes in Northern Spain or being in Marrakech, trekking in the Atlas mountains of Morocco and riding a camel in the Sahara or catching theatre and god knws what else in London then this may be of interest.

There may be several days between posts as there will be times when there is no internet computer around and I'm not carrying any wi-fi device even if wi-fi was available. I leave in 8 days and I am now just finishing getting organized. Not taking much with me cause I like travelling light and in Spain I will be walking from village to village carrying all my stuff on my back. I don't want to carry more than necessary obviously.

Kinda fun getting organized but that finishes this weekend and I am so looking forward to going. Amazing what you can do over the internet. booked a hostel in Marrakech and went on a forum (lonely planet thorn tree) and found out where in Marrakech to buy some basic I will need when I get there.Did I mention that I am getting excited?

Gotta tart up this blog and add some colour. the pictures are of home - the starting point and me figuring out how to add pictures. works here but I wonder in Marrakech what the keyboard will look like. many learning experiences ahead of me. should be interesting.