Bus tour days 1,2, & 3!

So I'm on a bus tour now.

Madrid to Cordoba
Whoa. First awesome place and it was done well. Smack dab in the center of town is the mesquita which is an old mosque from when the Moors were ruling. It's huge! Apparently an old king of Spain wanted to turn it into a cathedral so he ripped put the middle of the mosque and put in his cathedral. Unfortunately June 30th in Spain is some sort of religious holiday so we couldn't go in. I was really looking forward to seeing the Muslim and Christian world living together in harmony but not this time around.
Next a group of us went looking for fancy patios and saw a couple of really great ones. Ate some quick tapas. Not a bad afternoon.

Seville!
We got a walking tour of the city by the guy who showed Rick Steve's around when he was in Spain. He was great but we were tired. My highlight? I saw the old cigarette factory and prison that were made famous by Bizet in the opera Carmen. It's now a university but I could totally picture all of the songs being performed there.
It was a nice evening of tapas and drinks. Made some friends too! A couple of great Americans (one from Fresno the other from Riverside), handfuls of Aussies, and a great couple of kiwis.

Holy cow, I'm in a different country and they speak yet another language: Lagos, Portugal
Ah Lagos. What a fantastic little place right on the water. It was a cute beach town and our group made the most of it. Instead of one big hostel we were split in "nana houses" which were little apartments and homes all over the city owned by grannies. They weren't there so all 10 of my group got a lovely place to stay for two nights to ourselves. A great backyard patio, a swimming pool (which was freezing but we went in anyways), and a plum tree just bursting with fresh plums that were falling off the tree ripe. It was a good group of people in Nana P's house. Our first night there was epic! Several bars had "challenges" and many in our gladly accepted the challenges. The first bar offered a tshirt if you downed 9 different shots as fast as you can (it was free if you eat your home country's top time). The only person to do it solo was Joe-the-Busdriver. A couple others did it in pairs. I somehow talked a couple of Americans guys in Lagos for holiday to buy the full nine shots so all five us Americans could celebrate our nations independence together. I got the shirt too! I ended up with the creamy shots but the two I had tasted pretty good. At the next bar the challenge was to drink 7 jäger bombs as fast as you can (same rules apply for fastest times for your country). Many of the guys on our trip did that one and Joe-the-Busdriver did it too! He's a pretty sturdy Hungarian guy and could handle his liquor easily. Thankfully he wasn't driving the next morning even though he was feeling fine at 9am. There was dancing on pool tables and general silliness at the second bar. A good time was had by all. I even went in the pool back at out nana's house!
The next morning we did sea kayaking to some caves. It was an amazing experience to be in those semi grottos as the ocean swelled us up and down even it meant I was wicked sore the next day. Needless to say after that I needed a siesta. Siesta's are amazing and now I know why they are needed. The Spanish population can't work too much in the "frying pan" of Spain during midday so take a quick nap. Apparently the amount of time a siesta should take is 23 minutes. Lagos was a great experience. I'd love to go back sometime, it was very relaxed and most everyone spoke english which helped because God knows if I could ever wrap my brain around Portuguese.

Meanwhile, in Lagos...

I lost my voice pretty bad. A bit of a cough but that is just because it's so darn dry here. I will NOT get sick this trip. I will NOT get sick this trip. But I did get attacked by something the other night: I have about six bites on my face. So not cool. A couple over my shoulders. I'm praying they are from some jerk mosquitos or a very angry spider and that it's not bed bugs. Ugh. 

Other than my voice, my cough, and my bites I'm doing great!

The start of a funny joke

Tonight I met a butcher, cabinet maker, and a chipper (construction) guy at a place that sells only Heineken. I had my top bunk mate with me. Tomorrow is the bus trip. Wee!

SFO, AMS, MAD

I got to the airport three hours early and tickets and security took two and a half hours. Grump. No time to down load any movies. Or time to call my bank or credit card. Nuts.

SFO -> AMS on KLM

Watched:
Finding Bigfoot
Albert Nobbs
Hugo
The Simpsons (laughed out loud several times, many dirty looks)
BBC Special In The Human Body

Ate:
Almonds
Cokeo
Veg dinner option of pasta, crab salad (?), cheese/crackers, roll, carrot cake
Red wine
Tea
Chocolate ice cream (!)
Breakfast of eggs, potatoes, corn bread thing, strawberry yogurt with granola, fresh fruit, roll.  Surprisingly the best meal
More tea

Notes:
I was handed a WARM wet wipe to clean my hands. Heaven. And a note to the semi-cute Italian guy on my left… geez, give up the arm rest for a bit! Also the alcohol flows freely on this plane! Got wine with dinner. Offered cognac post- dinner. All no extra cost. Not a bad flight besides my inability to sleeping on planes. I just get too excited!

Seven hour layover in Amsterdam

Now hell did this happen? I could have sworn that it was only an hour, two hours max, of a layover.  I can't get on an earlier flight because of my checked bag. So here are some of my thoughts on the  Schiphol airport. Why is there perfume being sold EVERYWHERE??!? No, i do not want Sabarro for dinner. Who designed an airport that has no way for a very tired person to rest their head to get some shut-eye? I tried in a chair with my head tilted down. Nope. I tried sitting at a high boy table where you access Internet from and placing my head on the table and my feet dangling. Nope, the risk of falling off the chair was too great. I almost let go of all my dignity and curled up on the cruel, hard ground but I didn't even want to imagine the embarrassment of waking up with tile marks on my cheek. So now I've resulted to the shark method: don't stop moving or you'll die. 

Update! I found a place to sleep. A wide cushioned seat about 3 feet by 2 feet. Best part? I over slept. Seriously. I was one of those fools running to catch her flight after the longest layover in the history of layovers. 

AMS -> MAD

This flight I'm next to a nun and a guy who took my window seat. I don't want to fight him for it. But this nuns long flowing sleeve is super itchy on my arm, I don't know how she deals.

Then I slept. Drank some tea. Slept some more. I'm super tired.

Next stop.... Customs!

The next 49 hours

I leave for Spain in 13 hours. I have spent every moment I have had since coming home from my high school reunion cleaning, packing, trying not to stress.

This trip, unlike last year, is much less stressful. Probably because I have not planned out as much but also because I feel like it happened so darn fast. I almost forgot to pack my camera. Lemme go do that now. .... Packed.

I land around 7pm on Thursday and knowing myself I probably won't sleep on the plane so I can just crash when I get to my hostel. Im not totally sure what metro i need to get on when I land but I'm sure I can figure it out.

Wish me luck. Wish Ness happiness because goodness knows I'm not her favorite human for leaving AGAIN. Wish me a fast flight. I'll miss you all while I'm gone but I'll be blogging more than usual because I bought myself an iPad. Squee! So indulgent.

Next time you hear from me I'll be sweating in Madrid!

Hola Espana

I leave in 16 days.  I better get my act together.

Hostel rooms book.  Rental car almost booked.  I should learn some Spanish.

This is happening fast

Well my ticket is purchased.  I'll be gone in Spain from June 27th - July 18th.  Zowie. 
My bus ticket is purchased.  I'll be hanging with lots of young Auzzie's and Kiwi's. 
My pack is purchased.  I'll be sporting a lovely 52 liter multi-day pack.

I think I have someone to stay at my place while I'm gone. 

What am I missing?  Mostly just money.  I have to be more careful before I leave.

Currently Leslie and her manfriend, TomTom, are in Spain having an awesome time.  Occasionally we're online at the same time and I can hear about her adventures.  So far I hear that Barcelona is beautiful and the jamon is plentiful. 

On top of my exciting Spain plans I also have a three days trip to San Diego for my 10-year high school reunion.  I don't know where I'm staying or much else but the plane tickets, reunion ticket, and car rental are all purchased.

I haven't even to fully begun to think about the Downing-Pixler wedding I have in the beginning of September coupled with the various parties that go along with the wedding.






So much to plan.  So much to stress and lose sleep over (in a good way!).  I'll keep you all posted. 

What do I look forward to do in Spain?  Reenacting scenes from "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."