Spain: Day 1 - Plane, Plane, Bus, Car.

It's a long trip to Santander, Spain.

Beautiful Santander, Spain

Really, you've got to fly 7 hours (that's literally the time you spend in the air, not listening to the safety videos and whatnot) to Paris, layover for a couple of hours, and then fly almost another couple hour to Bilbao.  And then you've got to get in a car and drive for over an hour.  Oh yeah, and all the flights to Europe leave at night, so you don't get sleep.

"Read more" below to read more!  ...And see tons of pictures!

In France, I almost accidentally ended up on an express bus to Paris because I don't speak French.

It all started when I tried to get to the solitary and lonesome Terminal G.  Terminal G at Charles de Gaulle, if you don't happen to know, is all by itself smack dab in the middle of nowhere.  Literally, you have to take a shuttle bus for like 11-15 minutes or so just to get there.  There's no trains connecting it...no nothing.

Big Burger at JFK 

This will help me sleep.

Plane #1

Who knew the entertainment systems ran Linux?

Dinner #2

Air France sure has their share of A380s...

I followed the signs for the shuttle bus outside and hopped in through the back door of a double-long bus because on the side of the bus, I saw an arrow and something with the letter "G."  Well it only took just over one stop before I realized that:

1) The terminals we were going to were going backwards alphabetically...and

2) The little fancy moving map screen they had did not have a line going to the lonesome Terminal G.

I quickly realized that if I didn't get off of this bus, I would end up in Paris and probably would miss my flight.  I also realized that I had illegally snuck onto this bus without paying a fare.  Lovely.

Nice part of Charles de Gaulle

Cool ad!

BRAND NEW CHAIRS at Charles de Gaulle.  The bubble wrap is to the right.

I had to sit in one.

Santander is absolutely, breathtakingly, amazingly, gorgeous.

It's on the northern coast of Spain and the water is as blue as it can get.  It's ridiculously blue.  Everyone here seems to be really laid-back and nice…definitely different than the mean New Yorkers back home. I took a short nap and then headed out to find somewhere to eat.

I stumbled upon this one fish place with this really nice owner named Jose.  He helped explain everything they sold and was really understanding.  So, I sat outside on a quiet street and ate meatballs, a potato salad, bread, and water while watching people stroll (slowly) by.

Beautiful!

So blue...

Lots of people here seem to dry their clothes outside their windows

View from room

Room

Awww~

I managed to find dinner

So blue!

Shampoo and cleaning supplies

My Spanish is horrible.  At one point, I could make out basic sentences.  ...Apparently not anymore.

It really is lousy.  I met this really nice old grandmotherly lady named Mercedes who is in charge of the hostel-type residence that we are all staying at.  The residence is run by nuns or is somehow affiliated with the Catholic church, and is a great, clean little place close to the main street.

Anyway, Mercedes was sure to show me how the blinds worked and everything.  We spent an inordinate amount of time gesticulating and communicating to each other what should have taken less than 14.5 seconds.  She seems to be quite a sweetheart, though.  :)

Well, I am absolutely exhausted so will head to bed early tonight.  Good night everyone, or in more appropriate terms…¡Buenas noches!

-Charlie