What a journey! First a two hour ride to Lyon with Charlie which flew by, then an overnight stop in a lovely double room which was going to be the last good sleep I got for nearly two days. .
Getting up before 6am is never fun, I am not a morning person by a long shot and travelling for what turned out to be around 18 hours was an absolute killer.
Travelling with a 28kilo bike bag was also hard work and this was only the beginning of the trip! It was hurting my hands by the time I got to the airport and after having to drag ot around the various check in desks…no one seemed to know which order I should check it in at which desk. Annoying. I was glad when that beast went through the security travellator. Adios my heavy weight friend!
Madrid was a short flight and a short stop over but then came the long haul. A massive airbus plane, the biggest thing I think I’ve ever travelled on took me onwards to Peru, it was a miracle that thing got off the ground it was so big and so full!
In front of me was a South American couple that couldn’t keep their hands (or mouths) off each other, who quickly found their recline buttons much to my dismay as I was bent over fishing something out of my bag…ouch.
I ended up sat in the middle row sandwiched between a man on the aisle and a woman to my right, who thankfully didn’t spill over the sides of the seat like the rather large woman on the way to Madrid.
I managed to nap a few times on the plane. 11 hours is a long old time to be sat down and my ass was really feeling it in the final 4 hours. Thankfully there were lots of films and in flight gizmos on the back of the seat rest in front of me (which I had to recline to see properly thanks to the snoggers) to keep me entertained. So in between flight announcements, napping and a few films it really didn’t feel like 11 hours, more like 8…which was bad enough. .
When I finally got spat out at Lima airport it had been a very long day. Up at 05:45 French time and I arrived at the hotel at 02:30 my time, around 7pm local time. I got suckered by a taxi driver that told me.it was 150 sol (50ish euros) from the airport for a ten minute, chaotic taxi drive through the Saturday night traffic. Note to self- always ask the fare up front to avoid getting ripped off.
I saw what Charlie what to ride through leaving Lima airport, it was utter carnage on the roads which opened out to about 8 lanes of buses, taxis and cars all bumper to bumper and all happily honking their horns at every opportunity. I’m suprised he made it through there alive.. seriously!
I’m now sat at Lima internal flight departures about to go through security. Thankfully there was no faff with the bike bag here, it just went straight through the same check in as my back pack. Easy peasy. The flight to Cusco doesn’t check in til 330pm but I didn’t want to have any snags on the way, so I’ve got a bit of time to kill while I wait.
Next stop Cuzco then a taxi to Ollantatambayo, lots of bike building to and checking to be done, and then the biking can finally begin!!!
MTBgirl808 