Arrival routine

I wanted to briefly describe my routine when I arrive in town or at the accommodation while hiking. Of course not every day was the same, but there were still a lot of things I always did:

Most of the time, when I have decided on accommodation, I have already scanned the area on Google Maps for supermarkets, restaurants nearby and whatever else I would like to see in the city, such as the cathedral or other sights.

And when I arrived in the respective city during the hike, I did some shopping straight away and then went to the accommodation, but as a rule I always went to the hostel first, especially because sometimes I didn't have a fixed reservation then perhaps had to search further.

When you arrived, the first thing you did was take off your shoes and put on your slippers. It was really a great feeling and on some days with 50 kilometers or more that was the biggest relief. You usually had to put the shoes in a closet in the hallway because the shoes were often very dirty, especially on wet and muddy days. Then you checked in, handed in your ID card and, most importantly, your pilgrim ID card in order to get a stamp straight away. Otherwise you will forget it. Then you have paid. And was able to get to his bed. I know some people who rested in bed first, but I always took a shower straight away. And a warm shower after a hike like this always felt so good. In some hostels it took a while for the water to get warm, but incomparable to the fact that just a few years ago this was not a given.

Then you looked at which items of clothing you could wash by hand. Of course I would have laid down straight away, but the laundry has to dry until the next morning. That's why you usually did this very early and you also had to look where to hang up the laundry.

Then you made your bed. Occasionally it was, but usually you had to do it yourself and it was sometimes complicated in a bunk bed upstairs with those disposable paper sheets. And then I usually went to bed for the first time. I couldn't relax yet because I still had to apply deer tallow cream to my feet. Then I could enjoy the bed, although some beds weren't necessarily comfortable. Then I wrote my blog or just got some rest in bed or was on my cell phone. Then my stomach made itself felt relatively early and I ate the leftovers I had with me or went to the supermarket. I usually ate a little something and then had dinner 1-2 hours later. I usually had dinner relatively early, around 6 p.m. The problem is, when I ate outside, the pilgrim menus were usually only available from 8/9 p.m., because the Spanish often still take a siesta and don't open their shops again until 7/8 p.m.

And then each afternoon/evening varied depending on what I was doing and who else was in the room.