The sun rises late in Spain. We are driving in the dark to the airport. No signs to rental car return. Had to Griswald around the airport once to find the rental return. Turned into the return spot the wrong way. Swung a handbrake turn into the parking space and said “sheet howdy, pardner, we’re goin home!” Not really. The attendant said the French were worse at getting lost.
But we did go to the wrong terminal…
We made it to LA! Rented a car to get home. Had dinner in LA with Kirk at Roscoes Chicken and Waffles. His Uber ride was $60! That’s more than our rental car. Dropped him off in Santa Monica at some friends and headed home. Maybe the most unsafe driving time of the whole trip as I was quite tired. Quit driving for a nap and was OK after that. Still, I’m horribly jetlagged. But home safely. What a trip!
Some closing thoughts:
Travel is tough.
Spanish brandy is nice.
Spanish food is ham based. Good but not great. And nowhere near enough vegetables.
Croquettes are sketchy. Unless you are starving, then they fill you up nicely.
My Cheeto Pandillas as tapas removes any credibility I might have as a food critic.
Aer Lingus food is horrible.
Bidets are a waste of bathroom space.
Twin beds pushed together are not an acceptable substitute for a real king bed. Especially if they are made up separately as twins.
Duvets are a pain. Why no sheets? And do they really wash them often enough?
Jetlag sucks.
Injuries suck.
I need a new phone. Lisa needs one even more.
My Spanish sucks but I might be able to get by – if I practice. But nobody speaks anything but English in the USA. Maybe I need to travel more.
Bottled water rocks in foreign countries. Even the locals drank bottled water. I did like the 1.5 liter option but they wouldn’t fit in a pocket.
Mahou Negra is a nice Spanish craft beer. Nowhere near water. But the restaurants didn’t have it.
European gas is weird. Too expensive. Really stinky gasoline – especially in the boats and motorcycles.
The VW and other non US compliant diesels haven’t ruined the air in Spain.
Sniff the nozzle to identify the correct fuel to add – the green hose is gas, not diesel there.
Spain doesn’t have enough trash cans or public bathrooms.
Spanish towns are really densely packed. Squaw is not making a European ski town – the density is way too low.
Spanish builders really are good at building on hills.
Motorcycle riders are crazy.
Spanish scenery is fantastic.
Spain has been around for a long time.
I’ve been sitting on this plane a long time.
If it was just about the tournament I’d be totally bummed. But there was so much more. Having a reason to travel made the trip far more relevant than just touristing. The tournament activities, the new friends, connecting with the old friends, the extracurricular travels and the enlightenment of the travel made the overall experience magic.
Eric