Such a remarkable feeling, excitedly sitting in the airport moments before a flight, unaware of the extraordinary or unfortunate things that might happen. You could find yourself trapped in Iceland like @shenanigator and I were after last year's SteemFest; or you could experience culture, food, language, and people like you never have before.
Our Travels (So Far): A Pleasant Cocktail of Delightful and "WTF"
Taking Delta was leagues and leagues better than WOW Air. Seriously, don't choose that airline. The ticket prices are cheap, but your experiences may haunt you for the rest of your life. Spend the extra dinero or wait for rock-bottom prices, like we were fortunate enough to find with Delta.With some of the savings, we were able to buy "Comfort Plus" seats, giving us extra leg room and unlimited booze. After finding out I was fired from my job a day before the flight, I may have overutilized the "unlimited" part of that offering. Being saturated with wine combined with a high dose of sleep deprivation isn't the greatest way to start a trip to a foreign country, but hey. ;p We got a good drunken laugh from our meal's adorably tiny bananas. Cocktail napkin for reference.
When We Arrived in Madrid
Jordan and I quickly realized that our sleep-deprived selves needed to wait about six hours with our luggage before we could check in to the Airbnb. Whoops. The only solution we could conjure was to sit at some airport tables and watch a few shows on Netflix. Reading was out of the question, my eyes couldn't focus for crap.Time seemed to go slower than a snail trudging through molasses in winter. When we finally needed to get transportation to our rental, neither of us could find an Uber pick-up location. Although the line of taxis was three deep and trailing farther than we could see, we've been screwed by cab drivers before (see below) and didn't want to risk it.
Screw You, Cabbie
I'm convinced cab drivers can smell fear and confusion in any language. But especially when you can't think of "Do you accept Visa?" in Spanish. Then, they become sharks who smell blood. We had no choice, though, the clock was ticking and public transportation seemed far more intimidating in our zombie-like state of fatigue.What would have been a 19-26€ Uber, ended up being about $60USD (after conversion). In the beginning of the ride, we tried to clarify the price with awkward Spanish and Google translate, only to find that it would cost 60€. WHAT?! It wasn't until I asked, "Por que el medidor no esta funcionando?" (why isn't the meter running?) that he took us more seriously and dropped it back to 30. Nice.
When we arrived and got our luggage, however, it was suddenly 35€. Not wanting to cause a scene (as he was parked in the middle of the road with cars honking like crazy) we fumbled around to get five more euro. He obviously didn't think we'd tip and apparently that's what he thought he deserved. (insert eye roll here)
Thankfully, That's Been the Worst of it Thus Far
Although our Airbnb has been grossly misrepresented (we've been locked out, lacking running water for a few hours, and dealing with broken everything inside), the rest of our experiences have been nothing but positive.We've Enjoyed Fun Explorations at El Parque de El Retiro
Including some crime in action.
Street vendors see la policia coming on horses and "pack up" with drawstrings in seconds.
We Tasted Wine, Paella, & Espresso At El Mercado de San Miguel
Plus, look at this crazy fish. Zoiks! Keep me away from that fella.
Might have to come back for some of this delicious fruit, too. Or perhaps the (what in Arizona would be considered "happy hour" priced) wine. (3 euro)
In another cafe, we sat on the patio for some people watching while Jordan had a "detox shot" for 3€ and I had (you guessed it) another glass of wine for just 2.25€. How can I resist with prices like that? Besides, the weather was absolutely gorgeous today.
Did I Mention the Architecture in Madrid? It is Stunning!
For Fellow Food Allergy People Out There
As you can see, you too can travel with food restrictions.... Even if you're only working with a teeny tiny kitchen. It's been much more affordable to do so, too. We bought about 3 days worth of meals (including a bottle of olive oil and some coarse salt) for under 25€.
That's it for now! We're quite excited to explore some more tomorrow and even more excited to take the night train to Lisbon for SteemFest2!!
I'm SO pleased to see you're both coming to Lisbon! I was worried your previous nightmare of a trip home would put you off!
Looking forward to seeing you again! <3
Safe trip!
SteemFest itself was unforgettable. There's nothing that could keep us away from the potential for another great time with our new Steemit friends. :) Can't wait to see you again as well! Safe travels!
Have fun!
have so much fun!!!!
Really great to meet you guys in the lobby of the HF hotel this morning! :)
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