BARCA BARCA BARCA BARCA

WEATHER: Hot and 31C – I think this is going to be quite constant

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing the beautiful beaches of Barcelona

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Riding the bikes into a strong headwind

BUYS OF THE DAY: 4EUR vodka’s – 4EUR Jagermeisters

WORD OF THE DAY:  

We had the whole day free today in Barcelona.  We caught the Metro and Rach took us on a walking tour of the Gothic area and showed us some sights off The Ramblas.  This took around 2 hours and then we had free time till 1pm when we had out bike ride booked.  So me and some of the guys walked to the Port area, sat and had some lunch and just people watched in the Barceloneta area.  We are starting to see people wearing the Barcelona colours for tonight’s game against Manchester United.  They are setting up large TV screens in Arc de Triomf, as much as I would love to be there, Rach said it would be mayhem and recommended that we didn’t go.  I suppose she is right.  Barcelona is renowned for pickpockets and gypsies, let alone throwing in a few thousand drinking population into the mix.

The bike ride at 1pm was good.  It is unfortunate that a few of us have done Mikes Bikes in Munich, as I think we had high expectations of this tour.  We got out of the city a little bit, but there really wasn’t that much to see.  The highlight getting to ride along the beachfront all the way back to the starting point.  They really do have beautiful beaches here; it was just a bummer that the headwind was so strong.  It is one of my pet hates when riding a bike.  I hate headwinds.  So after 3 hours of bike riding we pack back on the coach for a quick turnaround at the hotel before heading out to our Flamenco dinner tonight.

The Flamenco dinner was awesome.  We paid 57EUR, but that is for dinner and the show, and the dancers were just amazing and the food was great, not to mention the 3 jugs of included sangria that we consumed as well.  Flamenco is a Spanish genre of music and dance which originated in Andalusia in the 18th century, which has as its foundation Andalusian music and dance and, in whose creation and evolution, ethnic Gypsies from Andalucian played an essential part. The cante(singing), toque(guitar playing) and the dance are the principal facets of Flamenco.

From dinner we walked down to the Parliament Building where they have what they call the Magic Fountains.  If you have seen the Las Vegas Bellagio fountains it is exactly like that, with lights and music.  Apparently these fountains have been here for over 100 years, so I guess they could be called the original ones. 

Another night out in Barcelona we headed to Port Olympica.  Rach knows a bar that gives Contiki cheap drinks and they had the football match on as well.  Now cheap is cheap, they had 4EUR spirits, 4EUR Jagermeister’s and 3EUR beers.  This is so cheap.  I had plans of staying till midnight or so and then heading back, as we have a fairly big day tomorrow and we are going to IBIZA.  Well all good plans aside, I drank like a fish and was doing okay till 2am when all of the drinks finally caught up with me and I have a blank from 2am till I woke up at 8.50am when I woke up at the hotel.  Now you need to keep in mind that these spirits are ‘free poured’ so there is more than a nip in each drink that was consumed.  Needless to say I was sick in my room and I am so thankful that my Contiki Husbands were there to look after me and they got me home safe and sound and Marc checked on me the next morning.  I did also find out that we stopped for a chicken kebab, as I was apparently starving, and this explains the chicken pieces in my vomit, as I had fish for dinner and couldn’t work out how chicken ended up in there.  Disgusting I know, but to hear the boys re-count my steps it is pretty funny!  Gross but funny…too much information?  Thank-you Contiki Husbands for looking after me – you guys rock xx

The good news is that I was not the only one who had a BIG night, and besides fellow spewers, there were a lot of shady, green and tired people at breakfast the next morning.  For the record Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1.  I am not a soccer fan, but I did watch the game and it was pretty cool to be in Barcelona and have them win.  We joke that if they had of lost that they probably would have burned down the city; they are that passionate about their football.

Special note to Miguel to wish him a Happy 22^nd birthday and I now have also officially drunk with all my Greek posse.  There are 6 of us, so it will be cool to start my Greek Islands tour with Lisa, Dee, Bree, Jess, Katelyn and myself.  Can’t wait to get our buckets on gals!!!!!

B-A-R-C-E-L-O-N-A

WEATHER: Hot and 31C – I think this is going to be quite constant

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: The Sangria Tower was cool

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Early wake-up

BUYS OF THE DAY:  Sangria Tower for 20EUR

Early departure from Pamplona this morning at 8.15am.  We drove for 2 hours to get to Zaragoza.  It was pretty much just a break stop for Jose, so 45 minutes here.  The main attraction is the The Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar. It is reputed to be the first church dedicated to Mary in history.  According to ancient local tradition, soon after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Saint James was preaching the Gospel in Spain, but was disheartened because of the failure of his mission. Tradition holds that on 2 January 40 AD, while he was deep in prayer by the banks of the Ebro, the Mother of God appeared to him and gave him a small wooden statue of herself and a column of jasper and instructed him to build a church in her honor.

After another 2 hours of driving, a lunch stop, we pushed on another 3 hours through to Barcelona.  I have been to Barcelona before, but a long time ago.  I was also here on my cruise in April, but was too hung over to get off the ship, knowing I would be coming back this time.  We attempted to do a city drive tour, but the traffic was shocking.  A lot of roads were closed due to the football on tomorrow night.  The European Football final between Barcelona and Manchester United at Wembley.  But we got a good overview of the city, and it really does have a great vibe to the place.

After checking into the hotel, it was a quick turnaround for dinner.  Dinner was amazing.  It is a shame that I am not a bigger seafood eater, as the meal was buffet style and all the seafood you could imagine was at this buffet.  From mussels, oysters, crab, 3 types of prawns, scallops, you name it they had it.  They also had non-seafood food as well, but the calamari was to die for.  A jug of Sangria was 15EUR though, so that was a bit of a rip – but I guess that’s restaurant prices for you.

We headed Cataluña after dinner, and as most cities we have been to – there were protesters in the main square and they had been there for 2 weeks.  Something to do with unemployment for the younger generation.  The atmosphere here was electric.  I think also being the eve of the football final, there were hundreds of people in the streets making noise, from banging street signs, to blowing whistles and horn blowers to singing.  It was insane.  The perfect place for some-one to bet pickpocketed but we all made it through unscathed.  From here we headed to a bar called The Black Sheep.  It had no music, very rustic with wooden tables and benches and a really cool place.  It was good to be able to chat to people without having some music blaring.  They serve here sangria and beer towers.  Basically it is 3.5L of alcohol in a tall chilled bottle, with a tap to pour our own drinks.  All for the grand price of 20EUR!  Makes the 1L for 15EUR seem even more of a rip!!!!!  Insane right!  Marc, Andrew and I went thirds in a sangria tower, so technically we drank 1.25L of sangria each!   

A big day tomorrow – so back to the hotel by 12.30am.  My room at the hotel is literally a single room.  A single bed in a room that I can nearly touch both sides of the walls when I stretch my arms.  The smallest room on my whole trip so far.  Oh well, it has a bed and shower, what else do I need?

 

PUB CRAWL IN SAN SEBASTIAN

WEATHER: Cooler 16C and rain – a drop of 15C from the day before

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Pub Crawl

BUMMER OF THE DAY:  Rain, rain and more rain

BUYS OF THE DAY:  Pub crawl for 25EUR and a therito (baby beer) for 1.20EUR

WORD OF THE DAY:  Dos therito par favor – 2 baby beers please!

A 9.30am start today – just heaven.  I’m getting a good 6 hours sleep at the moment and I feel like a new woman.  I think the antibiotics are starting to kick in today, so I have finally turned a corner, health wise just in time for Barcelona and Ibiza!

We got our day song today and Rach has picked the cheesiest song she knows and our day song is Ave Maria by David Bisbal.  It sounds like an 80’s Rick Astley type of song Spanish style, but has a really cool beat to it and you can’t help but smile when you hear it.  It is something you aren’t going to hear on a normal radio station and Rach has made it quite clear that we are not to request the song in Ibiza as they will just laugh at us, but we are in Spain and it is cool to have a Spanish song no matter how corny it maybe.  I guess it is a bit like Shut Upa Your Face is to Italy or Kookaburra Sitting in the Old Gum Tree to Australia.  It is cool though and I like it.

It has occurred to me that I have now found a Contiki Husband in Marc.  He is a proud and loud gay man from Ottawa and I love him to death.  Now I would just like to make it clear that he doesn’t replace Cruise Husband, but we get along just fine and it is great to have a partner in crime along with Andrew ( can you believe his name is Andrew) from Boston.  Great travel buddies to have made – love ya guys xx

We drove for 1.5 hours to get to our main destination of San Sebastian today.  As the weather and Mother Nature would dictate, it is rainy and there is a small, but brisk chill in the air.  Luckily, I was going to pack my sweater and scarf in my main bag this morning, along with my umbrella, but decided at the 5^th hour to keep them out and it has been the best decision made to date.  There were a lot of people dressed in their beach gear, as the plan was to get some sun today but alas had to change their plans and were stuck in the cold wearing the wrong clothes.  The surfers still had their lesson and we went and watched them for a bit and then decided to talk a walk around the city.

I thought San Sebastian was a lot smaller than what it was, so I had promised Bek I would check out her bar and I just didn’t get a chance.  Apparently San Sebastian has more bars per square meter than anywhere else in Europe, big call.  We had just over an hour to do our own thing before we had to meet back at 12.45pm for our pinchos and thereto walking tour.  Which translated is tapas and small beer tour.  We went to Playa de La Concha, which is the main beach, to have a look and get some photos.  It is a shame that the weather is crappy, as I am sure that when the sun is out that the water would be a beautiful shade of blue.  The tiles / main pedestrian walkways are made of marble, add rain / water to that with my jandles that have zero anti slip / grip left on the soles ( which I didn’t realize till now ) made for some pretty funny ‘near misses’ gliding our way around the streets of San Seb.  I wasn’t the only one, Marc had some close shaves and a bunch of us looked like we were walking funny, but we were just trying to keep ourselves upright, toes curled and small steps, seriously every couple of meters, someone would do the slip, and the arms would flail in the vain attempt  to stay on their feet.  HILARIOUS and as far as I am aware no-one actually fell over.

We met back up at 12.45pm and started our pinchos and therito tour.  It was the same guide that took the surfers for their lesson – Wade and he was actually Australian!  We visited 5 bars, that offered us 5 theritos ( basically it is about 300ml of beer in a shorter glass) and a tapas ( pinchos) that was bite size, or a little bigger of some local food.  We bought a few additional theritos as we waited for the slow pokes and they were only 1.20EUR!  What great value for money!  The places that sell the theritos don’t really have a lot of seats, it is a drink and run type of theory and the pinchos are all lined up on the bar on plates, and you just pick what ones you want and pretty much eat and drink standing.  Some of the pinchos looked amazing, but we only had a set menu, but could have bought some more if we wanted.  They looked delicious!  We did try a local bask beverage which was called Kali-mocho which quite simply was red wine mixed with coke.  Weird combination, but man it was delicious and something that could easily be re-created anywhere!  That is one thing I will definitely be taking back home with me.  And I don’t even like red wine much, but Sangria and Kali-mocho have grown on me both being red wine based!

So even with the crap weather we had a great day in San Sebastian.  I am sorry Bek that I didn’t get to your old bar – but I certainly had a drink for you, and you definitely lived in a beautiful city. 

Back on the coach, with half of us a bit tiddly and heading to Pamplona.  As mentioned in my Facebook status, there will be no running with the bulls, but I just may have one for dinner.  After checking into the hotel, we got a small walking tour of Pamplona and we walked the 850m that the crazy people run with bulls chasing them.  It seems insane, but it has been a tradition carried on from the 15^th century and made popular in the early 1900’s when Ernest Hemmingway wrote about it in one of his books.  It is a shame we didn’t get longer here and to see the bullring, but we can only do what we can.

Day 4 and we decided to have a break from Spanish food, so we found this awesome Italian restaurant, where they made their own pasta and the food was just delicious and the company was great with Ash and E and my Contiki family, so it was just a pleasant evening all round.  The walk back to the hotel was 40 minutes, but with the temperature around 12C it was quite refreshing to walk off some of the dinner.

Off to Barcelona tomorrow with a stop in Zaragosa on the way.  We have 2 nights in Barcelona, so it will be good to not have to pack up the bag and I will also be able to get some washing done as well.  My chores are never completed……… ho hum……

MADRID TO BILBOA

WEATHER: Hot and 31C – I think this is going to be quite constant

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: The town of Segovia

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Sore feet from finally being able to wear my jandles

BUYS OF THE DAY:  Antibiotics for my killer throat – 5.10EUR for 12

WORD OF THE DAY: - No Hablo Española – I don’t speak Spanish – no shit…….

An early start this morning from Madrid at 8am.  Luckily I had packed the night before, so it was a matter of getting my sorry and tired arse out of bed, fed and onto the bus.  Breakfast at the hotel is pretty magic, and I seem now to be getting a routine of a bacon and cheese sandwich and a glass of juice.  You could go crazy with other hot foods, cereal, pastries etc… but I would be big as a house if I did that for 16 months!

We drove for 2.5 hours to get to our first stop of a town called Segovia.  I must admit I haven’t read any guide books or looked up any information on the cities we are going to, so when I do get to a city I have no preconceived ideas on what to expect, so it is always a surprise.  This could be a good thing or a bad thing, as if I found out I missed something I would have wanted to see, it is a bit late, but I am relying on Rach ( and all my guides / tour managers for that matter) to point out the must see’s.  A little blind faith, but it is just impossible for me to research all the cities I am going to and that is my excuse.  So far it has worked out okay so far and at the end of the day I only have myself to blame anyway.

So back to Segovia, this town had a lot of ‘wow’s’.  The first thing that you saw when we got off the coach was the massive aqueduct from the Roman period.  It is in near perfect condition and was so tall.  It was amazing to see and something totally unexpected.  I have seen aqueducts before, but certainly nothing as grand and in as good as condition as this one.  Rach took us on a walking tour, through pretty much the old city.  You know the skinny, cobblestoned, windy roads that are either pedestrian only or will fit one car, old stone buildings and not knowing what was around the next bend.  I love these old cities.  We popped out at Plaza Mayor, which is one of the many squares in Segovia.  Here it had a MASSIVE church that was pretty amazing looking from the outside, with the Goth look and gargoyles looking at you from above.  The last part of the walk was to a castle overlooking a valley.  They say that it was this castle and not the castle in Germany that inspired Walt Disney to base his castle for Disneyland on.  But I am sure if you ask a Spaniard it is theirs, ask a German and it was theirs.  Either way it was a pretty impressive building.

Free time for an hour, so Marc and I chilled in a café with a cold drink on the plaza, got my antibiotics from a pharmacy (my throat is still killing me) and some window shopping heading back to the bus.  See ya Segovia, you were an awesome surprise.

We then travelled another 2 hours for our rest stop and Jose to have a break.  This is where we did our usual ‘Contiki’ introductions.  Mostly people from USA, Canada and Australia with the main profession once again being in the medical area.  The funniest embarrassing moment was when Yvonne got up.  She is an anesthetist assistant and her most embarrassing moment was ‘when she gave a patient a paralyzing drug rather than a knock out drug’ to only follow with an ‘only kidding’ follow on.  It was HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!

A further 2 hours of winding roads got us to our final stop of Bilbao (said Bilbo).  Located in the mountains, Bilbo has an interesting story.  To cut a long story short Spain has a massive history of inhabitants including the Moors and the Romans over the centuries.  As Bilbo is in the mountains, no-one could really be bothered to come all the way up to claim the cities up here, so in effect they have not been affected by who was in power, they just kept on carrying on.  So this gives them their own language of Bask, this is their first language and then Spanish is a second language for them, even though we are still in Spain.  Weird right.  Apparently the Bask people have been recorded as being here before the first records were written if that makes sense.  There was a crap load of history that Rach went through, so I am just trying to water down the outline for Bilbo!

Anyway Bilbo is a pretty city with lots of trees and greenery.  Apparently it hit hard times back in the 70’s with a lot of people out of work and leaving the city.  So the government needed to do something to save the city as such, so in 1994 they built the Guggenheim Museum for 150 million euro’s to try and get people and tourism back to the town.  A big gamble, but it has paid off for them and it employed 45,000 people and has made billions back in return.  It is amazing to see the Guggenheim from the outside, made from steel (an industry of Bilbo including fishing) and also titanium, the shape of the building is pretty amazing.  We decided not to go in, and decided to walk along the river, cross a funky looking bridge and paid 1.80EUR to catch a Funicular 300m to get a bird’s eye view of Bilbo.  It was an amazing view.

Dinner was an included meal at a local restaurant.  It wasn’t a big hit with the group unless you like fish, fish and fish.  The starter was a tuna and potato soup, which I actually enjoyed with main being a piece of cod on a fish and pepper (capsicum) sauce.  It was a little too fishy for me, and lot of others and then some funky cheese, jelly and walnuts for desert.  All local dishes apparently, so I don’t think I am a huge fan of Bask food.  The service was a little lousy as well and it took 3 hours to get it all served.  With a lot of tired people, it was a little too long, but we got through it, and some super human people went out for a few drinks after this, well not this rubber ducky, straight back to the hotel for me to get some office stuff done while there was free Wi-Fi.  Blog updated and photos downloaded and uploaded. A massive day, but also a rewarding one as well.

I also have to make a quick point on the Spanish pillows.  They are long and skinny, like a body pillow and they are the comfiest pillows I have had to date.  They aren’t like pancakes and they are just right.  I keep meaning to mention them and keep forgetting.  Love the Spanish pillows!

Off to Pamplona tomorrow via San Sebastian for the day.  It is has been built up as a great beach destination, with some of the kids booking on for surfing lessons.  With the weather the way it’s been it will hopefully make for a great day.  This is Bec’s old haunt, her and Carlos lived here for 12 months, so I will be arriving armed with the must see’s from an ex-local and I am going to try and get to the bar where she used to work and order a drink for her.  Thanks Bec.

Buenos noches…….

SANGRIA IS MY FRIEND

WEATHER: HOT AND 31C – I won’t complain how hot it is now…..

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Toledo

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Spending 80EUR on vodka and cokes at a bar – it’s been a while

BUYS OF THE DAY: Glass of Sangria for 2.20EUR

WORD OF THE DAY: - Heysus – Bless you in Spanish

9am departure this morning, ahhhhh heaven.  We have another night in Madrid, so no bags to the bus; it was literally just breakfast getting to the bus on time.  Which some people were late; well it is day 1 for the coach, so we can ease off a little right.  I don’t think they understand just how important it is and they WILL be left behind if they are late!  Oh well maybe they will have to learn the hard way.  It would be funny if we did have to do it, as long as it’s not me right!  There is a guy on the bus that did a Contiki Europe a few weeks ago and he got left in Paris and had to find his own way to Switzerland, and trust me after travelling that day – it is a BIG day on the coach let alone trying to do it yourself.

We got a driving city tour on the way to our first stop at the Palace in Madrid.  The Royal Family no longer live in the palace, they live on the outskirts of Madrid now, but the Palace is still used for major functions when heads of state and important people come to town.  You are not allowed to take any photos inside at all.  I don’t know why these countries are so precious about this, when the Hermitage in St Petersburg lets you take photos of EVERYTHING, including all its famous art works by Da Vinci, Monet and Renoir.  It makes no sense.  Anyway it was a beautiful Palace, and all the rooms are still furnished and decorated, so it was nice to see it in its original state.

From here we drove an hour for our next stop in Toledo (pronounced Tolado) so the saying Holy Tolado just doesn’t ring right, so I kept calling it Toledo, so Holy Toledo was still funny.  Who made that saying famous?  I’m going to have to Goggle it, it’s driving me nuts.  Toledo is known for its sword making and jewelry making from steel.  We saw a very quick demonstration of a master sword maker and it is actually quite an involved process with the iron having to be red hot for it to be worked on and can sit up to 8 hours in the fire before it can be worked on.  As usual they have a shop at the end of the ‘free’ demonstrations.  Can’t say I was in the market for a sword, and I am happy to report I didn’t buy one.  But I did buy some really pretty earrings, a necklace watch and pendant with typical Spanish designs.  I am getting quite a collection of jewelry; I think I may have to send some home soon.  Speaking of jewelry my Russian guide (and now friend) is back in Beijing and has collected my 2 rings and pair of earrings I left there on the 1^st April and is now sending them home to Australia.  Now that was sooo lucky and I have to pass on a HUGE thank-you to Julia for doing that for me.  The only other thing I seemed to have lost are padlocks and keys and they were left in Mongolia, so I think that is a pretty good track record so far ( touchwood ).

We got a good few hours in Toledo, so we lunched with some tapa style sandwich and 2 sangria’s for 10 EUR and did a small walking tour with Rach around the old town.  It has a great feel to the place and we were lucky to spend so much time there.  We also got a great photo opportunity overlooking the city, with river and ancient walls, with the sun high in the sky, it made for some awesome photos.  I’m slowly getting word around about my Bernstar jumps, so I’m not so shy in asking people to take them for me.  I do love the photo swap though.  You take one of me and I’ll take one of you lessens the guilt of asking people all the time to take them.

Back to the hotel for a freshen up, before meeting at 8pm.  I had 2 hours, so I decided to pre-pack my bag, I believe this is called learning from experience, because if we have a BIG night, the last thing I want to do is drunk pack in the morning.  Not good.  So I packed everything I could, so less stress in the morning.  I am also leaving 2 bags in the hotels storage for the 2 weeks.  I don’t think I am going to need my thermals, beanies, long pants, camping stuff etc with temperatures in the 30’s I think I can safely say I will not be needing any of that stuff.  It just makes my packing a lot easier each day we move and my bag isn’t as heavy either.  No charge at the Tryp, so this is good news.  Greece will be the only other place I will be able to do this for the next few months as my next lot of tours start in one city and finish in another - boo

We caught the Metro as a group into the city ( only 2 stops and 1.30EUR ) where we were given free time for dinner and to meet back up at 10pm for some drinks and dancing.  We went and had quick ale with Rach before she had to head off and get some paper work done.  She took us to this small little bar off the Plaza Mayor and it is themed around Bullfighting.  There are bull heads on the wall, pictures on the wall of bull fighting where the bull fighter comes off second best, and they are quite graphic pictures, so not for the faint hearted.  They even had pictures of the bull fighter in surgery – on the operating table, hmmm maybe a little too much information.  I did take some pictures of the pictures though, so check them out on Facebook.

We had dinner at a little restaurant across the other side of the square that Rach recommended that is famous for its calamari rolls.  Sounds delicious hey!  It was really tasty, and the calamari was cooked to perfection.  It was just missing a sauce / lemon, but tasty all the same and 4EUR well spent for dinner.  So we re-met the group at 10pm and headed from Sol into the San Ana district for a few beverages.  Rach hooked us up with a club that was happy to discount our drinks and give us a shot on arrival.  The bar was called Mona Lisa and it was just an average kind of bar, where the drinks were 6EUR each, and yes this was the discounted price, BUT when they make your vodka and cokes for example, they free pour the alcohol into your glass, and then they give you your mix on the side.  So you then mix it together yourself.  So none of this pussy uses a measure / shot glass theory, so with the amount of alcohol going into a glass was the equivalent of 2-3 shots, so even though the drinks were 6EUR, you are practically getting 2 drinks for the cost.  It was one of those nights where everyone was just out to have some fun and we all had a boogie and a drink and a boogie and a drink and I think you get the drift.  The music was all 00’s and latest release – so it all just came together for a great night.  We caught a taxi at 2am, as the others changed bars and kicked on till 3am……  Not too many stories to report from the first night except some-one locked themselves in the bathroom and had to wait for help before being able to get out (Miguel).

What a great first day of tour – WELCOME TO SPAIN

MEET MY NEW GROUP - CONTIKI ESPANOLA

WEATHER:  A beautiful 25C – ahhhh welcome back high double digits

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  Meeting my new group / travel family

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Still feeling a little off – but on the improve

BUYS OF THE DAY: Glass of Sangria (large) for 3.30EUR

WORD OF THE DAY: - Sleepy head

Well I don’t think I have had so much sleep on my whole trip to date.  I went to sleep at 11pm last night, woke at 7.30am, did some computering for an hour or so, reset my alarm for 10am ( breakfast finishes at 11am ) woke up snoozed 3 times, so I just reset my alarm for 1pm ( this is when lunch starts ) snoozed on that twice and finally got up for a shower and some chow.  So that makes 12 hours of sleep, interrupted sleep, but sleep all the same.  My body must have needed it, and still feeling a little off colour I guess I just needed some more down time.

So needless to say not much else was done till our 4pm meeting with the rest of the group.  We have 45 on the trip, and they all look pretty cool.  I have met a few people, but my main wing woman so far is Dominique (Dom) from Quebec.  She is in a triple room with 2 other girls who she has only met today.  I also met Marc, Elise, Raol, David, Andrew x 2, Lisa, Dee, David and Cherry just to start with.  Not bad right!?  I have a great feeling with this group, so let’s see after 14 days together how it will all end up.  There are a lot of tired people, as some only flew in today.  We went out for pre-dinner drinks at a bar just around the corner from our hotel.  My first taste of Sangria and it was just AWESOME.  I think this will be my drink of choice for the trip and not as expensive as what I have been paying in Europe at 3.30EUR for a large glass.  A glass of wine was only 1.80EUR!!!  Wonder how much the soft drink is here?  Looks like the wine will be cheaper to drink….. Crazy.  I think this is truly the first time I have sat outside after 6pm with no jacket and no ‘winter’ clothes on since I left home in March. Oh what a feeling!  The weather here is just going to make a delightful change to what I have had.  Barr some sunny days in Europe, Spain you better be good to me, as I am going to leave all my winter stuff in storage here till I get back.  There are 3 people on this tour doing the Greek Islands after this one as well, so that will be cool to have people you know on the next one.

Rachel is our Tour Manager for the trip.  She is from Wales and seems really cool as well and she does speak Spanish for the record.  I didn’t know but Contiki Spain works a little differently in regards to they don’t operate a ‘Contiki’ bus down here.  It is a local coach company that will take us around, which also means that our driver Jose is not “Contiki’ trained as such.  He is from Portugal, and Rach hasn’t met him yet, so she is not sure how well he speaks English etc….. but I guess we will find out tomorrow.  The plus Rach sold us on is the buses are usually better than a Contiki bus, so we are lucky.  A shame, but that is just how it rolls here.

Off to Madrid downtown tomorrow, another difference is we are here for 2 nights at the start of the tour, which makes a nice change than having to pack up all our gear and heading straight out.

All in all, group looks great, tour manager looks great and I am starting to feel better…  Bring on Spain and as much Sangria as I can drink!

NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL A MIXED UP TRAVEL DAY

WEATHER: Cold in Dublin 11C – Warm in Madrid 28C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  Discount taxi fare

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Paying excess flippin baggage with British Midlands - bastards

BUYS OF THE DAY:  18GBP transfer from terminal 1 to terminal 5 at Heathrow and back again

WORD OF THE DAY: - Bloody Hell

Well it was an early start to the day.  5.15am alarm, for a 6am departure from the hotel for an 8.40am flight.  I had pre-packed the night before, so it was just a matter of showering and toiletries to put away.  I had it all done by 5.40am, so I went back to bed for another 20 minutes, snoozed for another 10 minutes, so didn’t get down to reception till 6.16am.  It is a Sunday, so I figured that Dublin traffic on a Sunday can’t be that bad, and the airport is not that far either, so I wasn’t too concerned that I was a running a little late.  I went to pay for my internet from last night and the guy said that there was nothing to pay!  SWEET – 10EUR saved.

I was going to catch the airport bus for 7EUR, but with road closures because of Obama coming tomorrow, I decided to just catch a taxi to the airport, as I was also running out of fluff time anyways.  I had just closed the taxi cab door, when this French guy came over and said do you want to share a cab – are you going to the airport!  Sure, jump in buddy – so my 20EUR taxi cost me only 10EUR – SWEET.  I got dropped at terminal 2 as I thought I was flying British Airways, but alas I was flying British Midlands.  Luckily the terminals in Dublin are not that far apart, so I just walked the 8 minutes to the correct terminal to check-in.

I self-checked myself in – and then stood in the bag drop queue for 40 minutes before getting to the counter.  Armed with a big smile on my face, I knew straight away I should have waited for the guy to be free.  The chick was a Debbie Downer and as soon as my bag was on the scales she hit me up.  Your bag is over weight – CRAP – by 3kg!  Listen sister I have been over 3kg for all of my 7 flights to date, and you are the only one that has a problem?  Needless to say I didn’t say this to her – so they hijack your boarding pass  till you go to another counter to pay your dues – this time it was 12EUR per kilo to London, so 36EUR later, you then need to go back to the same cranky pants to get your boarding pass back.  I did also check, ( even though I knew what she was going to say ) if she could check my bag all the way through to Madrid but the flight was on a different ticket and a different airline, so who would have guessed that she said no!? Bitch – Not so SWEET

So after looking at my itinerary, my Dublin flight gets in at 10am and my Madrid flight leaves at 12.15pm. Hmmmmm, so I need to collect my bag, change terminals in London, recheck in and security all in 2.15 hours – who sees a problem with this timing.  Holy heck, I’m going to have to haul some serious arse to make my flight in time.  I decided to not stress, as I can’t change it, I just need to move like a jaguar to get it all done in time and my fat arse on that flight to Madrid.

My flight is 10 minutes late arriving into London and we land at 10.10am, of course.  The good thing with Ireland arrival is that there is no passport control required and when we came in we were the only flight at our carousel at terminal 1 and I pretty much got out of there within 15 minutes.  I was flying British Airways to Madrid, so just assumed that I was leaving out of terminal 5 ( we know what assumed does – it makes an ass out of you and me)  I didn’t want to fluff around with the train, ticket and timetable, so I jumped into a London taxi and we hauled arse from terminal 1 to terminal 5.  I got to the self-check-in just inside the 2 hour check-in, with a sigh of relief I enter in my reservation number and can you imagine my surprise when it came up with the message “your flight dies not leave from this terminal’ WTF!!!! Crap, crap, crap – so I hailed a staff member and she said oh that flight leaves from terminal 3 – of course it does.  I spent my last 18GBP on the taxi to get me to terminal 5, so I went to use the ATM next to the self-check kiosk, tried all 3 cards and none of them were working.  Fine, I am sure that they will take visa card for payment for the taxi.  Meanwhile time is a ticking.  So back down to the arrivals and I walk to the taxi rank and ask if they take visa – no was the answer, of course.  So back into the terminal to find a different ATM, which was located and money given on the first go.  So back to the taxi rank for a taxi now from terminal 5 to terminal 3.  Another 18GBP later and I find the British Airways check-in area at terminal 3, looking a little frazzled at this stage with 1 hour and 5 minutes till fly time, and the guy checks me in, doesn’t even blink with the excess 3kg (stuff you BMI) and gives me my boarding pass that had a boarding time of 12.45pm for a departure at 1.10pm.  Holy heck, I thought my flight was at 12.15pm.  There must have been a time change somewhere along the track.  Chris at work is really good at sending them all though, so I must have just forgotten to update my main copy!!!  How hilarious is that!!  But what a relief and I must have looked like a goose going up the escalators with a huge smirk on my face, knowing what I had been doing for the last 2 hours!  Happens to the best of us right!  So that ranks as a SWEET…

I did try and self-check-in for my flight to Madrid, but it came up with an error with my passport information.  But I did get to the seat plan and they had me in a middle seat – um no thanks, so I managed to change my seat to a window – it just happened to be in the last row of the plane.  I was fine with this though, as I was in no rush to get off in Madrid, as I didn’t have anyone or transfer booked.  As it turns out, there was a couple that sat next to me, but when the aircraft door closed, there was a whole row free across from us, so they moved and I had a row of 3 seats to myself!  Woo hoo, I got to spread out for the 2 hour flight. SWEET!!!

After landing at Madrid airport, it must be a massive airport.  We seriously had to walk 10 minutes to get to a sky train, that took 8 minutes, to walk another 10 minutes to get to passport control and out to the baggage carousel.  The good thing when it takes that long is that you generally don’t have to wait too long for your bags. 

I found an information desk once I had cleared customs and a taxi costs 30-40EUR to get to the city.  There is a metro that also runs and I am not sure of that cost, but I did ask about a shuttle service and this was only 20EUR, so I booked that and I am glad that I did.  The hotel was actually quite difficult to find to start with, but also looks like it is a little way out of town.  So I am not sure if there is even a metro nearby.  So once again I am happy I have paid a little premium to get straight to the hotel with my bevy of bags.

So I get to meet my new Contiki group tomorrow afternoon – Contiki Espanola.  I will need to now dig out the 3 words I learnt on our MSC cruise.  It’s taken me 3 weeks to stop saying Gracias and now I need to get my Spanish groove back on – but I am ready and looking forward to a new start.

Doof Doof – Ibiza here we come – doof doof doof…….

ON THE 55TH DAY I HAD TO REST

WEATHER: Cold and rainy

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting to sleep in till 10am  

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Swollen glands

BUYS OF THE DAY:  KFC for lunch – I know – but hell it was good

WORD OF THE DAY: - **cough, cough, cough** 

Well after getting home at 3.40am – I think we well and truly deserved a sleep in.  In saying that I did wake at 6.15am and thought for a micro second about going down in my PJ’s and saying good-bye to the suckers that had a 12 hour trip back to London, as I said it was a micro second and then I rolled over and went back to sleep.  Sorry guys.  I woke at 10am, so I did some ‘office’ work (it seems never ending) uploading, downloading and blogging!

I have woken with a really sore throat on my left side, along with a swollen gland and a Contiki cough.  So I have some hard core vitamin C, that you mix with water, so I hit the nasty with that all day, and I also gargled salt and I had some pills that I took in the vain to try and nip this sucker in the bud.  The last thing I need to is to get super sick, but it is inevitable that it was going to happen eventually.  I feel really lethargic as well, (maybe this is what people call run down?) So after doing a KFC run just up the road for a late lunch, I headed back to bed, with my alarm set for 4.30pm, as I just HAD to make the post office to send some goodies home – it was 2kg I didn’t need to carry tomorrow on an airline day.

I met Jaime, Scott, Sam, Kaia, Kyle and Lauren at 7pm in reception and we headed to a local pub, not far from the hotel for our last Irish dinner.  I tell you it certainly was the right pick, as you can imagine there are dozens of pubs to choose from, but it was large enough to fit all 7 of us at one table, they had a live 3 piece Irish band playing when we got there, and then they were followed by some Irish dancers (who were AWESOME, and the meals were HUGE!!!  I got my last opportunity for a bangers and mash meal, and it was MASSIVE, and the bomb.  It was a great way to end of the trip and also with great company.  We did think briefly about the bus guys, that they were just getting back as we sat down for dinner.  That is a killer day, I have done it myself from Paris to London, and I am sure they were all wrecked!

Jaime and Scott came back to my room and we have swapped all our photos.  Which I think is a great idea.  I had 1105, so I do apologize Scott for some of the fluff in there, and I hope that you got rid of the X-rated pictures that you gave me – I’ll let you know if you missed any……

So after airline packing my bag and more drugs to get me through the night, the light switched of at 11.45pm, with an alarm set for 5.15am the next morning to start my journey to Madrid tomorrow.

Too be sure, too be sure, Ireland should be on everyone’s list – I had a GRAND ol’ time……

GOODBYE TO MY IRISH CONTIKI-ERS

WEATHER: The sun is out – all day – woo hoo

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  Optional Irish dinner was AWESOME

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Saying good-bye to Missouri

BUYS OF THE DAY:  Pour your own pint at the Guinness Brewery

WORD OF THE DAY: - See you on Facebook

Day song – Galway Girl (song from PS I Love You)

Wake-up song – Joker and the Thief – Wolfmother

Well I am feeling a lot better this morning.  I’m going home with no regrets and I have picked myself up and dusted myself off and ready to enjoy the last day of my Irish tour. 

 

We left Kilkenny at 8.30am for our 2 hour drive back to Dublin.  We headed straight to the Guinness Brewery and I have to say I have done a few beers tours, Boags in Tasmania and Carlsberg in Copenhagen to name 2, and I have to say the Guinness experience was pretty awesome! There was so much information not just about the making of the famous beer, but the advertising, international statistics and the opportunity to pour your own ‘perfect pint’.  As you enter the brewery you are standing at the bottom of the world's largest pint glass, which rises up through the center of the seven story building. If full, the giant pint glass atrium would hold 14.3 million pints of GUINNESS(...). At the bottom of the glass you can see the 9000 year lease that the founder Arthur Guinness signed on the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin - the lease marks the beginning of the GUINNESS story.

Pouring the ‘perfect pint’ has to be the highlight of the tour and you get a certificate at the end to say that I crafted the perfect pint.  You then get to drink your pour.  This is the first time I have had Guinness on the trip.  Not to say I haven’t been drinking Irish beer, I have been having Smithwicks (pronounced Smitticks – go figure) but I have to say, if I had more time I reckon I could have finished it.  The Guinness is obviously the freshest at the brewery itself, and it does taste different if ordered off site.  The reason behind this is that Guinness needs to be served at 6C – even if it is off by 1-2C this affects the taste of the beer.  Who would have thought!  So Guinness does taste the best straight from the source in this case.

We then got dropped off at Trinity College to have some free time in Dublin.  The hotel check-in was for 2pm and we could collect our bags from the bus at 4.30pm.  As I had been in Dublin last week, I didn’t need to run around as much, so I decided to get some chores done today.  My hair was getting to the point of getting a cut.  I could have left it for another few weeks, but my Spanish is nonexistent, so trying to explain what I wanted done in Spain and then I have no spare time in Greece and then I am sure Morocco would be just as difficult as Spain, Dublin was the obvious choice.  So I took a walk down to St Stephens Green and stopped into the shopping center, picked a hairdresser, and hoped for the best.  She was really nice and thinned it out heaps.  It cost me 40EUR for a wash, cut and blow dry, which I was really happy with and I now feel like a new woman!!  Thank god I didn’t get a mullet!!!

After a casual walk back to the hotel via St Stephens Green, Trinity College, Temple Bar area and the Liffey River it was just great to see this city with some sun in the sky!

We had our optional Irish dinner that we paid 47EUR for tonight.  Generally the optional dinners on Contiki, are really good value, and this one was no different.  We got driven to a large pub where they had a live 4 piece Irish band playing tunes and they encouraged us to participate in the singing of pretty much all the songs.  They were just AWESOME, and they also played Galway Girl – our day song and it was even more AWESOME to hear it live.  I finally got to spend some time with my American friends from Missouri and Ohio and we had an AWESOME night.  Are you getting the drift that we had a good night?  They had Irish dancers that came out as well and they, yep, were super AWESOME.  It really was a good night, and after here we were dropped back into Dublin to spend our last night drinking Irish beer in Ireland.  This is also where we started saying our good-byes.  The Contiki bus heads back to London tomorrow morning at 7am – SUCKERS….. So people started heading home in dribs and drabs. 

There were a small handful of us that stayed until 3am, and with a Macca’s stop on the way back to the hotel, there were about 6 of those people that had to be on the bus at 7am – that is hard core!  Me, I get to sleep in till…… well whenever I wake up.  I only have to make a trip to the post office tomorrow to send home a package with all my Guinness, Jameson and magnet purchases through Ireland, and I am meeting up with Jaime and Scott for dinner tonight at 7pm, but otherwise I am free as a bird and I do have to get my bag all re-packed again for airline travel tomorrow.  Damn airline packing.

So another tour done and dusted.  I will miss my American friends and I have teed up some visiting in Kansas City and Cincinnati for next year.  We had a blast, and I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard when we were all together.  Key words like drop bear, fu#kwit, 3^rd leg, and pussy water to name a few, made for some very HILARIOUS jokes and still brings a smile to my face now!!!  Gonna miss you guys xx

CONTIKI IRELAND 2011 – in no particular order………

Riana – Australia

Victoria – Australia

Little Dave – Australia

Kerri – Australia

Bianca and Cameron – Australia

Alyson – USA

Henry – USA

Sara and Russ

Sam and Kaia – USA

Jordan – USA

Jeffrey – Canada

Sherrel and Amanda – Australia

Jamie and Scott – USA

Molly and Amy – USA

Michelle – Australia

Erin – USA

Kylie – Australia

Ally – Australia

Adele

Rachel – Australia

Melissa

Bec – Australia

Trinity – USA

Jessica – Australia

Nick

Ian – Australia

Erin

Sylvia – Australia

Anita

Lauren – USA

Stu – UK

Kylie – USA

Chris – Australia

Adam – Australia

Katlyn – USA

BJ – USA

Laura – Argentina

Ashleigh