So we've been home for a few days and of course we have reflections and other odds and ends to tell about.
The flight home...was eventful. We booked the tickets through British Airways and were overall happy with the flight and food service. The issue we had was that our first flight from Madrid to Heathrow was operated via Iberia and at 6:50am. We didn't think that was a big issue until 9pm the night before when Iberia sent us an email saying that we needed to be at the airport 4 hours before our flight. Seriously? We thought that was ridiculous but we complied. We ended up at the airport with 3.5 hours to spare and some very grumpy and tired people. ME INCLUDED!
So some of us literally slept on the floor of the airport while waiting for Starbucks to open. Then we attempted to board the plan in boarding group 4, and the plane was now full with carry-on luggage and our roller bags had to be checked. No, no, no. Some lessons learned - tell the staff that you have a connection. Make sure your bags have name tags on them.
When we arrived in Heathrow 20 minutes late, we were quickly realizing that we were going to have a problem connecting because we were disembarking the plane at 9am, and our next flight boarded at 9:50am, the email said we had to be through security at 10:15am and the doors to the plane closed at 10:30am. We had to first exit terminal 3, get our checked bags at the baggage carrousel, then take a train to terminal 5, go through security, and find our gate.
It was nerve racking and felt like a marathon. At one point I told someone in our traveling group to stop talking to me. I also had a headache - of such is my life!
So after losing someone at the security gate...we all rushed in separate directions and walking speeds toward the gate in the hopes of begging them to hold the plane while we searched for the missing person. Long story short, we all made it to gate at 10:15am only to find that the flight wasn't boarding and shortly thereafter there was an announcement that it was delayed.
Who cared? Nobody. We were so thrilled that we had not been left in England. We quickly got in line at Starbucks and dropped $40 buying coffees and pastries.
We took off about 30 minutes late and proceeded to SFO. Todd and I were lucky enough to have an extra seat beside us and I promptly moved over and laid my head down to sleep. We had woken up at 2am and were working on barely 3 hours of sleep...
Once we arrived in SFO, we were able to get through customs quickly and get the car from the long term parking and head home. The drive was quick and many people napped (not the driver of course). We grabbed Jimboys for dinner and proceeded home to wash 2 weeks of laundry.
What did we learn?
1. We did a lot. We found places we'd like to go back to, and places that we feel like we've seen enough of. I think two weeks was enough and I probably wouldn't go back to the big cities until I've been to other places. I would go spend a week on the beach of Almunecar...it was paradise.
2. Hotels and Air BnB's have their own positives - we liked that hotels could hold our luggage if we were checking in earlier, but we liked that Air BnB's have living rooms and couches to hang out.
3. Booking excursions - so since COVID there is a lot of preplanning required for visiting popular places. The negative is that you are locked in with a date and many times even a specific time frame for visiting.
4. Ask for student discounts and bring your student ID.
5. Spend some money on the extra things - these are often the things that are most remembered and that will be the discussion topics later on.
6. Make sure you have luggage tags with your name and address in case it does get lost (didn't happen to us on this trip, but Katie just experienced that with another trip).
7. Spain cares about electricity costs - the bathroom lights in restaurants literally went off within 10 seconds of entering the bathroom. You had to wave your hands around while on the potty.
8. We love traveling - despite the cost, the stress, the planning, and the jet lag - we love exploring and seeing new places. There were so many times throughout those two weeks that we thought about the similarities of where we were versus where we live in California. Being on the other side of the world can sometimes feel like you're a world away, and at other times can feel like you're at home.
And what will we do next time?
1. Next time I'll book a few things ahead of time and just suck it up. I hate to have a rigid schedule, but without it, sadly you simply cannot visit certain places due to popularity.
2. To find cool Instagramable photo spots, check out the city on the Instagram map and you'll find some cool stuff! That's how we found the Mushroom Street in Alicante :)
3. I might actually look into a travel agent for big trips like this. It's exhausting and time consuming to plan an international trip. I work full time and don't always have the time to thoroughly investigate everything.