The self soothing brain

How I learned to enjoy going on holiday

Photo by DaYsO on Unsplash

I just got back from seven days in Portugal with the family. Lovely.

The coach driver who took us from the airport to the hotel was called Eduardo. Big Dire Straits fan. I sat up the front with him and he kept making me feel the hairs on his arm every time one of his favourite tracks came on the stereo. ‘Sultans Of Swing! What a song, my friend! Quick! Feel my arm! The hairs, they rise, yes?’

This is all while he’s speeding along one handed at 90kmh.

Eduardo also told me he was a member of the Algarve’s top motorbike gang (he tossed me his wallet while he drove and invited me to search for his membership card, in case I didn’t believe him). At one point, he took a detour to show me where he lived. There were about thirty other tourists sat up the back wondering what the fuck was going on!

I asked him how long he had lived in the Algarve. “My whole life,” he said. "It used to be a quiet place until Cliff Richard and Bonnie Tyler bought places here. Then the whole world wanted to come!”

Yep, it was some journey.