Europe 08 trip highlights - Espania

Day 7 - Arrival in Spain
Our flight from Zurich to Malaga was broken up by a layover in Madrid. The airport in Madrid is quite dirty and, frankly, their security is a complete joke. We let Trent run around the airport and blow off some steam. At one point he found a toy car in a vending machine, and being the sweet boy he is, he went over to another kid, quite a bit older than him, and tried to play with him. The kid snatched the car away from Trent and took off leaving Trent screaming his head off. The kid's mother was on her phone and completely uninterested. Trent was screaming right in front of her and interrupting her conversation. Normally I'd pick him up and pacify him, but under the circumstances, I figured I needed to make a point. To her. So I let him scream and I said "It's ok Trent, maybe that was HIS toy. You can't keep it if it belongs to someone else". The woman gave the evil eye, but did nothing. I picked up my screaming kid and left feeling disgusted. The flight to Malaga was uneventful and Trent, as is becoming quite usual, was a complete angel, watching his "baby". He started associating the sign for baby with his DVD player during this trip, and so whenever he wanted to watch it, he would sign baby. Sooo cute.

We took a quick cab ride from the Malaga airport to the hotel. It was a nice hotel and on arrival we were offered a choice of orange juice or champagne. I took champagne, of course. Not two minutes after checking in, mum and dad appeared! Oh it was sooooo great to see them! Mum and dad had already hooked us up with a great room with a view, and had already set up the high chair for Trent in the dining room.
We took our bags up to the room and got settled in, then headed down for dinner. We went what they call "half-board" for this trip, which means that your breakfast and dinner are included. The dinner buffet was really good. I got Trent a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce, his favourite, and he devoured it in the usual manner, grabbing with his hands and smearing it all over his face in the process of shoving it into his mouth. People around us were highly amused. All the waiters and waitresses, and the hotel managers made a huge fuss over Trent. He just lapped it all up.

After dinner we went for a walk along the promenade and Trent fell asleep in his stoller.

Day 8 - First day in Spain
Breakfast was fabulous. A buffet of practically everything you could possibly want. You could choose from a full-English, to a continental, to just cereal or yogurt. There were so many types of breads and pastries, and the coffee was sooooo good. I don't even drink coffee but I did in Spain :-)
We spent the morning by the pool. Trent seemed to enjoy just sitting on the edge but had little desire to actually get in. Mum told me that their had been a scantily-clad water aerobics instructor the day before, and that he had a nice bum. He showed up again today and I goaded mum into doing the water aerobics with me. She was a good sport. Eventually, more people joined in. Such trend setters, we are.

We ate lunch at the poolside cafe, then let Trent take a nap. Later that day we headed down to the beach to let Trent run around. He really loved playing in the sand with Grandad. Mum and I took him down to the water's edge and he wasn't very enthusiastic about getting wet, so we let him be. A little later, Grandad brought him down to the sea and he slowly got brave and started to play in the surf. All he needed was his Grandad. Awh.

Dinner was awesome again. We learned from the previous night's experience that we should put a napkin over the table cloth in front of Trent. He practially ruined the one from last night. During dinner you could see people all throughout the restaurant commenting on Trent and how he used sign language to communicate with us. He signed milk, then when he was finished with his pasta he signed for more. We discovered that he really loves creme caramel (Flan to you Americans).
After dinner we went for a walk along the promenade again. This time we let Trent walk all over the place. He had so much fun. Every time he saw a dog he would get excited, sign the word dog, and make a bee-line for it. The dog owners were all so sweet and always stopped to let him pet their dog. So many people stopped to comment on how cute Trent is and ask how old he is.

Day 9 - 10 mile walk, anyone?
Today after breakfast we decided to take a leasurely stroll to the next town via the promenade. It turned out to be about a 10 mile walk, round-trip. We walked all the way to Benalmedina where we ate lunch at the marina, then we made the 5 mile walk back to Torremolinos. After a brief rest on our room we went down to the beach and spent the remainder of the time playing in the sand and running in and out of the surf with Trent.
We cleaned up and headed down for dinner at our usual time, and then out of our customary stroll along the promenade. We were now developing a routine. While we didn't do a whole bunch of exloring or sightseeing on this portion of our holiday, I was so happy to be just relaxing and spending time with my parents. I wanted to stay for so much longer than the time we had.
Day 10 - hanging around the pool and fun on the beach
This morning we booked an excursion to Africa for Saturday. It's such a shame to be so close and to not actually set foot on another continent. Mum, Dad, and I had been before, 24 years ago to be exact! YIKES! so it was time to go back for a visit. After that we took a walk and found a place to eat some lunch. Mum and I had Paella. I'd been dying to try it. I wasn't disappointed, either. After lunch we headed down to the pool for a while and mum did her marathon of 80 laps while we all hung out under the parasols and Trent napped. Then we had a coffee and headed out to the beach where Trent and I played in the surf and built sandcastles again. Brian, for the most part, just napped whenever we were on the beach. I guess he's not really a beach person.

As is our routine now, we ate dinner and went for a stroll. The hotel did provide entertainment in the evenings, but it wasn't very good. Trent would walk onto the empty dance floor and steal the show. At one point he walked in, danced on the dance floor to the lady singing. She got a huge kick out if it, and then when he was done, he started to clap and walk around, it looked so much like he was asking the crowd for applause that they all started clapping. In the middle of the song. How funny!

Day 11 - Train to Fuengirola
Today we decided to find the train and head out to another town along the coast. We thought we had an idea of where the train station was and headed in that general direction. We got lost. No worries, though, we had a map and were able to eventually find our way to the train station. It took us about 2 hours to find it.
The ride to Fuengirola was about 20-30 minutes with all the stops inbetween. When we arrived we made our way to the sea front and walked along till we found a suitable place to have lunch. All of the beach front towns on the Costa del Sol look the same. Fuengirola looked like Benalmedina, which looked like Torremolinos. There's not a whole lot to do but walk the prom, lay on the beach, eat, drink, and shop for souveniers. So after having our fill of that, we made our way back on the train. Trent is such a great traveler. During all of our journeys he was a model baby. Barely ever complained, and told us what he needed using signs so we were able to ensure all his needs were met and avoid tantrums.
After we arrived back in Torremolinos we made our way back to the hotel, wich was much quicker since we now knew where we were going.
We returned to the beach for an afternoon of playing with Trent in the sand. How he loves the beach. He and Nana would walk along the water's edge and Trent would find pebbles and throw them into the sea. He looked like he was having a blast. I know Nana and Grandad thoroughly enjoyed playing with him. Trent really took to his Grandad. He would go and snuggle up to him to play and build sand castles. Awh. I was in heaven. All the people I love most in the world all together having fun. What more could I want?

We rounded off the day with dinner and a quick walk and off to bed early because tomorrow would be a very long day!

Day 12 - Africa, baby!
Up at 5:30! ACK! This is supposed to be a holiday. Why the hell am I getting up at this ungodly hour?? because we're going to another continent! That's worth getting up for! Ok, so it's only Tangier, the very northern tip of Africa, but it's still Africa and it counts. Our main motivation for taking this trip was for Brian. Mum, Dad, and I, as I've mentioned have been to Tangier 24 years ago. We were curious to see the changes that had been made since we went, though.
The coach (glorified bus) picked us up at 6:30am and we made several other stops along the way. Our guide, Michelle, was wonderful. She was so very friendly and we were amazed at how easily she switched from one language to another. She spoke 4 languages: French (her native language), Spanish, English, and German. All fluently. Amazing. Michelle really liked Trent and played with him whenever she wasn't adressing the group. People in Europe are so friendly.

We took the fast ferry from Algeciras to Tangier. The fast ferry is a hoverfoil and it really did go fast. A regular ferry left a good 20 minutes before we did and we passed it in no time flat! After about an hour on the ferry we arrived in Tangier. The approach to Tangier was cool. You could see so many Moroccan-style houses cascading down the hillside. It looked like they were practically built on top of each other. When we got off the ferry, we were immediately swarmed by men wanting to help carry bags, etc. One man tried to take Trent and his buggy from me to help me up the stairs. I damn near broke his arm wrenching it off of the buggy. Nobody is treating my kid like a piece of luggage. I'll carry him my damn self thank you very much!

We got on a new bus and took a tour of downtown Tangier, stopping briefly for a camel ride. Then we headed to the Casbah where we would tour around the narrow, labrynth-like streets and soak in the culture. Inside the Casbah we were treated to a snake charmer show and I got to hold the snake... Afterwards we went for lunch at a local restaurant and treated to a traditional meal. The meal was actually quite good, and I imagine it contained more food in that one meal than most of these people ate in several days. So spoiled we are. During the meal there was a band playing traditional African music and the band members saw fit to entertain Trent doing peek-a-boo with thier instruments. Funny how peek-a-boo is so universal.

After lunch we went to the local market where we could buy souvineirs and chachkas. Brian and I aren't really souvineir people so we just enjoyed taking it all in. In the market place, children as young as 7 or 8 were pedalling goods. Prices started around 20 euros and very quickly dropped down to 5 euros the longer you said no. Everywhere you went someone was waving some unneeded item in your face. It was actually quite stressful. I don't like to be harassed like that. It must be successful, though, or they wouldn't do it. Nobody likes constant rejection and I imagine it can wear a person down. Interestingly, there were no women pedalling goods in this manner. In fact you scarecely even saw a female unless you peeked into a doorway into one of the many tiny sweat shops where they were busy working on sewing machines or other equipment to bang out these chachkas and nick-nacks.
Not much has changed in Tangier in 24 years. My memory of my original trip is somewhat hazy now, and I do recall the terrain being a little more rough. Perhaps they've improved their roads with cobblestone streets now, or perhaps we were in a different area of town the last time. Who knows. What I didn't see this time, though, was people upright begging. This time they were selling things. Although one child did say to my mum "you give me your loose change? just for me?" She would have if she had any, I am certain.
We got to see a demonstration of Moroccan rugs, which was very interesting, and the man presenting was cracking Brian and me up (unintentionally) with the way he spoke and his choice of words. The rugs were beautiful and all hand made. But it's completely impractical to buy one there when they are so readily available at home. Next we visited an apothecary (pharmacist) who demonstrated all of the homeopathic remedies they carry. Trent took a nap for this so I skipped the demo and hung out with our tour guide and mum.
Trent just rolled with everything the whole day. He was such a star! On our way back to Spain we had a small delay with the ferry and Trent made friends with some children in the terminal.

Back on the ferry, we all took turns chasing Trent around. We let him run around to his heart's content since he had been strapped into his stroller for many hours today. I chased him in and out of the empty seats and he was cracking up. So many people on the boat stopped to talk to him in all different languages. Upon arrival back on Spanish soil, we got back onto our bus and made our way back to the hotel. Trent passed out on his Nana. Such a good boy!

Day 13 - Relaxing day at the beach & a parade
Today (Sunday) we thought we would take a stroll into downtown Torremolinos. We stopped at a cafe and had a beer while Trent ran around in the plaza, then we went in search of somewhere to eat. We accidentally stumbled across a festival/parade. We don't know exactly what it was, but there were a lot of tractors and farm-type equipment, and people riding on wagons. Everyone in the parade was dressed in traditional spanish attire. Shot glasses could be purchased and as the parade passed by, people with large watering cans full of sangria would pour you a shot and also pour sangria down your throat!
After having our fill of the parade, we made our way back to the promenade in search of a lunch spot, picking up a couple of souvineirs for people at home along the way. After a frustrating search for a place with a high-chair (most places did not have them) we had to settle on a place that didn't have one, and pretty much tied Trent to a regular chair with a belt. Hey, it works. It might have looked a little barbaric, but it worked really well. So always wear a belt :-)
This being our final day in Spain, we had to round it out by giving Trent his, now much loved, time on the beach. And of course he had a blast. Running in and out of the waves, smashing my sand sculptures, and digging for pebbles to throw in the sea.

As is our routine now, we had dinner and went for a walk along the promenade. Of course, stopping to pet every dog that passed by until Trent got tired and passed out in his buggy on the way back to the hotel. I was wishing we could stay longer, and Brian was ready to go home.

Day 14 - NY here we come!
Lucky for us that our flight didn't leave Malaga until 2:40pm today, so we were able to spend time having breakfast together, and mum and dad took Trent for a walk while Brian and I finished packing. Then we checked out of the hotel, said our goodbyes, and headed one step closer to home. New York City.
The flight over was uneventful. Trent watched his DVD player, ate and took naps, and we arrived safely in NYC around 5pm that evening (which was around midnight to our body clocks). Unfortunately, there was a problem with our hotel reservation and I had to call Viji (0ur awesome travel agent) to fix it. Which she did. So after about an hour delay we were able to check into our hotel. Surprisingly, when we got there, the front desk was kissing our butts. I assumed it was because of Viji. Turns out that by some weird twist of fate, there was another person with our last name checking in that day, and he was a Hilton rewards member. It was HIS butt they thought they were kissing, and it was HIS room they gave us. They had lost our reservation, and even though Viji called to sort it out, they still didn't get it right! They woke me up at midnight to tell me that there was a problem with our room.
Having been on a trans-atlantic flight and was dog-tired, I wasn't feeling very friendly and as politely as I could, told the manager that this would have to wait until the morning. She finally backed off. But for the remainder of our stay, the front desk staff were incredibly rude to us!

Day 15 - Homeward bound
Having a few hours to blow in New York, we decided we would take the train down to Manhattan, have lunch in Central Park and let Trent run around since he'd be spending 4 hours strapped into an aeroplane again. We took the sky train, then the subway, and walked a few blocks to the park. Trent had a blast chasing the birds and petting dogs. Unfortunately he took a spill on a ramp and hit his head, resulting in a nice lump, bruise, and graze. It didn't seem to phase him much, though. Our little tough guy.

Finally, it was time to make the last leg of the journey. Home sweet home. And how glad we were when the plane's wheels touched down on Texas soil. There's no place like home :-)