Traveling.

Hi. I've been asked to write a blog while I'm in Spain, I said I wouldn't, but everyone keeps asking me how I'm doing so I suppose it'd be easier to just have something for all to see!

Traveling......SUCKS. But I have split it up in sections, because it took 2 days.

Stage 1:

It started out smooth enough, grabbing a shuttle from Breckenridge to Denver where I was skiing with the family and actually managed to get down the hill without falling....very slowly though. I also mastered the chair lift after a while. So en route to the airport a trio of nice young lads who smelled of cigarette smoke joined the van and automatically started talking about politics. I don't mind talking about politics, but it was a two hour shuttle, and there were elderly gentlemen who were obviously Republican (you can tell) and a verbal argument began, which of course makes me very uncomfortable. Eventually we arrive at the airport.... Did I tell you my dad made my shuttle arrive 5 HOURS earlier than my flight. I bought "Confessions of a Shopaholic" because I'm learning how to budget my money and read it in 5 hours and then boarded my plane to London.

Stage 2:

Highlight of my travels= flight from Denver to London. 5 reasons why it rocked

1) British people....they're voices are amazing and everyone was super nice and I was out of place for having an American accent and who doesn't love extra attention thrown at you via awesome British people.

2) When I checked in, I was asked window or aisle and got to select window seat, which I thought was a great perk by itself. Both the center seat and aisle seat in my row were not filled so I got 3 lovely seats to spread out for 9 hours. It was glorious!

3) They serve wine. Not a little wine, a lot of wine on your flight....all free. I had about 2-3 little bottles which were about a glass and a half each. I was in a wonderful place

4) British Airways plays movies. Not just one movie like old American Airlines, they give you a choice! Everyone has their own personal tv on the headrest in front of them with channels for different movies like Happy Feet, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist...and others that play on loop! 

Stage 3:

This is where traveling sucks. I get to Heathrow easily enough, customs was a breeze. Meet some people in my program...then meet more people in my program. Turns out about 50 peple in my program are on the same flight. "How cool!" I think to myself. 11:25 comes around (our boarding time) and no boarding....no announcements....more waiting.....12:00......more waiting...12:41 AND NO ONE KNOWS WHY WE'RE WAITING. Apparently, our plane is broken. So it takes them another 2 hours to figure out that we need a new plane. The waiting area= a pen to keep 50+ IES students who have been traveling for 10+ hours and are very grumpy/tired/hungry/have to pee and CANT LEAVE! It was awful.

Stage 4:

We finally board our flight..on a new plane and a new problem presents itself. We were supposed to be in the Barcelona Airport at 5 pm or else our welcoming crew would leave and we would have to find our ways to our respective apartments, homestays, dorms. We were going to arrive in Barcelona at 7:00 pm. I didn't print out my address.....big problem. Lucky for me, the crew waited for us and we checked in and I got a taxi to my apartment a million hours after I left Denver. 

Traveling sucks. Barcelona does not.