Traveling with Joe

After a few days in Spain to adjust to the time change and work my way from Barcelona to Pamplona, today is finally “The” Day.  At 4pm I meet my fellow Trekkers, we are transported to a small town near the French Border, then we have our first trek albeit a short one; 6km then a welcome dinner.  From here on out it’s on foot until Nov 5.

But, so far Spain has brought back fond memories.  When I moved to Madrid in January 2001 it was cold and we quickly became homesick.  When we left Madrid in June 2001 we were teary eyed and couldn’t believe how attached we had become.  We had friends, we had traveled all over the country and beyond, and the Billboards and Signs were finally starting to make sense; all that homework was finally starting to pay off.

Barcelona was hopping.  It’s undoubtedly the most Cosmopolitan city in Spain and it’s proximaty to the French Border, its’ location in Catalonia, and it’s desirability as a tourist destination all come together to create a dynamic and bustling city.  If Spain is experiencing a downtime, it was hard to tell it.

I’m wearing my St Michael medallion in hopes that he will truly protect me from evil.  Not that I’m expecting much evil on the trails across Spain, but I think the bigger evils will be homesickness and possibly even loneliness.  Being away from home for weeks on end is my biggest fear, not walking.

 

 

Spain is a very modern country.  In fact, in some ways they have surpassed the United States.  The spacing between the rows in their aircraft for example.  As you can see my knees are jammed up against the seat in front of me and that seat was not in a recline position.  They are also humorous.  Look at the safety briefing sketch.  My only hope was to plant my face up against the seat in front of me as I could not possibly hope to achieve any of the positions shown on their safety briefing.  Honestly though, many of you have heard my rant about the airlines.  It is simply no longer safe to fly Coach and having that many people jammed in behind you if you are in Business or First Class just means you will get crushed trying to get out of the plane “in the unlikely event of an emergency”.  I was saddened to see that Iberia, the national airline of Spain, has really gone the extra mile with their seat spacing.  And you know what’s really sad?  There were many empty seats on the flight.  Take out those chairs and spread the rows apart and you have a plane full of happy people.  They need to add a sketch that shows someone with their head up their butt because you have to be in that position to stand for this.

 

What they lack in Airline Seat spacing they more than make up for in charming little towns and cities.  Barcelona is magnificent, and Pamplona is actually cute.  This is one of the larger plazas that dot the city center but they are connected with narrow winding cobblestone streets.

The Spanish people are also very social.  Instead of sitting at home watching TV, they are out milling around and sitting in pubs talking.  Sure, they might have a beer or a glass of wine, but the main item on the menu is conversation.  You can hear it going on well into the night.  Actually, that’s why earplugs are on the packing list for this trip.  Not every hotel is going to be a 5 star property like the one I am in now.  Sigh, I’m afraid I’m going to miss this until November.

They also know how to do a bathroom.  The shower in this room, and I’m not exaggerating, is 8′ x 10′.  Inside the shower are two big rain heads, each with a wand, and a bathtub on the opposite end of the shower room.  This room was definitely designed for a couple.  There are also bidets in every bathroom which, once you get used to them, they come in handy.  I still like the spray hose that they have in the Muslim toilets (Don’t ask me why, but it seems to be a Muslim thing, even in South Africa).  Anyway, I affectionally refer to them as “The Car Wash” and we all like to keep our cars clean!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everybody has been super friendly including a friend of Tim’s, Emmeline.  She met me the night I arrived in Barcelona and we went to one of her favorite Tapas restaurants.  I found it extremely interesting that as the younger generation takes over the Restaurant Industry, while some things remain the same (Tapas), the way the tapas are made and the ingredients they use are radically different.  We had a variety of “new-age” Tapas and a bottle of Cava (Champagne) and enjoyed the classical 2 hour (or more) dinner.  I had miraculously avoided Stage 10 jet lag so a nap and a very long shower had kick started me enough to be able to go out.  The weather, which had been constant rain, cleared for the day I was in Barcelona, then started raining again as I left this morning.  It was sunny and beautiful when we landed in Madrid and the same in Pamplona.  I’m hoping we don’t have to deal with much rain on this trip; wet boots would suck.  

Last but not least, the Journey yesterday was a classic example of “circling your elbow to get to your ass”.  I had to fly from BCN to MAD (bottom picture) and then MAD-PMP (top picture).  If the airlines could figure out that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line my trip would have been much shorter.  But I was warned away from the Busses or Trains and judging by the terrain that I saw as we flew in, I definitely would not have wanted to be in either.  It’s one thing to walk over rolling hills, it’s another to be jostled around in a stinky bus or wondering if the train was going to go careening off the tracks before you got to where you are going.  Fortunately my flights were seamless except for almost losing my Rolex.

So, today is October 01, 2014 and for the next 35 days I am going to walk across Spain.   Yes, I have said this before but I have to keep telling myself to believe it.  I am going to walk across Spain.  Jeez, the more I say it the crazier it sounds.

Again, thanks for all the encouragement and comments.  I am enjoying this so far.

Joe Jeter   October 01, 2014