Home Sweet Home (this is a long one)

So after 3.5 months of backpacking, staying at hostels, attempting to understand languages and cultures, seeing amazing views, and making the most wonderful memories, Michelle and I have made it home safely!

Of course, there is a story behind getting home. It took 3 days of traveling (2 planes, 1 car) to make it home so let me back track a bit. We left Madrid on Saturday the 20th. Our flight left at 5:10 p.m., but the check-in gate closed at 4:40. We left our friend Stacy's house around 3:20ish knowing the subway would take about an hour to make it to Terminal 4 of Madrid Airport (we were told by a source that we needed to go to Terminal 4). On the tram, we both started talking about how chill we were, how blessed we were, how we were ready for the wind down.

We arrived at Terminal 4 with 15 minutes until 4:40. We looked for Ryan Air on the departure screen. Let's just point out that M is proficient at Spanish...thank goodness! Also, Ryan Air does not fly out of Terminal 4; it uses Terminal 1. We jammed with our 30 pound (15 kilo) packs onto the bus that goes from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1. The bus driver was assisting a handicap person and the bus was still being loaded. With every appendage of ours nervously tapping, we had to face our greatest, final test: everything happens for a reason (up until this point we thought we had learned this lesson). We tried to release knowing that we couldn't drive the bus any faster, etc. We ride Terminal 3...Terminal 2, handicap person must be unloaded...Terminal 1. We jumped off the bus and ran into the airport looking for computer screens. We ran to the counter. Time: 4:45! Missed the desk by 5 minutes. The clerk tells us to go to Ryan Air info desk. We ran to the desk. We have a slight chance of getting through security, taking our packs as carry-on, and paying a penalty over-weight fee of 30 euro. We ran to security and pleaded in Spanish to let us get our packs through. We both have our packs, day packs, and a liter of water (so about 35 pounds or 17.5 kilos). They won't let us dump our water so we are forced to down an entire liter each while untying our shoes and throwing everything on the belt. We then have to empty everything out. Luckily, our security officer was quite lenient, but we dumped everything out as fast as possible. The only really valuable liquid we lost was a jar of Spanish honey a couple gave us (and our 2nd corkscrew lost to the carry-on rules). While still zipping bags and without shoes on, we RAN (I mean full leg extension, marathon-style running) with our heavy packs to the Ryan Air boarding gate. Time: 5:17! Missed it by 7 minutes! There was nothing the staff could do. Defeat! I have never tied my shoes so slowly before. We dragged ourselves to the general information desk to see if other airlines had flights. Fortunately, Easy Jet did. We slowly walked to the Easy Jet ticket counter after attempting to bail our honey out of security (no luck). The ticket line was excruciatingly slow, but the clerk was by far one of the nicest service people we had met in Europe (Stacy, she is definitely an exception to your sarcastic Spain: #1 in servicio). We bought 2 tickets that would put us in London at around 10:30 p.m. and in a different airport than before (I had written our hostel directions based on the original airport, but luckily we had already been to London and knew some of the major stops). We waited and chilled at the airport cafeteria and went to our gate about an hour in advance. To sum up this lesson, get your ass to the airport early (thought we had learned that earlier in the trip, but our run-to-every-mode-of-transportation mentality didn't work for us on this one). Total damage: 135 euro each (which was way less than we had expected since it was a last minute booking) plus 44 euro for baggage. So basically, it was around a 157 euro hilarious story and a great workout (and yes, we were extremely sore the next few days).

I wish I could say that adventure ended there, but it didn't. We boarded the flight (there were a couple of minutes where the panic almost set in. We had to get to London because the international flight back to the U.S. is a flight neither of us could have repurchased and there is no other way than by plane to get to London in that amount of time). We landed at Gatwick Airport and bought train tickets to Victoria station. If you have ever been to London you know this next story to be true. If you haven't, let me warn you about the London street and numbering system. We exited the station following the hostel's directions. We took Eccleston until it turns to Belgrave. The hostel's address is 71. Well, in London the addresses go 108 Belgrave and the neighbor's is 2 Belgrave, then 16 Belgrave, then 49 Belgrave. You get the point. Basically, I'm assuming the home owners pick a number they like and run with it. No #71. We back track and come back thinking we missed the hostel. We walked around the entire square that is set at the very end of the street. In total, we probably walked 4 miles (with our packs) until we came across 2 females that had a cell phone. Let me also note, even though it was a Saturday night, the British do not party like the Spanish. It was around midnight, but there was NOBODY on the streets. We called our hostel. We were going the wrong way. We should have turned "right" out of the "other" exit and apparently the Eccleston turns into Belgrave in the other direction. So not only did we have to walk about 20-30 minutes back to the station, we had to walk another 20 minutes to the hostel in the opposite direction. We arrived at around 1 a.m. Our room was completely full with 6 other, sleeping people, so we showered, changed, and packed using the great room (it's amazing how modesty goes out the window with a trip like this). We finally got to sleep around 2 a.m. We woke up at 7 to get to the airport by 9. With minor issues figuring out the tube system since announcements were being played that said the trams were shut down for the day, we finally made it to Heathrow with PLENTY of time. It worked out very well for us. Not only did we not have the pressure of running to catch something (as was the usual), we got upgraded to Premium Economy. Sweet! We had no idea what that meant, but the offer was very appreciated (note: the seats have reclining chairs that have leg supports, the pillows are higher quality, and the earphones are nicer). 10 hours later we made it to San Francisco. It was a bit of a trip knowing that we were back in the States. M's family picked us up at the airport (my original plan was to take a Greyhound back to Reno, but this alternative was much nicer). All of us spent the night at her family's house. The stories just poured out. Once we hit the pillow, we slept hard! Monday morning we woke up, had a hearty American-style breakfast (our last "naughty" meal before we start our serious-anti-Europe-weight-gain regiments), and drove home. I have to admit the tears didn't hit me until we started driving. I can't remember the song on the radio, but there was a chord that just resonated with me. I got a picture in my head of one of our many memories. A quick smile released a stream of quiet tears. I was totally content.

So, it's now Wednesday evening and this is the first time I've had time to actually get a minute (so I apologize for not responding or sending emails). I can't say that I've had enough time to reflect or allow everything to settle. I'm doubting that I've even had time to accept the fact that I'm actually home. It almost feels like I never left...like everything is just a dream. What I can say with my minimal amount of reflection is that this trip was AMAZING! There is not one thing I regret or would change. We lived with very little for 3.5 months and never needed anything. Even in times of high stress (which we handled extremely well if I say so myself), we always kept things in perspective: we had our health, each other, and our adventure.

Here are the tallies: we made it to 8 Western European countries (England, Ireland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain); we didn't have anything stolen; I lost a few non-important items (M only lost items to holes), we only missed one thing: our flight from Madrid to London; we met so many amazing people; we further developed our life skills (I'm confident that we could be placed anywhere and still be able to navigate, plan, organize, respect, learn, and negotiate regardless of the language or culture); we came under budget (only about 70% of the expected cost); we went through 6 bottles of olive oil (and that was just from the end of April), countless bottles of wine, bread loafs, and cheese rounds; we know how to say "cheers" 7 different ways; we never once fought, we could finish each other's sentences and were so emotionally in tune; we have about 1200 usable pictures and 52 mini videos.

So there it is. I hope you've enjoyed the adventure. We lost internet access for a couple of weeks so some stories shall remain to be told. Michelle has put together a photo album, which we should receive in the mail next week. I'm so excited to look back on all of our memories!

Love,

Justin

Olá

Today is our 11 week mark (I think). It's pretty sad when 1) you can't remember exactly how many weeks it's been 2) you have no idea what day of the week it is 3) because you don't know what day it is, you don't know how many weeks it's been. So, we're just going to say 11-week mark has been hit today. How exciting! We're officially on the home stretch. I've even been working out how I'm getting from San Francisco Airport to Reno. By the way, FYI, Southwest doesn't make that flight anymore. So, since we have less than a month and time is limited, I most likely won't have much internet time. Blogs will be limited and personal email replies will be even more so. This is the last stretch to learn and take all that I can from this trip. I need to make sure that I'm "I'm in the now" as much as possible. I will be catching everyone up a little later.

Hope everyone is doing really well.

Lots of positivity and happiness,

Justin

Where in the World Are J&M?

It has been quite awhile since my last blog. I guess I just haven't had the motivation lately. But today, I have something to write about. This morning, J and I jumped on a plane and ended up in a completely new country in an hour and a half. Plane travel is so amazing! When your alternative is an 18 hour train ride, you can't help but give a moment of silence in gratitude for the Wright brothers. We must also appreciate the amazing technology we have today that allows you to book a flight less than 24 hours in advance using the Internet. For travelers like J and I who can't make up our minds and put off making travel arrangements until the very last minute, having this capability is quite necessary.

We haven't taken a plane for about a month and had to "plane pack"this morning. This is a term we have developed for the significantly more diligent packing job that must occur for plane travel. For train travel, you just chuck everything in your bag and carry anything else that doesn't fit, like the liter sized bottle of olive oil we always have on hand for cooking, balsamic vinegar, wine, produce etc. To "plane pack" all liquids either have to fit in the backpack or be donated to the hostel community. The backpack needs to be neatly packed and organized so it can be checked, meaning no dangling laundry bags, shoes, soggy towels, etc. It has been so long since we last "plane packed" that we forgot something that didn't belong in the carry-on and therefore had a tragic airport security casualty....our wine bottle opener :-(

We are now in Lisbon, Portugal. Neither one of us have ever been here, and we've heard so many amazing things about it. We haven't equipped ourselves with a vocabulary of useful Portuguese phrases yet, but we are here for 2 weeks and have plenty of time to pick up the language. I'm looking forward to some beach time, but first on the list... a nap!

~Michelle

¡Feliz cumpleaños...to me!

So my actual birthday started last night at midnight, but I'm including our amazing dinner in the celebration. We started the evening (Thursday night) by doing a cooking class. We learned how to make sangria (a wine, brandy, juice, fresh fruit combo that is amazingly delicious-dangerous), tapas, and paella. So good! After several pitchers of very strong sangria and a stomach-bursting delicious paella, we convinced our table to join us for the nightly festivities. That meant 4 Aussies and 2 Belgians joined M, Stacy (our friend who is living in Madrid and came up for the weekend), and myself for a night of more drinks and lots of dancing. It was awesome! I have to admit, we showed this town how to party! =). Of course for anyone who has ever partied in Barcelona, you know that's impossible, but we gave it our best. M and I made it back home and had to tip toe so we wouldn't wake up our 4 other roommates. Then after going to bed at 4 am-ish (which is very early in Barcelona terms), we got up around 10 to change rooms (a luxury of last minute planning). M and I then changed into our bathing suits and sun dresses, packed some apples and sunscreen, and headed to the metro station to join Stacy. The minute we left the building we realized the sun may be avoiding us on our attempt for a beach day. Regardless (in sleeveless dresses), we bought a pass to an outside town called Sitges and headed on a 40 min. metro ride. We made it to the beach after stopping for some lunch and enjoyed about 30 seconds of the high-wind waves. After that, all 3 of us were bundled lying spoon style underneath 2 blankets and a towel. Even as we shivered to sleep for a short nap, I wouldn't change a thing! Why else would we all be bundled if it wasn't for being freezing in little sun dresses? This is what creates memories...none of that vanilla stuff for me. After about an hour on the beach and having enough of a cold draft come through the blankets, we jumped up and headed to the metro. M and I dropped Stacy off and found ourselves trying to take a "short" cut home. Yeah, that was pretty much a failure, but at least we worked up an appetite (it's also important to note that we probably walked 12k the other day from our hostel to the Sagrada Familia then to the Parc Guell and tonight still was a lot...thanks flip flops). We made it home to enjoy our homemade sangria (made in a pot and drank from recycled marinara glass containers) and tuna salads. The perfect round 2 birthday dinner! After talking for a bit (and drinking for more than a bit) we both realized how tired we were. We took showers (officially my first of my new year) and got ready for bed. We then tried to look up flights/trains/buses to our next destinations. That lasted for about an hour before we gave up on that too.

We're both getting pretty tired of the planning aspect...yet, we're down to the nitty gritty. We hit our one-month-to-go mark yesterday! In other terms, a month sounds like forever. I can remember all of the months I've wished away in my life (usually school related). However, with a trip like this, a day is a sunrise (something we don't see very regularly), breakfast, walking, lunch, sightseeing, dinner, a sunset, another dinner, drinks, possibly another snack, then bed. A week is only 7 of those. Of course, there are the travel days...yes, the dreaded travel days! A month is only 4 of the weeks. They fly! I hope I never wish another day away in my life...something I shall strive for in my search for total happiness. I look at where we've already been. It's amazing. We've come so far. Oh, the stories...!

-Justin

Yeah España!

Buenas Tardes,

We made it to España! We arrived this afternoon after taking an 18-hour ferry from Genova, Italia. The ride was nice. We had a bit of an adventure getting to the port (of course! That's how we roll). After spending about 10 hours "killing" time in Genova, we had to rush back to the hostel, grab our packs, rush back to the bus stop, catch the #40, get off and switch to the #30. While waiting for the #30, I have to admit the 2 cappuccini caught up with me and my nerves. After waiting for what seemed like forever and seeing a sign that I incorrectly assumed meant the bus to the port was delayed, I finally asked someone (in Italian =) ) why the #30 still hadn't shown up. Luckily we found one of the few amazingly sweet Italians. She (in Italian) told some other bus options and what port to go to. We kept talking and her parents picked her up. We said "Grazie" and then she told us to get in the car. Yup, personal escorts to the port! See, everything happens for a reason. Had I not been minorly freaked (actually for those that know me very well, that has become quite infrequent on this trip) thanks to the caffeine, I would never have asked anyone, and we would´ve been left taking a bus crammed with our huge packs (yes they´re getting bigger), day packs, and our bags of food (we all know the large priority that food has become on this trip). I couldn´t help but smile the entire way to the port...we were really meant to get on this ship on time! We did. We then lightened our food packs quite efficiently and enjoyed a 4-person cabin to ourselves (gotta love off-season during a world-wide recession). That meant hot showers and total darkness and quiet (a rarity). We woke up totally refreshed ready to take on Spain. Once we finished our last bottle of Italian wine we were ushered to the deck for port arrival. We spent the rest of our Italian ferry trip speaking only Spanish. I´m hoping my years of Spanish so many years ago some how come back. Thankfully M is very proficient with the language. I´m still dealing with hearing Spanish, thinking in English, then in Italian, and finally trying to respond in Spanish. Whew! At least the mental hamsters are getting a bit of a workout with the last two countries of our trip. We spent the rest of today finding our hostel, walking around our neighborhood, heading to the beach to people watch, then calamari and sangria. We plan on heading out for the Spanish night life a little later. No one eats before 10pm and the bars don´t get started until 1, so we got a bit of Spanish wine to start the party (of course!).

-Justin

Leaving Recco today

Ok, since a lot has happened since we left Santorini (literally an entire country has been explored) but we haven't had time to write about it, I'm going to just post emails that were sent.

I am very happy to say that we have figured out how we're getting to Barcelona...Genova! Ok, so we leave Recco (a small town outside of Cinque Terre) this afternoon (of course we have to get some more beach time in) and head to Genova. We spend tonight and tomorrow day there. Then tomorrow night we have to catch an 18-hour ferry to Barcelona. We're both getting very excited about Spain. We have 3 nights booked (up until Thursday night), which means that I'm still not sure where we'll be partying for my birthday (on Friday). That's always exciting.

Italy has been great. I will say my broken Italian isn't really much better, but it has helped quite a bit since we've been here. I can say that we have gotten rooms for cheaper and talked ourselves out of very expensive fines (yes, always validate your train tickets!). I do recommend if anyone wants to come here they take some crash course/tape-study to learn the basics.

Anyway, we're off to start packing and lubing up the sunscreen for some beach time. Hope everyone is doing well! Talk to everyone soon. We have about a month left, which I'm sure will be a blurr so we'll try to fill everyone in while we begin our new chapter in Spain.

Love,

Justin

Sent May 14,
So we just made up our minds. After spending 4 nights in Chianti region, we're leaving tomorrow to Pisa for the afternoon and then to a town outside of Cinque Terre. We plan on staying there for a couple of nights, then somehow making it to Barcelona (plane, train, ship...still up for discussion.)

Still waiting for real internet access. Within a couple of stops hopefully.

Sent May 11,
We're packing up this morning and heading out...to Chianti! Yup, our time in Firenze was nice but now we're ready to head back to the country side. Our new hostel advertises free breakfast and a pool...yeah! Some more water time. Our last time in water was in Sorrento, which was breathtaking. There's nothing like swimming in the sea, floating on your back, taking in the amazing view of the Amalfi coast and cliffs. It's not too bad having the opportunity to swim where Odysseus got stuck (Sorrento is the land of the Sirene. We actually got to see the 2 islands that the sirens °lived° on). Anyway, now we're off to wine country and pool time.

Sent May 9,
So, we've officially made it to Firenze. I'll have to write about it later, but let's just say after our last 42-hour hell adventure to Sorrento from Santorini, we needed an easy, somewhat direct train experience to Firenze (Florence) from Sorrento. We got that. We left our little bungelow heaven in Santorini this morning not knowing exactly where we were going. We stopped at an Internet Cafe, checked out some hostel options in Florence and just went for it. The train left 2 hours later and arrived in Florence (no train swapping, thankfully) 5 hours after that. We found our hostel quite easily, changed clothes, and enjoyed our first pizza and gelato in Firenze. Now it's really late here and we want to explore the entire city tomorrow.

Sent May 3,
We made it to Italy. It was a 24 hour day from hell...still really hasn't ended yet. We are still looking for a place to stay. Hilarious story, but at 3 euro for a 1-2 hour, will have to explain it later. Hope everyone is doing well. Our adventure continues, but we are healthy and will be happy (once we sleep).

Sent April 25,
Can't really talk, we only have 5 mins before we have to go. We met about 5 other people in our hostel, so today we're all going on a ATV-caravan around the island. It should be amazing! The weather is a little cool, but the sun feels great. We plan on watching a sunset at IA beach. We'll be filling everyone in when we have more time.

Γιασου!

So we just booked our 1st day of our next adventure. We leave tonight very late (technically May 2nd after midnight) to leave for Athens. The ferry takes a couple of hours to get to Athens from our beloved island of Santorini and if it's anything like the ferry here, we'll be glad we kept our thermal underwear. Notice I said "our" island. Yup, like every other place, Santorini is our island and Perissa beach is our beach. We've spent more time here than Killarney (talk about land squatting). It's been amazing here in Santorini. We've pretty much explored everything we wanted to and had more than 8 days on the beach. We've met some amazing people here. To the phenomenal women that came into our lives: ιαμας (ia mas!) and good luck. The Fab Five girls had an amazing day today! After a wonderful dinner party last night and lots of vodka, we danced the night away. We woke up today feeling a little rough, but we rocked this island! (Yes, Sarah that is for you =) ). We spent hours touring the island in a rented car, hiking to the Red Beach and watching the most inspiring waves, and then we metaphorically finished our Santorini trip by watching the most amazing sunset at Oia. You know it's breathtaking when the viewers give a round of applause for mother Gaia (Γαια): Thank you for the most intense, awe inspiring sunset!

To sum up the 8 days that we spent here: fantastic new (and hopefully life-long) friends, cheap vodka (the only drink we can afford on the island), fried eggplant, a great, pool-side hostel room, amazing drinking, chill, then partying sessions, and then of course the island itself! Beach, beach, and more beach! The best part is how much we may not have expected the trip to be like this, but quickly realized our souls needed this place. I'm refreshed, happy, light hearted, well feed, skin damaged, and totally content. Now we're off to my dream land: Italy! Sorrento, Italia, here we come! (By the way, thank you uomo Italiano for the Italian practice and the ανδρας for your Greek lessons).