Hotel

After 718 kilometres on the roads of Alentejo, Sofi and I returned our rental Fiat 500 to the airport in Lisbon and checked in at "Hotel Hotel", a member of Design Hotels and another instant qualification on the 2023 Gold List. Located just off Avenida da Liberdade which is sort of Lisbon’s equivalent to La Ramblas in Barcelona, Hotel Hotel was the perfect place to end our days of fairy-tale vacation on the Iberian Peninsula. While we could easily have stayed on for another month, I am also excited to head back to Gothenburg and Halmstad where I have three new courses starting this month, including a large group of future social workers.

Flying home with Europe’s most civilized airline, we got to visit the Senator lounge at Zürich Kloten for a second breakfast. Though I am briefly heading over to the UK to run Suffolk Ultra on 14 October, I otherwise have no more international travel planned for the rest of 2023. Instead, I look forward to hanging out with the kids and also do plenty of autumn trail running in preparation for next year’s races.

Though obviously disappointed that the Costa Vicentina 57k race got cancelled, I think it was for the better as I would not have been able to run fast anyway so close to my cold. In this way, Sofi and I also got to see more of Alentejo and its wild beaches, giving me memories that I will certainly cherish once the winter darkness comes to Gothenburg.