the good life: the first time i went to europe and didn't get taken

so after graduation i decided that i wanted to go on a trip- get out of the country asap... i called up margo and we started planning. there wasn't much time to plan- i graduated in december and was leaving for china in february. we ended up buying a round trip ticket to madrid and out of madrid to morocco. we would be backpacking for about 2 weeks. we decided to couchsurf meaning we had no real plans or places to stay and just got on a plane and went! first of all- i almost missed my flight out of arizona! heather morse was kind enough to offer a ride, but didn't know what she was getting into... she thought i was flying from the tucson airport...not the phoenix... so we went in the wrong direction for a bit... then the traffic was so bad i was calling the airport and asking them to hold the door for me! if i missed my flight i would miss the connecting flight to phildelphia and if i missed that flight then i would miss the flight the next day to morocco! and margo would be alone! i was freaking out. i ran so fast and hard when i finally got to the airport. skipped to the front of the line in security and kept running with my shoes off to the gate and got there right as they were shutting the doors... i yelled out I'M HERE I'M HERE and they let me on. needless to say i was out of breathe for like an hour of the flight. when i finally got to the east coast i went to get my backpack (it had been gate checked because there was no more room in the overhead compartments) and they couldn't find it! i was like noooooooooo. it took awhile but they did and i went running over to meet margo (she had flown in from DC) we successfully got on our flight to madrid after it was delayed a few times.

madrid was beautiful! and COLD! we were freezing!! it snowed! spain in january...not the best idea...but cheap tickets? we stayed in a hostel because we couldn't find anyone to let us couchsurf the first day. the next morning we were supposed to be headed to morocco! we wondered puerto sol for a bit and then went to the airport. we waited around to go to morocco and then realized that they were saying the flight had been canceled (spain spanish is the hardest to understand!) we didn't know what to do.. the other people in line said that it had been canceled 3 days in a row... so i went to the info desk and told the lady that we would go to any country..whatever the next flight out was. we ended up on a flight to london. i had some issues with the ticket and mine being printed with margo's name and had to go out and sneak through security resulting in my passport being stamped out of madrid 3 times when i really only left twice... haha. on the flight we realized we had absolutely zero info about england and started to make a list of what we knew... 99% of it had to do with harry potter sites... i tried to contact wil and aaron but they were very helpful. luckily margo had a friend she taught with in mexico who was from there. rajiv and priti took good care of us! we had an awesome time. even though it was FREEEZING cold. we had to borrow some of priti's clothes! we were prepared for morocco not snow! we got to go to all the good harry potter spots and saw the lion king at the london theater! highlight! we mostly wandered. went to abbey lane to see the crosswalk. ate fish and chips. looks at the shakespeare stuff. buckingham palace (oh look-that's a pretty building! i wonder what it is? oh...it's buckingham palace...haha) big ben. all the touristy stuff. it was a good time. oh! at thenatioanl gallery i may or may not have taken something...there was this huge board where kids could write on cards and pin then up. it asked what they would do if they could become king or queen for a day... this kid said : " get extremely fat. run about nude. get my family rich. and die like jesus." haha coolest kid ever.

after london we headed back to madrid. we couchsurfed this time with 2 girls who were on a study abroad. we met them in a park so we could decide if they were creepers or not and then went with them. haha turns out both parties were terrified. they were super nice though and it was good to have a free place to stay. margo and i wandered the streets of madrid going into all the museums and tons and tons of coffee shops just to get out of the cold! i drank a lot of hot water because everything is so expensive there! one thing i will say about spain is though that their ratio of attractive men seems to be very high compared to the united states...but then they open their mouths and all seem a bit too feminine all speaking with a lisp "abre la lussss -graathiassss"

we also made our way to toledo. a totally cool castle town. by this point we were exhausted and running on next to nothing. we bought a loaf of bread and a jar of off brand nutella and lived off of that for a few days... we were the cheapest of cheapest travelers! the town was beyond beautiful. tiny tiny roads that are all cobblestone and so narrow that you have to step into peoples doorways to avoid being hit by the cars. it is a total maze which opens up at the city center to a beautiful cathedral. we had a lot of fun wandering this old don quixote hide out. there are escalators up to the city from the small bus station at the bottom of the hill. it's awesome! we also saw the ancient roman circus ruins that had been left there and the running with bulls arena.

we went back to madrid for a day to wait for our flight back to the states. as i may have stated before it was COLD and we may have had a cool runnings moment where we put on everything that we brought with us... i had on 3 pairs of pants, 6 shirts, 2 jackets, a lavalava wrapped around me as a scarf, and a beanie... stylin.