“In the best travel, disconnection is a necessity. Concentrate on where you are; do no back-home business; take no assignments; remain incommunicado; be scarce. It is a good thing that people don’t know where you are or how to find you. Keep in mind the country you are in. That’s the theory.” –Paul Theroux
A human who loves the world, finds beauty in the unknown, and can't keep her feet on the ground. I like finding unique (and cheap) ways of making my way around the globe. Interacting with people while living, learning, and loving the culture I'm surrounded by.
A bunch of hooligans in Parque del Retiro - Madrid, Spain
The picture above was taken shortly after having beer taped to my hands. Spain was one big fantastic mess. It definitely stands out from the rest of my trip, mainly because I was with a group of friends who's travel style includes massive amounts of alcohol.
I'm not gonna bother trying to piece together my trip bit my bit.
A group of 8 people spent almost 2 days in airports and on planes trying to get to Spain. Me and Zach however ended up at Hostel 007 in Madrid on time and made the absolute most of it - wandering the streets, buying drinks in bars only when I had to use the bathroom. Employees usually throw a fit when you try and use their bathroom without purchasing any goods. We weren't bothered, and my bladder was extremely weak. It set a good precedent for the adventure that was to come. I vaguely remember running into prostitutes, trying to work up the courage to talk to one, and instead settling for one of my all time favorite things to do - people watching.
Very drunk man laying under a statue in Madrid, Spain
Gazpacho!
As you can imagine, international airport drama can make you go a little loopy. When the crew finally arrived a day later than they expected, they had already come up with drinking games and activities abound. Insane tasks would be written down and numbered - numbers would be drawn to conclude which task you had to do. Shotgunning beers with locals, getting a kiss from a member of the same sex, and my lovely task - Edward 40 hands. Thankfully this game didn't last through the rest of our trip, one of us was bound to get into trouble.
The last day we were in Madrid we spent the day at Retiro Park, definitely the highlight of my time here. Typical. Not much makes me happier than a big, juicy park. This one has art exhibits, a man playing an instrument (don't remember which) who refused a free beer and got mad when we didn't give him enough money, and a lake with a massive line of people waiting to paddle around on one of their many boats.
The last stop. We were down 3 members of our group, one of which was completely lost. Once we landed and got to our place we were able to see a post of his on Facebook explaining that we ditched him and he THOUGHT we were going to Ibiza, so he bought a ticket there. I immediately commented telling him NOT to go there, but if it was too late everyone would be there in a few days and to hang tight. Dramaaaaa.
We were low on money at this point due to the expense of missing our flight, so a quite night on the beach with a grocery store bought dinner of sandwiches sounded like heaven. Somehow, somewhere, someone had service that night - low and behold our dear Conner had mad it to Mallorca. We tried to let him know where we were and where we were staying. An hour or so later he came walking up to us on the beach. MAN, were we happy to see him. Turns out he got really, really drunk and cuddled with a prostitute all night. Really, he just cuddled.
Hookah lounge - Palma Mallorca, Spain
The next day we wanted to visit Cuevas del Drach - The Dragon Cave. Eric, the planner of these Spanish Escapades, was talking this up big. Apparently there was a massive lake down in this cave, and you could ride a boat through it. All 7 of us drove there in a car meant for 5 people. You know what that meant? Each trip we made, one of us had to ride in the trunk. I shit you not. I don't remember when exactly I had to bite the bullet in the small confines of the boot of a car, but it was as unpleasant as it sounds. Silly kids.
Anyways, we get to this cave and there are no boat rides. Oh well, it was still pretty cool. There were amazing formations and we got to watch a few productions. Okay, it wasn't that cool - only because afterwards while eating at the snack bar afterwards did I realize while looking at we were at Cuevas Hohlen, not Cuevas del Drach.
Now, at this point I was running really low on cash. Okay, the entire time I was in Europe I was REALLY low on cash. I just couldn't afford going to another cave and forking over more money. So me and a few others got dropped off at the beach - which is free - while the others made their way to the cave that we were supposed to go to. Which was wonderful! It was absolutely beautiful and clean and we swam and laid out and I almost left my camera at Burger King, but I realized it before anyone had the chance to swoop it. LUCKY. So damn lucky.
That night we didn't go out, but instead I bought a bottle of wine and walked to the beach where we got drunk and made friends and that's all I really remember. I had a damn good time though and was running on very few hours of sleep the next morning when I had to be dropped off at the airport to continue my travels without those crazy hooligans who I had such a BLAST with in Spain. It was by far the drunkest and most dramatic time during my entire 6 months in Europe - but I made some serious memories (and lack thereof).
LUCKILY, the amazing Eric put together this video proof of our Spanish Escapades. Man, oh man.
