After a decision has finally been made, I asked my travel agent to book me on a tour with Trafalgar Tours, especially because the itinerary included an optional tour to Morocco. And as you all know, I love traveling, meeting new people and experiencing what the world has to offer. Unfortunately, Ricky does not share my passion for travel; therefore, I went solo on this trip, with the hope that one day, he will change his mind and join me on my annual vacations.
And so, on the departure date of October 13th, I woke up to a rainy day at an ungodly hour of 3am, not looking forward to the ordeal of having to deal with 3 layovers, very much aware of the fact that if any of my flights would get delayed, there is a very strong chance of me missing my connecting flights which, to me, would be highly stressful because I would be late for my tour. So, I started praying that my flights will all be on time so that, firstly, I wouldn’t miss any of my connecting flights and, secondly, my luggage would make it to my destination along with me.
Anyhow, Ricky drove me to the airport and we arrived at 5am, 3 hours ahead of my departure time. Checking in with Air Canada was a breeze and so I had lots of time to enjoy some brekkie at Tim Horton’s.
The first leg of my journey, which thankfully departed on schedule, was a 4-hour flight to Toronto with a layover of 2 hours. It was a smooth flight, but since I forgot to bring my headsets and not wanting to pay for the “not suited to my ears” type, I was unable to watch any of the movies available in-flight, and so I decided to kill the time by reading and solving puzzles that I brought along with me.
The plane touched down at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport ahead of schedule. So I took my sweet time in walking from the domestic to international terminal which took about 15 minutes. About this time, I was starving because my body clock knows it’s lunch time whereas it was 3pm local time. But since lunch was no longer served in my choice of restaurants at the airport, I opted for some junk food bought at, you guessed it right, Tim Horton’s. Well, Canadians are supposed to patronize Tim Horton’s, eh?
Anyhow, our boarding time was supposed to be at 4:30pm, but when it was not called, I started to panic. I simply couldn’t afford any delayed flight as I’ll miss my connecting flight in Frankfurt bound for Madrid. When I asked the ground attendant the reason for the delay in boarding, I was informed that the plane has not arrived. Yikes! When I heard her explanation, my heart started pounding heavily that I could almost hear it. But since I could not do anything else, I started to pray. And again, my prayers were answered. The plane finally arrived and although our boarding time was delayed by 45 minutes, boarding was miraculously done so swiftly that the plane took off just half an hour late.
When we were airborne, the captain apologized for the delay and assured the passengers that the plane will still make the expected time of arrival in Frankfurt. What a relief!
The second leg of my journey was a turbulent 7-hour flight from Toronto to Frankfurt with a layover of 2 hours. The captain repeatedly kept on urging everyone, including the attendants, to remain seated with seatbelts fastened. Indeed, it was a very bumpy ride that I was frequently roused from slumber. I barely ate my chicken dinner and the man seated next to me kept on serving me food and I kept on declining it. Since we were given complimentary headsets, I watched and enjoyed the movie, “Happy Feet”, after which I dozed off mostly during the trip. I just had muffins for brekkie. Hmmmm….I ate nothing but muffins for the past 2 days. Tsk….tsk…tsk…
The plane touched down to a sunny morning of October 14th at Frankfurt International Airport 15 minutes ahead of schedule despite the delayed departure from Toronto. However, the plane had to wait at the tarmac since the gate was not ready. Thankfully, the plane didn’t have to wait so long and we got to deplane, lined up for Passport Control (can’t even remember if I was asked any question by the Immigration Officer), breezed through Security and took a long walk towards my gate, the entire rigmarole of which took about 1 hour in total.
I can almost memorize Frankfurt Airport with my eyes closed since we got lost or, should I say, got the runaround in this airport last year when we missed our connecting flight from Rome to Vancouver. Ahhh….memories.
Anyhow, while waiting for my flight to Madrid, I started up a conversation with a lady who, incidentally, happened to be on the same tour that I was on. I learned that she was also a solo traveler from Australia and had been in Germany for the past few days to visit some friends. To say that I was happy I found some company was an understatement.
The third and final leg of my journey was a smooth 2-hour flight to Madrid. Thankfully it was a short flight since the man seated next to me reeked of perfume. I’m not allergic to perfume but with the enclosed cabin air, I started to have a headache. And my lack of sleep didn’t help me either.
The plane finally touched down at Madrid’s Barajas International Airport around noon. I could feel my adrenaline coming to the surface and I started to feel genuinely excited -- especially after I reunited with my luggage. Wahoo - thank God for answered prayers!!!
After retrieving my luggage, I met up with Pamela, the Australian lady, and we both walked towards Terminal 1 to wait for our complimentary transfer to the hotel. While waiting, Pamela took this snapshot of me:
At the appointed time, the Trafalgar representative made an appearance and took us to the tour bus (coach) for our ride to the hotel where we met our Tour Director, Rafael, who asked us to sign some papers, gave our room key, and informed us about our introductory meeting at 5:30pm and our Welcome Dinner thereafter.
I then settled down into my room, had a much-needed nap and shower, and got ready for our meeting and dinner.
At exactly 5:30pm, the group met with Rafael who gave us information about the tour / safety issues, designated each one a “number” for our seat rotation, reminded us to check the bulletin board daily which would advise us on the times for the wake-up call, breakfast and departure, and handed us our “whisperer” (an audio device that would enable us to hear the local tour guides while they walk and explain the sights). We had a group of 48 people from Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. I also came to know that there were 8 other Filipinos in this tour – 6 from Chicago and 2 (a couple) from the Philippines.
We then boarded our coach and sat on our “assigned” seat corresponding to our number (it was actually very systematic which I liked) on our way to Jose Luis Restaurante for our Welcome Dinner.
As a backgrounder, Spain is a beautiful country with a long and compelling history. It has been invaded by many nations and this has resulted in a huge diversity of traditions and gastronomy. Spain is a Roman Catholic country and remains fiercely religious. Every town, city and village holds at least one fiesta a year which is celebrated by the locals with passion and vigour (not to mention pride).
Along with Portugal, Spain forms Iberia which hangs from the Western side of Europe connected to France in the Northeast. The border between the two is protected by the Pyrenees, a mountain range which stretches from coast to coast. As a result of the harshness of this terrain (and the ease of protecting it), it was much easier to invade from the South coast, which the North African Moors did frequently. This influence is obvious in both the food and the architecture, particularly in the South (as you will understand later in my travelogue).
Spanish food is world-renowned and very distinct from that of the rest of Europe. Perhaps its most famous export is tapas, small portions of food eaten between meals and always accompanied by a freezing cold beer or a glass of wine. The Spanish also love their rice dishes (arroces), the best known of which, Paella, varies enormously throughout the country with each region having its own individual recipe.
And did I mention tapas? Well, that was exactly what we had for our Welcome Dinner and I just loved it with passion. I ate tapas whenever I had the chance while in Spain. In fact, I’m drooling now while I’m writing this, reminiscing at the same time the great taste of each and every morsel. Sluuuuurp!
Spain is a nation of sport lovers, and football, basketball, golf, tennis and motor-racing are incredibly popular, not to mention national sports, such as pelota and bullfighting. The latter is still popular despite its barbaric reputation and all major towns and cities have their own ring. In 2008, Spain won the European football championships and the great rivals - Real Madrid and Barcelona - regularly win the Champions League.
And that was exactly where we headed off after our dinner. First stop – Real Madrid Stadium – wherein 99% of Spaniards watch football.
After some photo ops, we proceeded to our second stop – the Bullfight Arena- wherein 36% of Spaniards apparently watch bullfighting.
Thereafter, we called it a night and went back to our hotel.
To Be Continued.....
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