Off to Spain to see Megan! Cameron drove David and I to the airport. We left at 6:20AM. There was more traffic than I expected. Merging was a little bit of an adventure. We got there super-early so Cam could make it to school on time. CVG was super empty. Probably an advantage of leaving on a Tuesday. Absolutely no one ahead of us at security. I got pulled aside because I had my reading glasses in my pocket. (pouch of my pullover) THEN my suitcase got pulled out too! It was my deoderant - it was showing up as a liquid. It's funny, because I thought maybe it would be David's C-PAP machine that might trigger an issue.
We sat for a while, and I went thorugh the stores. Then we went tot he food court - I got Chic Fil A with mac n cheese. YUM
We took our time, then back to the gate. Our flight to JFK was super empty. I sat on the window and David sat next to me. By the time they finished food service (Biscoff cookies and a Coke) we were making our descent. It was a very, very gradual descent, and David kept checking to see if we were any closer to the ground.
Our gate for the Madrid flight was very close to the gate we exited from. We had about 3 hours until boarding. We took seats where we could watch the airplanes. I bought us a Coke, Sprite, and these brownie crisps that turned out to be super yummy. I also finished off the Cheesy Snax Mix that I had packed. I heard our name announced, and they wanted David and I to go to gate 3 for a passport check. For a second we both headed over, but then David pointed out that one of us needed to stay with the luggage. The woman at the counter wasn't very happy with me. "Just bring over his passport" she snipped at me. So I ran over and got his passport. What was the point of that? She had no idea if he matched his passport. Also, she wanted us to have printed boarding passes. How 2010-ish.
The flight to Madrid had a lot of people. When they called our group, I thought maybe we should just sit until the line went down. That was a mistake, because then they called group 4, and now we were behind all of THOSE people too. The line went fast, but David did have to put one of our bags above a different aisle. The plan was 2-4-2 (the first plane was 2-2) and somehow we lucked into getting a set of the 2! So I took the window and David took the aisle. We had pasta for dinner, and it wasn't bad. The roll was good too. The weird coconut-y dessert we skipped. After dinner they dimmed the lights. I turned on "The Bike Riders" and it was pretty good. Halfway through I turned it off and tried to sleep, but it was hopeless. I tried to rest my eyes and body, but ended up watching the rest of the movie. Then I tried again, but went back to my book.
They served us turkey sandwiches for breakfast, with pimento - yuck. I ate one of my granola bars. When we got to Madrid, it was kind of amazing, because it seemed like every other person on the flight was in a huge hurry to get - somewhere. Other connecting flights, I guess. But I didn't understand, because we were on time - early even. But it was amusing, and we just kept letting people pass us. We walked and walked - a huge jetway, and then through one empty Councourse after another. I told David it felt like the Langoliers movie. Next we had to take a shuttle to the other side of the airport. Here there were again tons of people in a hurry. We let the wave of people in front of us go first. We got on the next one, which came about 90 seconds later.
Then we were finally at Passport Control. The lady barely looked at us, and voila, we were through customs. We found a bathroom, took a short breath of fresh air, and headed down to Metro / Renfe train. It took a bit to determine which one to take, but we settled on the Renfe. There was a lady there helping (eventually - keep in mind that it was barely 7am) She said she spoke English, but that was a stretch. She got us 2 tickets, supposedly to Atocha. They did get us in to the trains. The trains did not have a number on them. I tried this help phone, but the guy just told me that "All trains go to Madrid". So we got on the one sitting there. Luckily, Apple Maps was way more helpful. It got us most of the way, along with a nice girl who finally figured out what I was asking, and said "Oh - ten" (we were on train C10) We got off at a huge hub. As we were wandering around, this very nice man asked where we were going. "Atocha" I said, and probably butchered it. But he got the point, and helped us along. He pointed to 8. "Ocho" I said. And he said "Oh, you speak Spanish" "Un poco-poco-poco" I said. He asked where we were from, and I said "Los Estado Unitos", then "Ohio". He had maybe(?) lived in Queens? Or his son had? He really wanted to talk to us, but his English was very rough as well.
He helped us count the stops (3), and off we got in Atocha. It is a huge train station. We kept looking for the exit but eventually we were flumoxed. Turns out you have to scan your ticket to get out. And ours weren't working. The policeman was very nice, but his English also wasn't very good. (At least I found my ticket - I wasn't sure I had kept it) He sent us to the ticket office. The ticket person admitted his lack of English (un pequito he said) Finally he just let us through. (At least, that's what we think happened. We just know the gate was open and we walked through) Finally, we were out, right? Wrong.... It took us much time to finally end up in the street. We found our hotel without much trouble. I do think we may have come out the wrong side.
So we were super early to the hotel - it was before 9am. But finally there was a person who spoke excellent English. We couldn't check in, but we could leave our luggage in a locker for 1E. We squeezed everying in. We got to have free beverages (Coke!) because I had checked in online. We also got tickets for premium drinks (which we didn't really want) because I had booked with Expedia. She also helped me with which stop for our hop-on, hop-off - which turned out to be right in front of the hotel!
I put my contacts back in, and we went out to the stop. But the bus didn't start until 9am (it was about 8:40am), and the Atocha stop is stop #16. At least we were outside - we had been cooped up in airports and planes for quite a while. It was a little chilly, but not too bad. I think we waited over an hour. But we got on - no problem. Went to the top, got the best seats. The thing was empty. It filled up pretty quick, though. In fact, several people tried to get us to move because we weren't sitting together. It was because the headphone jack didn't work in both of our seats. Finally I moved over to sit with David. I wasn't really listening to the tour guide voice anyway.
We made one loop, then got off at the Gardens. They were very pretty, and we saw lots of cool stuff. My favorites were a new type of bird (Eurasian Magpie) - we also saw parakeets fly by while we were on the bus. Then we saw an Egyptian Goose at this pretty pond. Also - a strawberry tree? We saw the Crystal Palace, under construction, and another palace - also under construction. We figured out we were going away from our hotel, so we turned around and retraced some of our steps. David kept spotting influencers, which kinda made us shake our head. One of the guys was flexing in a grassy area with no shirt on.
When we got near our hotel we walked past a street that had used books kiosks - one after the other. Very weird. I was getting hungry, and I really just wanted a cheeseburger. We went to McDonalds - it was perfect - delicious. I got a chocolate dessert that was super rich and I saved it for later. We came back to the hotel for a bit - had some more Coke, looked at the roof, checked in, both took much-needed showers. The room is small, but it has everything we need. The shower is great, the A/C works great. (I forgot - after the wonderful-English-speaker at the desk checked us in - I forgot which room she said! I had to go back down and ask) After showers, we went back out to look for milk (or milkshakes) for later, and sunglasses! Mine had broken and I was squinting ALL DAY. We tried the place David had noticed - $14.95E no thanks. Found some for 4.50E, but David wanted to keep looking. Settled for some 5E ones because they are rubbery and hopefully won't break! But then we kept exploring and there are so many nooks and crannies of Madrid just around our hotel. We noticed a lot of shops took "siesta time" - including the bike shop David had wanted to see. McD - no shakes, but KFC - yes. So we are oging there right before bed. No fridge in our room, so milk doesn't really make sense.
I just got off the phone with Megan who was ABOUT TO LEAVE for Granada train station to pick us up, even though we are still in Madrid... glad I caught her in time!
Then we headed to KFC at 6:30 because KFC has shakes. We got chicken and mashed potates too. We brought it back to our room. I had no spoon, but I used chicken fingers to scoop them up, worked great! We also had Oreo shakes. We were in bed by 7:20p, and slept until 7am. We got up, packed, put our stuff in a locker. I got a sandwich at McDs, and we found a Dunkin for David (I had a Boston Creme - yum) We got on the subway - it was super crowded. We took it about 5 stops, then transferred. We got to Bernabeu Stadium at about 8:45a. We walked around a bit, and found our meeting point. At about 9:45a our tour guide showed up. We saw a lot of Real Madrid history. Finally we got to see the stadium itself - it was pretty big. There was a kid on our tour who knew all the players' names - it was hilarious.
After the tour, we took the subway back - David figured out we were smack in the middle of the city. We were early for our train, but not super early. We got a hamburger right outside the station. Then we went through security and lucked out into finding a place to sit. They called the Granada train, and we found our seats. The train ride went smoothly - I got a Coke and an Orange Fanta from the refreshment car. I listened to my Spanish audiobook and read some. Megan met us at the station. She had a cute sign that read "Mom". We were able to take the subway from there into Granada. Megan walked us to our hotel. So - even though they have "A/C" they turned it off. And the refrigerator isn't a real fridge.
We walked over to the market. I thought the milk we got smelled weird, but I drank maybe half of it. David went out and found a bar - I thinhk it's called the Lemon Drop. He watched a few songs by a band, and then found a Karaoke bar where there was a group of people from Rocky Horror Picture Show and hung out with them. I went to sleep with the door open. The air coming in was nice. I woke maybe an hour later. Then I heard what sounded like 1000s of motorcycles revving their engines. When I looked outside there were two police cars. A few minutes later they lead a parade of - a ton - of motorcycles through the street. I guess because it was Halloween. David got back shortly after that and he told me about his evening. I went back to sleep and didn't wake until alarm at 9am.
Friday, Nov 1, 2024
We got up about 9am and went to breakfast. It was not a great success. I had lunchmeat, but David thought it tasted funny. The bread was pretty good. I tried for jelly with the spreads, but ended up with a meat one - gross. Megan met us at about 10:30am. She showed us all around the city. There was a huge cathedral, and lots of plazas and little shops. We had tea at a little shop in the Albaicin (?) district. Well, I had Coke and a crepe. David tried a milkshake, but it was super runny. Megan had interesting tea. We went back to the hotel. I slept for a while, and then Megan and I played the game with the choices on your forehead. We headed out of rdinner about 5:30p. We went to a restaurant in the middle of a square, and I tried two traditional Spanish dishes. Croquettes with potatoes in the middle, and a dish with potatoes, and egg, and some type of cured ham.
After dinner we walked a bit, then found a gelato shop where we all had a scoop. Megan came back with us for a bit, and then we went to bed.
Sat, Nov 2 2024
Megan met us at our hotel. We saw a few more plazas. We walked to a park near where she exercises. I didn't get to see inside, but the building was cool. Then we walked around the park - it was very large. It had some cool built-in trampolines for kids, and a zip line. There was a lake, with a slightly different kind of duck that we saw. Megan and I sat on a bench. She did a little studying; I read my book. She didn't study quite as much as she planned. We got up and walked some more. She saw a classmate on our way out who was super-nice. We stopped at a Chinese convenience store and I got a Coke and Megan got a bubble tea she didn't care for. We texted David and asked him to meet us at McDs. From there we walked to their cool restaurant where the view was of the Alhumbra. It was open air poind in the shade - comfortable. Ironically, David and I liked our food fine (him - lasagna ; me - pasta carbonara), but Megan did not like her cold soup at all.
After dinner/lunch, we walked a bit and ended up sitting for a while in a mosque. We were there when they played the call to worship, which was pretty cool. (we were in the courtyard, not actually in the mosque) We went to the location of our Flamenco show. They couldn't find Megan's reservation. I called our credit card company, which found the charge. Once Megan knew the name of the website, she found her confirmation email. We hung about a bit, it was a nice evening. Then we went in about 5:10 (show at 5:30p) I liked it - the dancers had such crazy energy. But David thought it was "too sad", and Megan said the other show she's seen was better. After the show, we walked to the churro place, but it was too crowded. We split up, and Megan headed back because she had a meeting with an advisor. David and I went to his Lemon Drop bar. There was a band - it was fun and exciting. Crowded - I think they were playing cover songs, but it was hard to tell for sure. There were 3 guitars and a drummer. They were singing in Spanish - everyone seemed to know the words. Good energy. We tried the karaoke bar next, but it was empty. Then we went to Five Guys to fill up for bed. We stopped to get mini donuts on the way back, and found a little bodega store to get David more drink (he found caffeine free Diet Coke) Then I finished my (short) book and went to sleep.
Sun Nov 3 2024
Megan has midterms this week. So I told her she should study today. She asked if I would hang out in a coffee shop with her while she studied, so I said okay. I ate breakfast at the hotel, and then we tried the churro place again - still crowded. So we found a coffee shop with seating, and we are sitting here now.
After Megan studied for a bit, we went to a flewa market. Megan found a soccer shirt for 20E. I told her if the guy would break a 50E, she could buy it. He agreed, and so she got a shirt. David met us there. We waled to this Turkish bath house and made an appointment for the next day at 3pm for me and David. Then we went up to see the park that is near the Alhambra. There are peacocks there, which was really cool. We saw several bridges getting pictures taken. We sat for a while and just chatted. We were watching Adam Sandler videos. We walked through a little pat that was kinda like a labyrinth.
Next we went to Alhambra - Hotel Alhambra Palace. I'm not sure we were really supposed to be there. But the guy at the door told Megan where the bathrooms (Servicio) were. On the way out, we saw a soccer game on TV. But what looked to be a guard was standing at the door. So we didn't stop, and went back outside. We sat waiting for the sunset. Bill Clinton said it was the best place to see the sunset (Megan said it was JFK, lol) It was pretty. Then we headed back into the city. At least the walk that way was downhill. We got near the restaurant where Megan wanted to eat. It opened at 8pm. We hungo out on a park bench across from the restaurant. Before that, we went to the shop near Megan's gym. It was a pretty big shop. We needed bathing suits for the Turkish baths. I was going to borrow Megan's (although she said it was probalby too skimpy for my taste), but David needed one. At the back of the store, there was clothing. He found some mens shorts without a fly. He bought an XXL for 4E. Then the park bench, then the Mexican restaurant. (I forgot - earlier in the day we went to 5 Guys - yum - grilled cheese and we all got a soda so we could help ourselves to the FreeStyle machine. And David got to eat peanuts)
We were the first people at the Mexican restaurant. The waitress was adorable. David and I both got quesadillas (mine just cheese, his with ground beef) Megan had a salad. David got a Sprite, and it was bigger than other tiny ones we had gotten. We all liked our food this time. We hung around afterwards - David got cheesecake, and let us share. Then, after we were all still sitting there, the two adorable waitresses brought us shots! First Megan got a nonalcoholic apple one. Then she talked us into lemoncella. But when we double-checked it didn't have alcohol, turns out it did. So I got a blackberry one instead, and David got an apple one. We said "Salud" and drank them down. I made my "super bitter" face.
Then we walked to the bar where MEgan had a gig that night. We got there about 45 mins early. David talked to her friend who came to see her. Megan got a bubbly water and David got a soda. Megan came on at 10:30 - pretty close to on time. Maybe 10:40pm. She played a song by Arctic Monkeys (505), Valerie by Amy Winehouse, and ended with Mysterious Ways by U2. The other songs were originals (I forgot, she also played "Yellow" by Coldplay) I was getting pretty bleary-eyed, and I left straightaway after she was done. We went straight to the hotel, and I took my pill, and a shower. Megan stopped by to get her computer. I had some trouble getting to sleep - which was unfortunate, becasue we had to get up early for the Alhambra tour.
Mon Nov 4 2024
David and I got up early and walked to the Alhambra. OUr tour was scheduled for 9am - got there by 8:45a. As we were getting close, this guy tried to help us. Turns out he was a bum, though I didn't see it for some reason. Then he wanted me to buy him coffee, and I did - mostly becasue I wanted to see if they had Coke (the didn't) We got to our meeting point at about 8:10a, and found a bench (with a back) I went to the cafe to see if they had a Coke - Pepsi only, which is very unusualy from what I've seen. We were supposed to look for a white umbrella, and we saw one after a bit, but David didn't think it had the correct letters on it. When we got closer, we saw they were there, written in small script letters. We were able to check in, and she directed us toards the information office, and Carmen, our tour guide. First we went to servicio, and voila, Coke machines. I got one and we headed back. Then, after I had my ticket and I was trying to get my earbuds into the mic section, I managed to pour my Coke all over my ticket. Not Carmen, but the helper lady, ran into the bathroom and patted it down. When she ran it back to me, it was in pretty good shape. I said "Gracias. Lo Siento." We were both pretty impressed by what good shape it was in.
The tour was fine - Carmen was very nice, and handled this annoying Texas lady very well. We saw a lot of gardens, and fancy Arab decorations, cool ceilings. There was another person on the tour that asked good questions, that resulted in some of the most interesting stories... There were serveral places to sit for a bit, but it was still a lot of walking.
After the tour, we headed to a pizzeria recommended by Megan. We got close, then sat in a park for a bit (it didn't open until 1pm) We got there at 1pm, and it wasn't open - So I found a different pizzeria. Megan had gotten out of class early, and caught up with us. We ate at the pizzeria, which turned out to be a pretty fancy Italian restaurant. The waiter didn't speak English OR Spanish. We ended up with 3 bottled waters (oh well) My fettucine alfredo was pretty good, David's pizza was ok, and Megan got shrimp lasagna. We also go an order of bread - they don't bring bread unless you pay here.
After lunch David and I went to the Turkish bath house. It was - interesting - several hot tubs, a cold tub, a medium tub, and a steam room. No one cared about Davids questionable bathing shorts. David tried the cold water, but only got in up to his knees. It was super cold. I saw one guy who came in and was talking in a normal voice and one of the workers shushed him. They were really trying to create an atmosphere of peace and calm. The inside was made to look like the inside of the Alhambra. I was glad we went to the Alhambra first, because I was able to recognize it. We stayed maybe 40 minutes. The correct word is hammam.
After the bath, we headed back to the hotel. we stopped for gelato - lemon and ferrer Roche (kinda dark chocolate) Megan met us back at the the hotel for a few minutes. Then we walked over to see her apartment. It's not very big, but it seems to have everything she needs. Her host mom speaks no English, so at least that is one person where she has to speak Spanish. Megan came back with us for a little bit, and then went back home. David and I went to sleep by about 10pm.
Tues Nov 5 2024
We got upa t 8am. I ate breakfast at the hotel. Then we packed up and checked out. We left our luggage at the hotel. We took a bus uphill for a few stops. Then got of and moseyed back downhill. David got a few pastries. I got a Coke, and then later we ate some pastries at a small cafeteria. I tried the traditional pastry - pionono. I liked it - it had a mild taste. David said it tasted like an ashtray. I got a cream puff and a lemon (?) type pastry too. I finished my Coke with my pastries. We also looked in the big cathedral - there was a lot to see there. We headed back to the hotel - David's mini-donuts place was closed. We collected our luggage and headed to the subway station. It was cool - old rocks as walls. We got the right one, and only had about 4 stops until the train station. We got here super early - about 11:45a. Our train leaves at 3:10p. Luckily we found a place to sit (with backs on the seats) We were a little confused by the train boarding. Turns out the Barcelona traing got in line at the same time. There was a long line, so we stayed seated. Luckily we got up when we did. Once we go through luggage control, there was no line for the Madrid train - we were probably some of the last people on board. The train left on time. After a bit I ot a Coke and at the last of my trail mix and a bunch of Biscoff cookies. I got a LOT of reading done. It was about 3 1/2 hours. It got dark while we were riding. When we got to Madrid, there was a big sign to go this way for a train to the airport (aeropuerta) Our hotel was an airport hotel, so that was the plan. But David had to go to the bathroom. So I stayed with the bags while he went to find one. Unfortunately it was past security and he had trouble getting back. We got our train tickets and headed down. We just missed one, and then about a 7 minute wait. Then it turned out it didn't go straight through (construction), so we had to transfer. When we were trying to figure it out, a very nice man started speaking to us in English. The "shuttle" was in 11 mins, but the gat hadn't been announced yet. We sat down for a minute, then the gate was announced (11). We followed the nice man to the shuttle. Then we talked to him on the train. He was from Spain, but his English was very good. Turns out he spent his senior year of HS in Iowa.
Finally, at the airport. It was getting close to 8:40pm. I tried calling the hotel, but I was on hold for probalby 10 mins. We headed to where the hotel shuttle was supposedly. But decided to take a taxi. We waited in the taxi line which was very long, but moved very quickly. I asked our taxi driver "hablas angles?" but he didn't even answer me. I think he may have grunted. So I just said "Axor Bojoras Hotel" and he still didn't say anything. We got in, and I turned on my Apple Maps. He was going the right way. It took maybe 15 mins at the most. I was worried it might be cash only, but he took our card.
The hotel had a couple people in front of us, but we checked in pretty quickly. I am guessing because it was almost 9pm, they automatically upgraded us. Breakfast started at 7am, and we reserved a spot on the 9am airport shuttle. The room was pretty amazing - I took a video. Huge sitting area, very large bed, and the shower was a "rain" shoer and was double size. There was something in the bathroom we thought was maybe a towel warmer. I found a McDonalds (0.2 mi) and we headed to it. It was after 9pm. The McDs was at a mall. The mall was super nice. We looked around a bit, and a Spanish-speaking worker finally directed us to the 3rd floor. There were lots of places to eat there, and also a movie theater. We ened up picking KFC because we knew they had shakes. It wasn't as good as the first time, but it filled me up. Then we walked around a little more, but David was limping. We got lost a bit, but eventually found the exit. Back at the hotel, we showered and then went to bed. Theoretically there was A/C, but it never got very cool. We had a fridge for the first time, but nothing to put in it. As we were going to bed, the election results were not in anywhere, because it was only like 4pm / 5pm back home.
Wed Nov 6 2024
We got up and went down to breakfast. It was way better than the Granada breakfast, but still no pancakes or waffles. The scrambled eggs were pretty good. The donuts were also very good. David at least ate some this time- eggs and donuts. After breakfast we packed up our stuff and then after a little bit went down to check out and wait for the 9am shuttle. The shuttle wasn't too crowded, and we got to the airport without incident. First I thought we needed to go through the American check-in line, which was pretty long. But after a couple tries we found an English speaker who confirmed we did not need to do that, and we went straight to security. We needed to scan our boarding passes and after I scanned mine when I leaned back to give David his I got suck on the wrong side. So then I tried to scan Davids and get both of us through, but that didn't work, so David had to go through a special gate where she checked his boarding pass and passport. Ugh, how stupid of me. Then, going through the baggage check, I got flagged because my reader was in my backpack. She had me go back through and separate them. There had been an English announcement about that, so I should have known.
After going through the baggage check, we had to take a shuttle to terminal 4S. Once we got there we went through passport control. She didn't even ask us any questions. The line had been super-long - maybe back and forth at least 5 times. After passport control, it was a long walk to our gate. We were S8, and I think we came in at like S140. After we settled our stuff, David tried to spend our Euro at a vending machine. But it was slightly too much. Then I tried to to to BK, but the sign I had seen was for a "future" BK. That's ok - I got a lot of steps in going from one side of S to the other. It is a large airport - 2nd biggest in Europe (after Paris) As I got close to S8 again, I picked a ham and cheese croissant and a Coke. Then I also ate my last granola bar. We spent our last 9E in cashe on a bag of gummy bears and 2 packs of gum. So at least we are not wasting any Euro (I gave all but 15E to Megan)
Then it was time to board our flight. We are window and middle, so not great. OUr flight has been slightly delayed on the ground - maybe 20 mins so far. But our connection is 3 1/2 hours, so hopefully we will be okay. Lots of good movies as options, and AppleTV too. This flight is almost 8 hours. David and I watched "I Saw the TV Glow" together by starting it at the same time. It was weird. Then we watched "Fly Me To The Moon", which was very cute. Then I read for a little bit. Then I turned on "Deadpool and Wolverine" and that was pretty funny. But it started screwing up, so I tried "Anyone But You" - cute, but I didn't get to finish it. At Philadelphia, we went through passport control again. Then we went through security again. OUr gate was at terminal F, which we had to take a special shuttle to. We figured it would be the bastard child of the terminals, but it had a great food court right at the entrance. Unfortunately the entire airport is Pepsi. We got a soft pretzel and a pretzel dog and split both. At least now that we are in the states, I can get Mt Dew at the Pepsi places. Now we are at our gate, and our plane is supposed to board in 22 minutes. Cam is not feeling up to picking us up, so we are going to Uber from CVG.
Update from memory on Mar 21 2025:
our final flight was fine, although we were split up and both ended up with very large seatmates. We got an Uber without too much issue, and got home very late but without incident. Pictures:
Picture Album
Videos:
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