This way, that way, forwards, and backwards

Today was my last day in Banyuls-sur-Mer, as tomorrow morning at nine I hop on a train to Barcelona, the first step of my circuitous journey towards Budapest. To make the most of my last day by the shore, I once again slept in late and passed what remained of the morning reading on the patio until the grape pickers returned home. When they did, we set off for the beach and my final swim in the French Mediterranean.

It was a breezy day down by the water, but a breeze unlike any I was accustomed to. After whisking over the sunny Spanish countryside, the breeze arrived in Banyuls-sur-Mer well above the surrounding air temperature, and enveloped us like the wall of hot air one encounters on a chilly day upon opening the door to an indoor swimming pool. In what struck me as the rarest of beach phenomena, the wind actually warmed me, and made the prospect of diving into the cool water that much more inviting. Taking advantage of this warm breeze, I dove in and had a lovely last swim.

This afternoon, we once again made good use of the warm Spanish breeze, as Val took us out for a jaunt in the family sailboat.


Once we left the cove upon which Banyuls sits, the warm breeze showed its true colors and developed into a warm gusting wind, causing the boat to keel over to near horizontality. For a few hours, we sailed around, flirting with the unmarked Spanish border, though all the while keeping within sight of the pastel landscape of Banyuls-sur-Mer.


We returned from the boat, weary and wet, and since then my evening has been spent trying to map out my travel plans for the next 36 hours. Barring any unforeseen setbacks, and with a little bit of luck, I believe I can make all of the necessary connections. If all goes according to plan, my day should look something like this:

9:09 am – train from Banyuls to Barcelona, where I will see as much of the city as I can in six hours
5:55 pm – train from Barcelona to the Barcelona Airport
8:25 pm – flight from Barcelona to Paris - Orly Airport
10:35 pm – bus from Paris - Orly into Paris proper
11:15-ish – metro to Oops Hostel where I will recover my illicitly stashed suitcase and idle away five hours in the hostel lobby
4:45 am – night bus across town to the Beauvais Airport Bus Terminal
5:45 am – bus to Beauvais Airport
8:45 am – flight from Beauvais to Budapest
10:50 am – arrive in Budapest, Hungary

I offer this itinerary only as a matter of establishing, on the record, so to speak, how I intend to reach Budapest. Such a plan seems worth remembering, as I greatly suspect that when I recount my journey in a future blog entry, I might have a very different story to tell.