There She Goes…

This European mini-world tour is a first for many things – first time for me traveling with a partner and first time for David traveling to multiple countries at one time and without orders from the US Navy. In a few days, my mom will be meeting us in Scotland and even though she wanted to visit Spain with us, I wanted David and I to have something special for ourselves and to show him my Spain.

We left San Diego on the afternoon of Friday August 1st. Our first plane ride was on time, however our connecting flight in Chicago was delayed by about an hour. No worries because we’re on vacation and upgraded Premium Economy seats we’re waiting for us on our overnight flight to Madrid. Another first for me—splurging on airfare internationally. It wasn’t first or business class but it was worth the splurge. In fact, that should be our motto/theme because our Hotel Emperador is a fancy hotel with security, rooftop terraza and pool (with agua fría). Totally worth the splurge and this time in Madrid, I feel fancy. I’m letting David take the lead on most touristy things since I’ve been here already. My only request is to find marcona almonds flavored with oil and herbs.

After what was supposed to be a 2-hour siesta, four hours later we woke up in search of tapas and sangria. Our tour guide (David) found a tapas bar near the hotel; tapas search = semi-successful, sangria search = UNSUCCESSFUL. Nighttime activity in Madrid is poppin’ and reminds me of evenings at the central plaza in San Jose del Cabo. Upon returning to the hotel, David left in search of vino and I settled in for the night. Later, David had trouble falling asleep because he was super excited—“I’m smiling so much I can’t sleep.”

Today is our first full day in Madrid and Sunday Funday. I don’t brunch much these days…everything is so expensive, but we headed to Brunch Color Opera. Cool vibe and very friendly people. My new Tevas gave me blisters so I asked the host where to buy a bandaid. He looked at me confused and gave me his phone so I could use google translate. For the record, the word for bandaid is tirita; he also didn’t have one. Bummer. But today I learned a new Spanish word and someone else got to learn a new English word. Boy do I love reciprocity. I married a man who said he didn’t like Sangria; I couldn’t let another day go by without some, so after brunch, we had a glass at some random tapas bar. He likes them now!

While at brunch, David booked us a guided tour for the Royal Palace. It was a good tour and we learned a lot about royal history. Fun facts like there was a king who thought he was a frog and built so many rooms so he could jump from room to room. As frogs do. My mom claims we are descendants of Spanish royalty—most likely this crazy frog king. It would make a lot of sense, especially if you have met some of my family.

Post-tour-of-Amy’s-crazy-ancestors palace, we went to Mercado de San Miguel in search of marcona almonds. I’m afraid my memory of these almonds from 8 years ago is just a memory. I couldn’t find flavored almonds anywhere. After a quick tapas and cervezas fuel stop, we headed back to the hotel. But not without a trip to the GreenMan-lite. All legal, all in storefronts but nothing even remotely close to the hard green stuff. Still, placebo effects are a thing and maybe our excitement at being in Spain helped elevate our mood significantly. I’m actually glad we stopped here because the girl behind the counter gave David some stickers. And so I did what any traveler would do, I improvised. Those CBD stickers were used as temporary bandaids until we got back to our room for a siesta. I’m very resourceful.

I’m sitting at this rooftop bar writing this blog and it feels amazing. Everyone is so kind and friendly. I think David is loving the vibes (and pretty people) in Spain and I can’t wait for him to experience Sevilla in a couple of days. I don’t think I’ll have too hard of a time convincing him that we should come back and explore more of this beautiful country.