Happy 2014!

Hooray! Happy New Year! We all made it through the end of 2013 alive and well, and here we are in rainy Madrid, tired and lazy, clinging to all the wi-fi we can get. 

Since the last post we have been through three cities (we are really bad at travel blogging…) Seville was absolutely gorgeous, we stayed in a hostel called ‘The Garden,’ and life was swell. Everyday had wonderful weather and we walked dozens of miles around historic plazas and monuments and bull rings and cool graffiti. (Don’t worry RVA, they ain’t got nothin’ on you, baby.) The food was rad, and the free sangria every night at the hostel wasn’t too shabby. 

If you’ve ever been to Chicago, imagine that but with cathedrals and ancient government buildings instead of skyscraping business towers and add a few Spaniards and I think you’d get Seville. A big tourist draw are ‘the Mushrooms,’ (similar to the bean,) which are built over an adorable Christmas market and located pretty centrally in the city. Surrounding them are buzzing tapas bars and cafes and coffee houses. If you walk less than 5 minutes in any direction from the Mushrooms, you will find a huge, old and beautiful Catholic church or a convent or a monastery of some sort, always neighboring picturesque neighborhoods that re-define what is postcard worthy. Just when you think you are lost in Seville, you walk into an open square and suddenly are reminded you’re in a big city that is very well disguised as a small town.

I could rave about Seville all day long, I think I could live here forever and be happy (if I, you know, were able to find a job or speak Spanish or find a flat that is in the cool part of the city.) The best part might not have even been the city, our hostel was the best experience I could have asked for. The staff were all bi- or tri-lingual, super fun and energetic, it was in a great part of town close to shops and a market and awesome hole-in-the-wall cafes that served awesome breakfasts. Everyone staying in the hostel was excited to be travelling and we all went out together every night. Our roommate was an awesome Australian film student living in LA and travelling through Portugal and Spain for winter break and we spent a day out touring the oldest bar in Seville, the Cathedral and the Giralda tower (gave the most beautiful view of the city.) We also spent quite a while watching some punk 9-year olds throw firecrackers into historic fountains and blow up oranges and such, and then all the boys tried to climb a tree that I swear is older than the United States. That night we went grocery shopping and cooked ourselves a sweet meal with no recipe!! (Pork cutlets with mushrooms in garlic sauce, home-made ‘chips’ and a spinach salad with bleu cheese, yeah.) Everything was cool.

From Seville we went to Toledo, the former capital of Spain and maybe the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen. It is a tiny little place located up on a mountain and walled all the way around. Our first morning, we got up nice and early and walked out to the road that surrounds the city and nearly walked around the whole thing. We thought we would be punks and hop the divide from the road to climb a mountain separating us from a sweet view of the city. It took a lot of cardio and strength and a 10 minute break to get all the way to the top but we did and it was so worth it. Here’s the view. 

Hostel game not so strong in Toledo, our roommate was kind of agitating because she came in late and started reading her book as soon as all of us were ready to go to bed, so the light had to stay on. I was able to go to sleep…but was awoken pretty soon after by the snores coming from her bed. I imagine a cartoon depicting someone snoring would not be as disruptive as this woman was. She woke up Luisito and me both and we got some pretty terrible sleep, as in almost none at all.

Toledo is not a place to stay for a long time, so yesterday we took off to come back to Madrid, the last leg of our trip! For some reason is has been raining since we got to the city which is an anomaly for a place like this. New Year’s in Madrid was pretty awesome, though, if you ever get the chance, go ahead. The plazas were poppin’ mega early in the day, we bargained with a street vendor to get 2014 glasses for cheap, bought champagne in a convenient store for like 6 euros, and Puerta del Sol was adorned and beautiful. We had dinner and festivities at a friend of the boys, Paloma’s house. (She was a part of an exchange the Andrades participated in a few years ago and they kept in touch!) She cooked us lamb and mussels and we had appetizers and desserts and basically, wow. We spent midnight with her giant, awesome family, throwing spit balls at each other which is a part of her family’s tradition after midnight. 

Spain also has a New Year’s tradition where you have to eat 12 grapes in the 12 seconds before midnight in order to have 12 months of good luck in the new year. Here’s a little about the grape tradition and it’s origins in Spain. Paloma’s family also has a lottery for gifts in the New Year and somehow, the three of us got thrown into the pot as special guests of some sort. Luis and I both came away with two gifts and Nico one. Pretty good haul, if you ask me.

We finally started our way back to the hostal at about 6 a.m., just in time to experience Virginia passing into 2014! After wishing family and friends a happy New Year back home, we were dead and ready for bed. 

I’m sure there will be more to say about Madrid soon, I think we’re about to go to Ernest Hemingway’s favorite bar…frick yea, Spain.

What a rant, woo!

-Emma

Getting to Spain!

Made it to our second city and we finally found some wi-fi! Getting here definitely had some ups and downs, most of the ‘downs’ being en route and the ‘up’ being actually arriving in Almeria, our first city (which we left this morning.) Our hostel in Seville right now really rocks but here is a look into how we got here…

We started out at 9:30 am, December 18^th. We called a taxi, scrambled all of our stuff together when he arrived 5 minutes early, and managed to get out of Luisito’s apartment on schedule. The driver was trying to convince us that taking his car from Alexandria, Virginia to Baltimore-Washington International Airport (in Maryland) would be cheaper than taking the metro, so it was a typical cab ride. He also managed to miss the turn into the metro stop and our fare was over $15 for less than a two mile ride.

Once we passed that milestone, we lugged our bags up the escalator and waited for the yellow-line metro to take us all the way into Maryland. It took nearly an hour. Our next step was almost waiting for us in Greenbelt, the B30 bus to BWI. I walked right on and sat down with our bags, the boys were not as ambitious and fell behind in the pack of people trying to get to the airport. Apparently there was a $6 fee the Andrade boys paid for that I was ignorant to until after the fact…$6 saved!

The airport came quickly and we hopped off at the wrong stop and had to schlepp our luggage farther than we would have had to. Turns out our big suitcase (seriously, big suitcase) weighed 69.0 lbs when the limit was 50! We were ‘those guys’ unpacking and repacking our checked bags right at the security gate. Fortunately, after only two tries, we got it under 50 (49.1) and were on to security-which was literally the smallest deal- and to our gate to check-in! We ate our last American McDonald’s meal for 2013 and managed to exchange a stupid amount of money from USD to Euros.

The first flight was a quick hop from BWI to JFK in New York, New York and it only took about 35 minutes. We had a couple hours to kill once in JFK but instead of wandering we parked ourselves at our gate. Luisito found out grades from law school, I fell asleep and Nico finished the Maltese Falcon; ‘twas an eventful layover! The time came to fly to Madrid and we made our way down the runway to get on our stick of gum-sized plane. (Seriously, imagine being on a yellow school bus for 6.5 hours flying over the Atlantic Ocean and you would have a better time than we did.) The food was pretty good, the turbulence was pretty awful and there was no sleep to be had. Finally, our pilot executed a near-perfect landing in Madrid and we started around a mega modern airport and my first, their second, experience(s) in Spain began!

Passing through customs was like getting your ticket-stub ripped at a movie theatre except less intimidating, the woman just kind of looked at us, believed we were American, and stamped our passports. We sat waiting for our behemoth suitcase, thinking it just wasn’t going to fit on the carousel, until we were ready for the next part of our journey. It was 9:00 am December 19^th at this point, we had been travelling for almost a full 24 hours (including Spain time change) and we were ready to be done.

Attached to the Madrid airport is a very comprehensive and beautiful metro system (puts DC to shame!) We hopped on the airport’s car and found our way to another part of Madrid where we were to embark on our last segment to get to Almeria- el Autobus! There were five hours from the time we got to the station to the time our bus left. No one had slept, no one had a good meal and no one was prepared (me especially) to communicate to the Spaniards now surrounding us. We paid close to 10 Euros to put our luggage in a locker and managed to find and make a transaction for a universal electricity adaptor, which we so aptly could not manage to find in the United States before we left. At this point…there were still more than four hours until our bus. Madrid was cold and grey and rainy, nothing like the exotic, warm and sunny weather I expected from this foreign place! The weather matched the interior of the bus station, uninviting and difficult to work with. We bummed there for too long- pulling our towels out in order to comfortably sit on the freezing metal benches, attempting to nap or just rest for a minute, anticipating the end of this ridiculously long trip. We were cheap when it came to our travels, but we were paying for it then!

When the bus arrived, it was a godsend. It was more spacious and comfortable than the plane from America and we were (I was) giggling with excitement at the prospect of a nap and the next day in Almeria. But, some things are just too good to be true.

The bus trip was anticipated to last about 6.5 hours with one stop between Madrid, our departure point, and Almeria, our destination. The patrons on the bus were in the same place as us, tranquil and sleeping mostly, or having quiet conversation amongst friends and neighbors- this lasted about four hours into the ride. Luis and I were sitting on the left side and Nico and a Spanish woman unbeknownst to us were on the other side of the aisle. Immediately behind my and Luis’s seat was a mother and her young son. I describe this to you because things are about to get dirty.

With two hours left, the little boy empties the contents of his stomach all over the back of our seats and the ground which was currently being occupied by both of our feet/shoes and both of our bags. The mother was quick to find a plastic bag for her son to finish being sick and also quick to start cleaning everything up, but she was unaware of the effect it had on those ahead of her- thus neglecting our foot-space and bags.

The smell was overwhelming, all of a sudden everyone had their scarves over their faces and coughs were heard throughout the cabin. Just as it started to fade away, the mother herself got sick, and the vicious cycle began. For the last hours of our journey, vomit was flying from many mouths behind us and there was nothing to be done. The rest of us sleepy travelers could only look at each other with pity and helplessness, no one had cleaning supplies and language was a big issue for many as this was quite a diverse crowd.

While describing that event only took a few paragraphs, it seemed endless at the time. Luckily, we have made it through and even many days here in Spain! Time has already gone too quickly and we are attempting to live as ‘in-the-moment’ as possible. Almeria was wonderful to us and we are super excited to explore Seville and the rest of our cities in our plan! Updates to come about the family, the food and all the rest of the fun!

-Emma

24 hours from liftoff!

The apartment is a mess with luggage and laundry and lists but we are well on our way! Can’t wait to be finished and totally ready to go!

-Emma

I am excited to go to Spain on a plane and maybe ride a train while I am there and it will not be lame.

Title pretty much says it all. 

 

– Luis

t-8 days

Hello all! As I am coming home from a day and night full of studying for final exams, I am utterly exhausted and cannot wait too much longer for break. Luckily, we are only a week away from being done with exams and now only EIGHT DAYS away from our flight to Spain! 

For those of you that don’t know, the two eldest Andrade boys and myself have decided to fly ourselves over to Spain for a large duration of winter break, (poor Luisito, it’s literally his entire winter break.) “Why Spain?” you may be asking yourself. Well, for one, we couldn’t afford France or Italy. For two, and mostly for two, the Andrade name has a little stake in the world and it happens to be the corner we are exploring this winter. We will be hosted (most graciously) for a large portion of our trip by Luis and Nico’s extended family in Almeria, Spain. (That’s riiiiiiiight here.) From December 18, 2013-January 4, 2014, don’t call or text ’cause we’ll be having too much fun in Europe! Also the boys are on limited data plans, don’t run up their monthly bill, please. 

The itinerary has us coming into Madrid and immediately grabbing a bus down to Almeria in time for a good ol’ Spanish dinner- at 9:30 p.m. The rest is super tentative, I mean extremely tentative. Who knew it would be difficult to travel in a Catholic country around Christmas, anyway?! My hope is to journal our experiences and memories on this blog, also to keep track of where we’ve been since we have nearly no clue what we’re doing as of now!!

Us three kiddos have always felt tied down to family and tour groups while we travel (sorry moms, we love you, you’re still fun!) and we hope this will be something different and memorable in many different ways. We will try to be as candid as possible, but of course, some memories are meant to stay in your mind. 

Eight days is an unimaginable number compared to the hundreds left when we bought the tickets in the summertime. The trip didn’t even seem real until very recently, when I could easily translate the day figure into weeks and when the number of weeks decreased so rapidly that we are now at only a little more than ONE. There is still a lot of focusing to be done on final exams and not failing anything and packing clothes and exchanging money, but this is a beautiful, gleaming, just-out-of-reach thought that will provide awesome motivation.

Good luck on finals, everyone!

-Emma