We woke and went to our continental breakfast, which was NOT as exciting as the first day… the fruit selection was WAY limited (only pineapple, and honey dew by the time I got there) and the main course was a ham and cheese croissant, which was yummy, but not “light” in anyway. Not to mention that ham is such an loaded choice, I mean, there are a lot of groups who won’t eat pig… just my thought.

Anyway, after breakfast, we did our session thing, I attended a particularly FASCINATING session by the FAB Paula Kluth, about Autism, and how to be more accommodating to individuals on the spectrum, in and out of the classroom. It was a TEN in my book.

We hit up Fresh Choice for lunch for some much needed green. I really don’t like salads, and the veggies were all raw, and not what I was looking for, so a little salad, a 1/2 cup serving of lentil soup, most of a tiny ‘tato, and cornbread(!) was delish.

After conference festivities were completed for the day, we decided to hit the pool again before getting ready for dinner. Lindsay and I were going to have dinner together, while Laura met up with an old friend, so we swam, showered, and got ready for the night.

Lindsay and I went to Baby A’s or Baby Acapulco’s, which was another great Mexican food spot. I got my usual, and it was very, very good, but my favorite was still el marcado’s.

At this point, we’ve missed a history making 12”+ of snow in our home town, and were pretty darn grumpy. We really wanted to be home with our family, and morning and the ride home were looking pretty promising.

————————–

We decided NOT to set the alarm in the  morning, but to wake when we woke, dress, pack, and hit the road. We checked out of the hotel at around 9:30-9:45, and made our way to 620 cafe and bakery in Round Rock. It was pretty adorable, but I have to admit. OUT OF CONTROL portions…

This is what my plate looked like before I ate:

And this is what it looked like once I’d been STUFFED:

Anyway, we drove through the snow as we headed north, but by the time we got home, so, so much of the record breaking snow was melted.

Sad.

I was overwhelmingly glad to be home. I love traveling, but I missed Daron, and my cats, and I really hated to miss the snow.

All in all, only a meeting with MizFit would have made the trip better, it was a blast.

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: austin, food, friends, travel, work

We went to a place called Hot Boiled, which is a Cajun/Creole/Vietnamese fusion restaurant. It was very small, and in a shopping center, but we were pretty happy with the food, I’d say. We started with grilled chicken springrolls with a traditional peanut sauce.

Cut into 6 pieces, we managed to have yummy noms while waiting for the rest of our food. I got a vegetarian rice noodle lo mein with broccoli and celery. It was SO much food, I felt like I ate, and ate, and ate, and there was still a whole plate left over.

After some more conferencing, we decided we needed to make an EMERGENCY BATHING SUIT RUN, and hit the pool. We soaked in the hot tub for a while and then, I realized I had an untapped resource with me!

Laura was a swimmer and swim instructor in high school and college! And as someone who thinks a sprint distance tri might be fun to do at some point, I should learn how to properly swim.

It did NOT go well. haha.

Needless to say, swimming is an art, and one that I had NO idea how to do properly. We ended up at the side of the pool on the steps, because I need to back up THAT far. I mean, I can float and waggle my body parts to propel myself through the water, but a true freestyle stroke, with the right head turns, and actually BREATHING, is definitely hard.

I pretty much spent as much time LAUGHING as I did trying to swim. haha.

After that, we went to the most AMAZING burger place I’ve ever been to, Elevation Burger in Austin on Arboretum BLVD was unreal. We had organic grassfed beef burgers, fries cooked in olive oil, (and most of a hand spun, to-die-for chocolate shake)

One of those amazing chances to splurge while still making a few small choices that improve the experience. It isn’t health food, it isn’t even particularly healthy at all!! It could be worse, much worse… but it could NOT have TASTED better, I assure you. I had a burger with ketchup, mustard, cheese, caramelized onions, and pickle. HOLY YUM.

(I also learned laura-in the center- is a fry dipper, who knew!!??)

Not me, I like my fries doused in only ketchup, thankyouverymuch.

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Post tags: food, friends, travel

The three of us teachers, were rousted this morning, earlier than we planned with 3 simultaneous notifications that our district would be closed due to the significant snow!

Meanwhile, we’re down here, NOT having a snow day, ready to go and learn all about special education advancements!

We’re glad to be here, but we would have also been glad to be cuddled up at home, having a snow day.

My hubby sent me a photo of the snow, look how beautiful it is there… I really wish I could see it.

The conference promised us all “continental breakfasts” but I was so pleased to wake up and see some actual warm food! I had the vegetarian egg scramble (eggs, peppers, potato), a few strawberries and a slice of pineapple (the honeydew was definitely not edible, unfortunately. It was supposed to be breakfast tacos, but I skimped on the tortillas, and saved the calories for the 2% in my coffee.

We’re going to head out to some sessions now, but I’ll be back later with more gut-wrenchingly exciting happenings.

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: breakfast, snow, travel

I want to thank you for the outpouring of support I’ve received via comments, twitter, and forum discussions regarding my article, when they STOP mentioning it. (Click here to read) The topic is so important to me, and I”m glad to know that it is meaningful to others too.

On to the roadtrip!

I’m in Austin this morning, at a teacher’s conference, and yesterday was the big trip! We’ve already had quite a wonderful adventure. Lindsay and Laura got to my house at 11, and we hit the road.

Our first notable happening (if you don’t count the 1.5 hours of rapid-fire-get-to-know-you-better conversation, is a Texas GEM that almost everyone who has ever traveled from the Metroplex the ATX knows about.

CZECH STOP!

The Czech stop is a haven for kolaches and other amazing pastries. It is a right of passage, of sorts. If you’re going to ATX, you stop at czech stop and get a yum yum. I picked up a strawberry and cream cheese danish, and ate about half of it. Best $.99 I’ve spent in a long while.

We kept on trucking down the road, through a little bit of sleet, (and getting out of the way of 2 HUGE hay trucks that were raining down rubbish on my precious ride) and got to Austin in Great TIME.

We checked in at the hotel, picked up our conference materials, and set out to have dinner with Laura’s Bro.

We stopped at a place called, El Marcado (South) and I fell in love with Austin all over again.

This little menu disclaimer made me REALLY happy! They had a DELISH looking vegetarian selection, allowed for items to be prepared dairy free, and use no animal products (read: LARD) in their delicious sides!!

I ordered my standard, and my FAVORITE thing ever… 2 Verde Enchiladas (Prepared Dairy Free – meaning not smothered in Sourcream sauce and cheese- cause anyone who knows tomatillo sauce like I do, knows that tomatillo needs no other accoutrements taining its glory!) which was served with their Tex-Mex beans and rice (both animal byproduct-free! yay!)

I didn’t love the rice, and left that, but I positively DEVOURED the enchiladas and beans. The verde sauce was literally the BEST I’ve ever had… and I’ve had a lot! I wish I could eat there every day, because it was THAT good. YUM. YUM. YUM.  (sorry for the excessive CAPS-for EMPHASIS, but this is serious foodgasm business, people. )

We were there for literally 3+ hours, talking about all sorts of things. Laura’s brother was a great conversationalist, and we had a great time.

The prices were great too, my plate was under $8! Laura and her brother tried a beverage, that I didn’t try, called a Mexican Martini… 1 shaker yielded each of them, 4-5 drinks! All for four bucks! that’s a good deal!

The waitstaff was so nice too. Our waiter even photobombed us, without shame… Austin is a great time.

After saying goodbye to our host, the girls went and picked up a couple of emergency items,

and after a few more HOURS of conversation, we finally hit the sack.

All in all, a fantastic first day in austin.

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: austin, food, friends, reviews, travel, work

Yea, I know it was July… and I know it is now almost the end of SEPTEMBER, but just know that it has been a tough few weeks for me, and that writing this blog was more difficult than I could have expected.

One reason being that writing the last blog really makes it done, and over, and I swear to you, I think of Madrid, Naveda, and my family there almost every day.

I’m homesick for Spain… and it sucks.

I’m gonna start this last recap by finally dishing the goods about how Lola and I met. In about, 2003 (our best summation) I got really into Star Wars. The prequels were coming out, and I just really got excited about the new movies. Well, the giant nerd that I am, and the even bigger internet nerd that I am, meant that I had to find a message board to talk about the movies. As you might imagine, most of the message boards about Star Wars were full of 30-40 year old men who weren’t too stoked about teenage girls using their space. It was then that I found Lola’s website which was dedicated in discussing many of the visual components of the films, including the elaborate costumes and make up of the illustrious Natalie Portman’s character, Padme. On Lola’s site, was a message board where we could talk freely about how cool the dress she wore in the Naboo wedding scene was, and how dreamy Ewan was as Obi Wan. A perfect fit.

As often happens on the intarwebs, our common interests lead to PM’s on the board, and later, emails. Still months after that, one of the two of us found some cool trinket we thought the other would like, and our addresses were swapped. Years passed, and we’ve graduated to skype chatting with full video and audio, as well as the virtual meeting of many family members. So, now, 6 or so years later, we text, email, have conversations, mail holiday packages, and mean the world to each other.  THAT is why the conference in Spain seemed so fortuitous… cause we’d finally get the chance to be on the same continent. So, there you have it, how Lola and I met… how I got a sister-fresh from the intarwebs.

VACATION RECAP: NAVEDA, SPAIN

After Paris, it was time to venture to the North of Spain to a beautiful region of the country littered with tiny villages all nestled into the valleys between beautiful mountains.

Our arrival at Naveda:

We were greeted with a full table, with wine, jamon, and a rice dish that mama makes, that she says isn’t truly paella, but it is close enough for the American’s to be excited.

Lunch was served under this beautiful covered section on the side yard, to the side of the main house, which was spectacular. I never got a solid consensus about the exact age of the house, but we regularly landed on “over 300 years old” so, wow. That is old.   The villages in this area came to be when the lord of the land had the big house (like lola’s family’s) and the smaller buildings housed the other people of the community who commonly worked for the lord.

I’m not going to waste time talking, I’m just going to post photos of this beautiful house.

I can’t begin to tell you just how hard it is to pick a dozen pictures when I took hundreds.  Anyway…

One of the best things about Naveda was spending time with the family. Rafa (Dad) has had two best pals since he was young, and I was lucky enough to meet them both. Add that to Mama teaching me to cook tortilla in the kitchen, and it felt like a family reunion.

Eventually it was time for the four amigos, me and D plus lola and edu to head up the mountain! This proved to be one of the most awesome parts of the whole trip. We positively fell in love with the immaculate views, and fresh air. It was markedly cooler up on the top, and the clouds were literally running right over and around us. We even drank from a spring coming from the side of the rocks. It was quite possibly the most scenic place I’ve ever been… (this coming from a girl who was married on a mountain top in Sedona with 2 rainbows above her head).

You see!? See why I want to be there right now? Isn’t it beautiful!?

I know.

Anyway, after a few days in Naveda, it was time to drive back to Madrid. The car ride was filled with much LOUD singing, getting pulled over by the police, and spontaneous bouts of crying in the backseat, which I tried to hide from my traveling partners. Driving back from Naveda, a hidden paradise of simplicity where a man left fresh bread on the door each day, and if you wanted a soda you’d need to drive for 20 minutes, felt like the beginning of the end. And it was… it was in Naveda that we had to say our first goodbyes. Goodbye to mama and papa… goodbye to crisp air, goodbye to hundreds of year old wood beneath your feet while you padded to the bathroom in the morning. Goodbye to sipping irish creme and playing cards until well past bedtime…

I hate goodbyes, but those were especially hard.

*ohgawd, I’m crying again…* :’(

When we got back to Madrid, we mostly just hung out and relaxed in an attempt to get ready for our long plane ride home. We ordered Paella in a great iron pan and they delivered it like pizza, and we Edu watched a bit of formula 1 racing. I managed to get through my goodbyes to Rafa without crying (you’re welcome, sire!) but we tried hard to just laugh, eat, drink, and be merry.

Boy oh boy, walking away at the terminal was nearly impossible. But in an effort to dry my eyes and wrap this up, I’m going to keep the details of that moment for the four of us. 

So there you have it… the trip of a lifetime came to an end, and the waiting period began. Now we’re just counting down the days until we manage to see each other again.

We love you guys, and miss you more than you know. Talk to you soon.

***Note: Both Rafas are quite elusive and masters of avoiding the cameras. But we miss them too.

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: lola, naveda, spain, travel

Well, I’m running a little behind on these updates, but I have a good excuse. It is really tough to recap a trip that was as full and rich as this one was! And the tiny happenings and stories that I love, don’t always make for good blogging, so I’ve gotten a little off. Anyway, I’ve got 2 posts left, after this post, just 1 left, then it is back to regularly scheduled blogging! If I feel particularly enthused, I might finish them both tonight!

So, we’re off to PARIS!

Why do little girls dream of Paris? Why do we buy into the idea that it is as romantic as it seems in all the movies? Because we’re hopeless saps. That’s why.

Getting to Paris took a little work… my lola isn’t too fond of flying, so we talked about all the things that went wrong in the Half-Blood Prince movie to keep calm.

When we arrived, we took the Metro line called the RER into the city and walked from our stop to our hotel. Ahhhhh, the Hotel.

Hotel Delavigne has an ADORABLE website, and claims to have quaint parisian rooms, and that might be so, but we didn’t really notice, because we were so overwhelmed by the completely intrusive and extensive construction!! This was the view from my “romantic” parisian hotel:

And I do mean this was DIRECTLY outside the window. Edu actually did climb out the window and onto the scaffolding. He is so funny, but really, this sucked.

We headed out for a walk at the nearby Jardin du Luxembourg which was really pretty! It was full of iron chairs for anyone to sit in, while watching the people, or the bees, or the fountains. It was actually a really nice garden, and I enjoyed walking around it very much.

Edu… that boy. Well, he (being the day’s navigator) took the helm and the map, and proceeded to begin and guide our rag-tag booties towards the eiffel tower. What we failed to notice was that what looked like a hop, skip, and a jump away… a maybe 40 minute walk, ended up taking well over 2 HOURS. WOA. Edu didn’t seem to mind, but the rest of us were DYING! Ha.

I will say that on this walk, I saw two things that made me the experience quite authentic.

1. A real, live wino:

2. My first view of the Eiffel Tower!!! (Still well over an hour away! haha, lol, lmao, omgmyfeetaregoingtofalloffanddie)

When we finally arrived, I did demand that we get a photograph for the powder bathroom of us kissing at the tower. Yes, it is adorable.

After that episode of girliness, we decided to let our poor feet rest, and just eat some random crap food by the river while we waited for the riverboat tour to begin. It really wasn’t that it was that bad, it was just overpriced tourist food NEXT to the tower, and beside the docks for all the tourists river boats.  I will say that the riverboat tour was a great surprise. I wish the audio had been synched up properly. They introduced each monument, a good 2 minutes before the boat was near it, so, that kinda sucked. hehe. The views, and the ambiance were, however, excellent. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the tour:

After that awesome tour, more excitement ensued. We got in a cab. Edu spoke in perfect and fluent (Both Lola and Edu speak fluent French) French that we needed to go to blah, blah street and our cabbie who clearly didn’t understand or ask for clarification. He proceeded to drive us to the wrong side of the river, and quite far from our hotel. He begin to stammer something about a four passenger fee, and Edu started seeing red. He started politely asking him what was happening, and then it got heated. He’d taken us far away, no idea where we wanted to go, and if we didn’t get out of the cab, he might have tried to get cash from us and so when Edu said “OUT”, we all spilled out, as the cabbie sped off. At this point, we’re REALLY far from the hotel, not totally sure where we are, and needing to find another cab. When we did, the driver didn’t show a great deal of sympathy, but did drive the entire route with his mapsco in his lap (and neither hand on the wheel). We arrived home unscathed. Of course, this called for a sweet treat… (you know, to calm the nerves) so we walked to this great little crepe stand not far from our hotel. It was easily passed twelve, but the street was kicking. I ordered my nutella crepe all by myself, and in French, which was very fun, and we proceeded to NOM the hell out of some delicious street food.

In the morning, we packed up and went to a nearby cafe for some brekkie. I love this picture…

After that, Edu headed off to sort out some University business (he’s studying in Paris for the next year) and the three amigos headed to the Arc du Triumph and the Champs Elysees (after the failsplosm that was “RUE CLER” bah!) which was actually a very pleasant surprise.

While we were there, we found an awesome patisserie and had some more sweetness. YUM!

At this point, we began to head towards Notre Dame which was our last stop before going to the Louvre.

Whew, I know this is getting long, but I cannot justify breaking the paris section of this trip into 2 posts, bear with me, I’m almost done!

The Louvre

The Louvre is amazing, and huge, and beautiful. It really does deserve a trip all on its own. We had 3-4 hours. So we didn’t even see a FRACTION of what we wanted to see… but I would like to share a few pictures with you. Some of the building, and some of my favorite pieces of artwork. The information card will be posted directly to the right of the artwork photograph.

After the Louvre, we had time to grab lunch, so we found an open restaurant. The waiters apparently live to serve tourists, so we were drowned in “Ohhhohohohhhhh”s and “ooohhhlala!”s After that we had to head back to the airport, so, we jumped on the line (after one more nutella crepe for me) and headed back to the airport, where we ended up waiting for our delayed flight (a second time) back to Madrid.

I would like to say that I feel that my experience in Paris was fun, and I’m glad I went, but I don’t feel like I had an authentic Parisian experience. Yes, I went to touristy places, but easily 90 percent of the human beings I saw while I was there was a tourist. The workers wouldn’t speak french to us (even those in our party who speak fluent french) and they just seemed to water down the whole experience by being prepared to cater to stupid and pigheaded american tourists. I would have been pleased to meet snotty french people who won’t help you find the bathroom. At least that would have been more authentic. In all, it was a good place to visit, but tough to squeeze into 36 hours. Oh, and the Paris metro is poopy. Especially compared to the glory which is the Madrid metro.  I loved the tower, and the crepes, but it was intensely crowded, and seemed disengenuous at this peak of tourist season. Live and Learn.

Up next, my last installment!! “Home Sweet Naveda” where I’ll discuss how a sleepy village of no more than 30 people became my favorite place on earth, how my family grew by 4 people overnight, and how I learned that I’m a mountain girl at heart.

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: food, france, lola, paris, travel

We started out the way anyone going to a major European city should: walking! As I was still excited, fresh, and not about to keel over from exhaustion, the walking was not too much to handle. I’m sure we walked several miles the first day. We walked through their immediate neighborhood, and I saw a local market that was soooo cool. Of course, they say it is no big deal, but I really loved it. Each counter is independently operated, and there is competition inside (i.e. 2 fish guys, or 2 bakers).

We continued our walk, and soon entered a more “down town” area where I saw lots of cool monuments:

• Puerta de Toledo Edu commented below to tell me that it is actually ”Puerta de Alcalá”!! Thanks Edu!        a monument that still shows damage from bullet holes
  • 
• Fuente de la Cibeles- A 18th century monument featuring the goddess of nature being pulled in a chariot by two lions. I liked this one a lot!
  • 

I’ll take this moment to say that the Madrid subway system is impeccable. It is clean, cool, friendly, and easy to navigate. I <3 that subway.

The next day, we went down near the Prado Museum and then into the Botanical Gardens. Please endure this brief picspam of the beautiful flowers.

Ahhhhh, I love the flowers.

Anyway, that afternoon Hubs arrived. The next morning, was the TENNIS SHOWDOWN!

Daron is a serious tennis player, and upon discovering that Edu plays too, he immediately knew that they’d have to play at least once in Spain. We got to the court, and Daron found out that the “hard court” surface was actually slick as hell, and it was a new experience, for sure. Edu held his own, and certainly hits the ball hard, but in the end, D was victorious. The final score involved some numbers in some order, but what is important is that Lola and I were exceptional ball girls, and held that match together. haha.

The next day (or maybe that day, I can’t remember) we did some more awesome sight seeing!

I loved going to Plaza Mayor in the center of Madrid, near Rafa’s place. It was cool to see all the old shops, and streets that really are like going back in time. I was NOT a fan of all the damn mimes, though. I do NOT like those dudes who act like statues. I mean, I was squealing like a baby. DO NOT WANT.

While down town, we also got to see kilometer zero (the historical center of Madrid) and the Bear statue, which is not as big as I thought. (The photo is from another day, but is a better shot of the bear)

We also saw the Royal Palace, which was absolutely amazing. I can’t believe that a place like that is within walking distance of their house! The gardens surrounding the place were beautiful, and I really loved the hedges.

Isn’t that precious? Edu and Daron holding hands in that last picture?! (haha, optical illusion, but it would be hilarious if it were true)

Anyway, the sights in Madrid were spectacular, and Madrid has climbed the ladder to become maybe my favorite “big city” in the world. It is beautiful and the people are amazing. I loved being able to walk around and feel completely safe and at ease. Everyone was kind, and while there was the occasional vendor, it was great to say “No gracias” and for them to just grin and walk away. That oppressive and invasive type of solicitation just wasn’t there. While it was a big city, it didn’t stink, and it was clearly well cared for by the people who call it home.

We’re about to set off for Paris, and I’ll just say that NOTHING about the Paris trip went according to plan…

Up Next: Paris-Not all its creped up to be

If you missed part 1 or part 2 of my vacation recap, just click the link to read about it.

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: lola, madrid, spain, travel

So, we got home, and I toured the house, and met Mamá who is completely wonderful and Dad (Rafa) who is really, really, really smart and considerate. They are super sweet people for letting me stay with them (and later, Daron too!) and they have a beautiful home. Before I passed out from exhaustion, Mamá presented me with a present, a beautiful Spanish fan. After a quick lesson on how to flick it open and closed like a pro, I was ready to crash. Lola and I were catching a train in the morning to the Mediterranean coast and the city of Alicante.

In the morning, we got on the train, and I have to admit, it was completely awesome! It was a great temperature, roomier than a plane, and the scenery was amazing. I’m so glad I had that experience. When we got there, it was time for me to head to the conference packet-pickup, and touch base with my school people.

The next few days were a mixture of work and play. In the mornings I would go to the conference to work a little bit (because my professor was the organizer of the whole shebang) and learn. In the afternoons, I would meet up with Lola and we’d go walking around Alicante to window shop, eat, or visit the beach. After 2 days, I think, Edu and Rafa (the other Rafa, Lola’s amazingly smart and funny boyfriend) drove down and spent the last 2 days in Alicante too. Their hotel was just up the street from us, and it was nice to have some men folk around to protect us delicate-female-type-flowers. hehe.

Highlights of Alicante include:

• the first of 3 Nutella crepes that I ate while I was in Europe,
  • 
• a PERFECT day at the beautiful (boobie covered) beach,
  • 
• seafood paella,
  • 
• discovering lemon KAS (best soda ever),
  • 
• falling in love with Spanish café con leche,
  • 
• sunrise over breakfast on conference days,
  • 
• the adorable streets in Alicante (once you get far enough away from the touristy part),
  • 
• and my first conference presentation!

To briefly mention my presentation, I’ll say that it went really well, I think. I had a relatively big turn out for the numbers there, and I got lots of positive feedback! It was an amazing experience, and I’m sure I’ll present more in the future. For what it’s worth, I think that the “RCC” is more suited for classroom teachers’ development, but it went well anyway. On top of that, I got to spend a lot of time with my mentors (doc students that are also TA’s in some of my classes)… those girls are amazing. I learned so much from them. Maybe one day soon, I’ll feel like a peer, and not their dumb student. haha.

At the last minute, we decided that we’d get a refund on our return train ticket and go back to Madrid with the boys via car! It was a great ride back, and I had my first taste of Spanish tortilla (which has nothing to do with flour or corn) at a GAS STATION cafe but eventually became my favorite Spanish food.

Back at home, we have come time to kill in Madrid before hubs shows up, so we need to find a way to keep ourselves busy!

Up Next- Part 3: Madrid before and after hubster’s arrival!

If you missed part 1 of my Vacation Recap, you can read it all here.

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alicante, grad school, lola, spain, travel

I have no idea how many blog posts it will take for me to get it all out, but I’ll try to be clear and mention all of the good parts in turn.

I have 1,168 photos from the trip and when I tried to trim it down to “highlights” I only got it down to 298!! HA! Anyway, that means that there are a crap ton of photos, which I will gladly link to, but there are a lot to wade through.

So, I guess I’ll begin at the beginning.

Part 1: Crossing the Pond and the Hug of a Lifetime.

I was so excited on departure day, that I am positive my husband considered dropping me off at the airport 5 hours early just to be rid of me. I was anxious to be traveling alone, but the staff @ lufthansa was really nice. My seatmate was a very kind, but very severe Finnish man, who reminded me of one of the bad guys from Indiana Jones. When I took my seat with my massive backpack, he offered to put it in the overhead bin for me. When I refused (as all of my junk was in there) and told him I’d keep it under my seat, he chuckled and said he’d be happy to move it for me when I got tired of having my knees in my chest after 6 hours. (I should note that this very comment prevented me from asking him to move it for me when I got tired of having my knees in my chest after 6 hours.) I didn’t get much sleep, though I tried… At one point, I woke, and kept smelling something funny. It took me about an hour to figure out that it was the gaping mouth of the Lars on my right. Ugh. The food wasn’t anything to write home about on this flight, but was certainly appreciated. Entertainment while on board was pretty okay, I watched Confessions of a Shopaholic, Duplicity, and I Love You, Man

The layover was a BEATING. I arrived about 8.5 hours before my connecting flight was to take off, so when I asked a lady how I was supposed to go about getting my boarding pass, she either misunderstood, or thought I looked gullible, because she told me just to “Exit”… I took that to mean that I needed to fully exit the airport and re enter so that I could go to the ticket counter again. (which it turns out I DEFINITELY did not need to do) this process ended up taking almost a full hour, because the Frankfurt airport is a REALLY big travel hub. When I got to the passport counter, the German passport control was a really big and intimidating guy. I swear he looked at me for, like 3 minutes, up and down at my passport picture. It made me nervous! I swear I started sweating and my face got red, like I was guilty! Anyway, after about a thousand minutes, he slammed his stamp against my passport without looking down and said, “Velcome to Germany”… hehe. It was pretty funny.

In the airport, I had a LONG time to kill, which I filled with mulling around the duty free shops, hunting for an ATM, playing on my DSi (Daron’s graduation present for me!!), and having a skype convo with Daron once he finely got up! The flight into Madrid went pretty fast, but when we started our decent, I started to lose it. I was looking down on the Madrid area, and hoping my new traveling companion (that suspiciously enough, I can NOT for the life of me remember ANYTHING about… creepy) wouldn’t notice the tears starting to well in my eyes. The close we got to the ground, the more I had to fight them back. The anticipation, the uncertainty, the anxiety… it just kept building.

The wait for my luggage almost unbearable… I finally grabbed my bag from the belt frantically, and ran for the exit door. I couldn’t keep my tears from falling at this point, and my breathing was strained… on the verge of hyperventilation. Was she there? Did she find the right gate? Was there an accident that might keep her from being there on time? Does my hair look okay? I should have stopped to pee. What if she doesn’t like me… What if i don’t recognize her…

The faces at the curb were all strange and new. Signs beckoned for “Smiths” and “Lopez”, and people on tiptoes pressed against the railings, looking for those who had traveled to see them. Shirts were rubbed flat, taxis were being hailed, and people were struggling with the almost-too-full suitcases they tugged behind them. And then, above the sea of strange faces, one that I knew and love… one with eyes, full of tears like mine, one of my beautiful Lola, waiting, just like me, to hug the sister she’s never touched.

We couldn’t get to each other fast enough, and yes, we were those crazy people in the airport who are hugging and crying in front of everyone. I knew she was tall, but I still smiled as I looked up at her. I know her voice, but her laugh was so light and joyful, it took me by surprise… I already memorized the shape of her glasses, and the brown of her hair, but I could never have imagined the warmth of her hugs. My sister, my friend, my lola.

Up next, Alicante and the IASE Conference!

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: family, friends, lola, spain, travel

1. The HATBUS daily wardrobe figure-outer.

I made this up, because I’m crazy. I just jot a little stick figure, and the word HATBUS on a little note pad and it helps me plan what I’m going to wear (and what to pack) for everyday!

Hair, Accessories, Top, Bottom, Undies, and Shoes

2. Lined Trip Notes.

I made these, because I LOVE writing out lists. This is the perfect note paper for writing down your list of things to do, to buy, and to pack for your trip. For me, I liked the free form way that the categories are divided, because my notes are often misshapen and random. I just print out a page or two of these and use them to collect my thoughts for the trip in one place. (and NOT on a million post-its.

Click below to download the PDF!

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3. My perfect Itinerary worksheet

I like to have an itinerary… and I like it to be detailed. I want to be able to write down things, in the order that they happen, as well as jot any pertinent information regarding that activity in one place. For that, I use this 2-day per page itinerary format. I like that it folds, long ways, and that I can see 2 days at one time. It lets me track things by the hour, which helps keep me organized. For me, it is the perfect itinerary planning worksheet. I type what I know in the Excel Document, print it out, and update other information, as it develops in pencil.

Click below to download the XLS!

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4. Great travel snacks

I REFUSE to blow my vacation money on airport food and fast food that is bad for me. I LOVE junk food. But with a little planning, I can leave my (8 hour!) layover with a clear concience. I want to eat like a queen while I’m on vacation, but not in the airport. So, I will be bringing some really great snacks.

• Fruit
• Peanut Butter packets (I found mine at Sprouts)
• Home Made Muffins (I’m making zuchinni and something else… I haven’t decided yet. )
• Home Made TRAIL MIX! – For way cheaper (And healthier), I went to the bulk bins at the whole food store (Again, I went to sprouts) and put together my own trail mix including: raw almonds, dried apple rings, dried apricots, dried raisins, peanuts, roasted peas, sunflower seeds, annie’s cheddar bunnies, and peanut butter puffins. It isn’t SPOT on the recommended daily break down of proteins and fats, but it is pretty close, and I will be eating it as a full meal:

I suppose that is all… (I can’t think of a 5th one! GAH! that makes me crazy. haha.)

I hope that these tips help you in your travels… Have a great day!

© Kelsey for Kelsey Toney, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: spain, tips, travel