Saturday, 19 March 2016 to Sunday, 20 March 2016: Travel to Canary Islands

It is not typical for me to wear a shirt with writing but I just couldn’t resist this one.

 

Mark and I begin at Dulles airport where we board an overnight flight to London, easy peasy. At our connecting gate in Heathrow we spot Bobby and Marcy, our guests aboard The World. We planned to meet in the Canary Islands, as they spent a few days sightseeing in London first, but this is even better. Together we board a double-decker plane to Madrid for the second leg of the trip.

Or so we thought. As soon as the plane was fully boarded, the pilot informed us that the French air traffic controllers went on strike this morning, severely limiting the number of planes that could fly over their airspace. Since France sits smack in the middle of the UK and Spain, we were stuck. Onto the tarmac we taxied, where we sat.

Here’s how the boys handled it

After two hours, we were lucky to get clearance to take off. As we taxied onto the runway, the line of planes was longer than the eye could see.

We landed in Madrid with no time to spare, were greeted by the airline who rebooked us to the next flight to the Canary Islands, where we were the last passengers to board as the gate was closing. Pshwew.

The weather was ideal and as I watched from the window the clouds began to look like icebergs floating in the sea.

 

As we make our way from the airport to the ship the day is fading and a soft drizzle hits the windshield as we get our first glimpse of the island. I am struck by the many statues and art speckled throughout town.

Ah, we finally made it to the The World and the inconvenient travel memories began to fade fast.

A little info about the Canary Islands. There are seven main islands and we will be visiting three of them on this trip. Although they are located off the coast of northwestern Africa, they are owned by Spain and therefore considered to be part of Europe.

Even though the canary is a type of finch native to the Canary Islands, they are not the islands’ namesake. Actually, the canary bird was named after the island group and has become the natural symbol of the Islands.

In Spanish, the name Islas Canarias means “Island of the Dogs.” The original inhabitants, the Gauches, treated large dogs on the islands as though they were holy animals, worshipping and even mummifying them. When the Romans first landed on the islands, they called them Canaril, Latin for “one who worships dogs” and the name, Island of the Dogs, stuck.

Whether it is called Canary Islands, Islas Canarias or Island of the Dogs, I’m glad we are finally here.