Today the ship arrived back in Valencia, Spain & I travelled back to Los Alcazares.
Valencia & home.
I woke up around 6:30 am & firstly checked that my suitcase had been collected last night, on my last cruise they didn't collect my bag & I had to chase the staff around to take my bag. It had been collected & I decided to go to the buffet breakfast. I did not like the buffet-style breakfast but decided I had better have something to eat as I was expecting a long day of travelling & waiting around today.
I went to the buffet at around 8:30 am & had an omelette, bacon, sausage, beans & potatoes. It was a very poor breakfast but at least I would have something inside me for my journey home. After breakfast, I went to the Atrium bar & sat there having a coffee & watching people leaving the ship. Whilst I sat there, Gail saw me & came for a chat & to say goodbye, she then went to see if she could get something to eat & I had a second coffee. At around 9:30 am, I decided to leave & made my way off the ship to collect my luggage.
Leaving the ship & collecting my luggage was very easy & people were there to point me in the right direction, unlike my first cruise from here where I was sent all over the place looking for my luggage. After collecting my luggage I decided to jump in a taxi directly off the ship rather than get on a bus to the terminal to catch another bus to the train station. This was easy as there was a line of taxis waiting.
The taxi was bright, clean, smelt lovely & was pleasant to travel in. My driver certainly wasn't hanging about in the traffic but he didn't scare the bejeezus out of me as some cabbies have done in the past. The fare from the ship to the train station in Valencia was €16 but I didn't mind paying this for such a comfortable journey. When I got to the train station at about 10 am I looked to see if I could get an earlier train as mine wasn't due to leave until 3:30 pm. Unfortunately, every train was fully booked so I found a seat outside the station, got myself some water & settled down to read my Kindle.
At about 2: 45 pm I notice that my train was now delayed so I went into a cafe inside the station to get myself something to eat & some more water. The chicken sandwich was very nice & not a bad price for a station cafe. My train eventually turned up & I boarded the train & we left at about 4:45 pm. I wasn't worried about catching my connecting train at Murcia because I would have had a long wait there for my connection. It just meant a shorter delay waiting at Murcia. Unfortunately, the train I was on was delayed at several points on the way down to Murcia & when I arrived my train to Balsicas was already there & about to leave. I quickly crossed to the correct platform & as the train was about to leave I jumped on the first coach. I started to walk through the coaches to my seat at the other end of the train but halfway along I found that there was no connecting door & that I was stuck on this half of the train. I just hoped that when it stopped at Balsicas I could alight at the platform.
When the train finally pulled into the station I could get off & to my relief, my friend June was waiting there to take me home. It was now around 8:45 pm & after all the travelling I was absolutely shattered, I didn't feel too good & I was very hungry & needed a drink. On the way home June stopped to let me get something to eat at the Massala Cottage restaurant in Los Alcazares. I got a takeaway & shortly afterwards June dropped me off at home.
When I got in I dumped my suitcase on the floor got myself some water to drink & ate about half of my meal before I had had enough. I put what was left of the meal in the fridge & went to bed.