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 18th. 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 19th 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
aventuradetresamigos 