We flew from Porto to Ponte Delgada in Sao Miguel, The Azores, with Ryanair. Being on a tight budget we were not going to ‘waste’ money on reserving seats, so we ended up sat at opposite ends of the plane, Jolien at the back and me at the front. Although the plane was pretty packed I had only one person sat beside me, a woman in her 50’s in the aisle seat. I took the window seat and settled down to use some of the two and a half hours to sort out my photos and videos on my phone and was so concentrated on this tedious task that I didn’t notice that a drama was unfolding beside me. It was over an hour in to the flight when I became aware that there was an air steward knelt beside the woman asking if she was okay. She wasn’t. She was floppy and unresponsive, her hands shaking weirdly. A guy in the seat behind reached over and put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Is this what one does in this situation? I self-consciously placed my hand on her arm, her eyes were closed and she’s seemed semi conscious, but she flinched so I retreated! Later, it transpired that the guy behind was her husband! I ‘m still unsure of the rules concerning comforting strangers on aeroplanes. The steward took her pulse and decided she was definately still alive and lay her as best he could with her head near my legs… He did the whole ‘Is there a doctor on board?’ and someone who didn’t seem to know much either came and looked at her too. They decided it was most likely low blood pressure and fed her some sugar. I was quickly moved to another seat, abandoning my computer, phone and cream bun. On the plus side I did get to sit in the front row window seat with the extra legroom… An emergency situation like this really reminds you that you are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! There is nowhere to land! I’m guessing on an ordinary Europe flight the pilot would have just diverted to land somewhere else and get the woman to a hospital but he couldn’t! There was no land!

The island came in to view, the rugged coastline just visible like a rock monster’s giant foot beneath a great, thick, fluffy cloud that covered the entire land. It was strange, the sky clear and blue around this island shaped fluff-ball. I would have taken a photo but my camera was back with my cream bun…. As the plane came to land the ill woman was propped up and her husband came to sit beside her. She was talking a little and seemed to be a bit better. I hope she made a speedy recovery… As we slowed to a standstill on the runway I saw an ambulance. I assumed it was for her but it picked up another passenger of a small plane on a stretcher and covered in like a bubble of blue plastic. This was a very odd journey…

It was about 17:00 and the sun was just about shining, fighting through the cloud. Jolien and I decided, hikers that we are, that we would walk in to town and to the accommodation we had booked. It was about 4km in to Ponte Delgada and then a further 2km to our guesthouse.

The guesthouse, Casa Barão das Laranjeiras, was just as it looked in the pictures on booking.com. A big house on the outskirts of town with old-fashioned but elaborate furnishings, – chandeliers, porcelain ornaments, fancy curtains… Our room was cute, with twin beds and a big bay window. The place had a fabulously well equiped large kitchen and a long terrace overlooking the pool and gardens. Nearby was a Macdonalds,a Burger king and a hypermarket, oh, and a motorway! Not the most picturesque surroundings but close to town and handy for transport links so we were quite happy. Plus it works out at about 14 euros a night each! Not much more than a bunk-bed hostel…