I arrived in Gibraltar yesterday and am now starting to look for boats to sail to the Canary Islands and then cross the Atlantic. It feels great to have completed the first part of the journey and I’m really excited to see what happens next.
In this blog post, I want to tell you about what I did in Madrid and southern Spain last week. I’ll also go into more detail about what I experienced and learned during the first part of my trip. This goes from banal things and lifehacks to a few deeper insights. I also have some numbers for you – for example, how many cars I sat in and how many steps I walked. Have fun reading.
Week 3: Burriana, Madrid and Southern Spain
Last week, I not only visited some friends on the SEA-EYE 4 in Burriana near Valencia, but was also able to visit the two rescue ships AITA MARI and OPEN ARMS. Once you’ve been on a rescue ship, it’s super exciting to get to know the different ships and to see the differences in the condition of the ships (the NGOs often can’t do much about that) and how the NGOs’ operational strategies adapt to the different conditions.
On Tuesday, I went to Madrid. Above all, I wanted to visit two people there: my buddy Cristhian from Mexico, whom I know from Bonn, and my friend Juli from Argentina, whom I met in Mexico. But since they were both in the middle of moving house, I couldn’t stay with them, so I tried Couchsurfing for the first time in my life. I was able to stay with André from Peru for two nights and got on well with him. On Wednesday, we had Peruvian food together and I’m already looking forward to hopefully getting to know the country next year! And Couchsurfing I will definitely continue 🙂
Apart from two nice evenings with Juli and Cris, I didn’t do much else in Madrid. I already knew the city and needed a break.
From Madrid, I went to Granada and I’m still really enthusiastic about the city! The houses are mega beautiful, the Alhambra is an absolute highlight from the outside (unfortunately I couldn’t go in, I have to come back) and the tapas are sooo good! In most bars you get a free tapa with every drink and most of them are mega delicious. I can really only recommend Granada to you – including the hiking destination “Los Cahorros”, which I visited on Saturday.
I was able to stay in the shared flat of Jan, whom I know from the former Mexico volunteers and who is also doing Erasmus at the moment. I also met Berni again, with whom I studied “Computer Science” in Mexico (I only studied abroad) and who now works at the university in Granada. Unfortunately, I missed my Chinese friend Luisa, who I also knew from Mexico and only found out afterwards that she had just moved to Granada. Of course, I also met a few new people and had a great time in Granada.
After Granada, I stayed in an Airbnb near Marbella on the beach from Sunday to Tuesday and took a break. Because – and I could hardly believe it myself – even I need a break from people at some point. One of the lessons I’ll write about below.
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Review of my Europe journey
When I write that I am now 3 weeks on the road, I can hardly believe it myself and it seems longer: how much can you experience in 3 weeks???
In the first part of my journey I have
- seen 12 cities in 4 countries
- met 46 people (& 1 dog) in 25 carpools
- met 19 friends again
- slept on 12 different mattresses and 2 sofas
- travelled 3527km between my stops
- 428,412 steps taken on site (approx. 300km)
- bawled German songs with a British woman in the South of France
- talked to a Russian about the war in Ukraine
- Lost 4 things (headphones, USB stick, sweatshirt, towel) – unfortunately also belongs to me and the things no longer…
- played billiards, darts, table football, cabo and geocaching
- not worn long trousers for over 2 weeks
- spent countless hours standing on roads and at rest stops
- played street music
- had lots of great encounters
I’ve had a really great time and I’m extremely grateful for everything I’ve been able to experience and I’m looking forward to much more to come.
In Madrid and Granada, however, I also noticed how exhausting the time was. I usually slept in other people’s rooms. On other journeys, I had time on the bus or train rides to come down and process things. But when you hitchhike, exciting things happen along the way, you are busy talking to people and there is always a certain insecurity. That’s why I skipped a stretch at the end of the trip and used Blablacar/bus/train.
As much as I like having people around me, meeting old friends again and, above all, getting to know new faces, I also noticed that after two and a half weeks it was enough – especially when you have to tell people who you are and what you’re up to in most encounters. (But it’s nice that the reaction to my plans was almost always enthusiasm).
That’s why the two days in Marbella were really good for me and my social battery is already pretty full again for the next encounters in Gibraltar and the next adventure.
In Latin America, however, I will definitely have to adjust my travel speed a bit. It’s nice that I planned a long visit to Mexico right at the beginning, because Mexico really is a second home to me!
Learnings
Now I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned with you (there will be a separate post on hitchhiking). I’m sure there are things you’ve always known, and some of them are just logical. But maybe there is also something new for you:
- Spain is and remains my favourite country in Europe (Germany excepted). Especially the food, the language and the colourful life on the streets convince me again and again!
- Lifehack: if you want to swim at the beach, bury your valuables in a waterproof bag under your towel in the sand! (Thanks, Sandra)
- Street music takes some effort and practice (regardless of the fact that you should of course have practice with the instrument you are playing :D)
- If you travel to Granada, you should book tickets for the Alhambra much earlier if possible. In my case, they were fully booked for more than 7 days – but fine, I’ll come back!
- Spain still needs to catch up on its own history
- Video telephony is really practical. I don’t know why I didn’t use it before.
- Freetours are a great way to get to know a city. Well, I knew that before, but I discovered it again and just wanted to recommend it here!
- Switzerland is expensive. Yes, that’s right, we know that too. But do you know how expensive it is? I went to a “cheap” restaurant and paid 26 euros for a Rösti and a Coke!
- Everyone has their own way of travelling (can also be applied to other things). You can be inspired by others and you can also adapt your way a bit, but in the end you will only be happy if you stay true to yourself. Sounds a bit trite, I know, but maybe you’ll forgive me if I add something banal:
- EU roaming does not apply in Switzerland. So obvious when you think about it. But I didn’t before. My dad made my entry into Switzerland a lot easier with a Swiss SIM card. Thank you at this point!
I’m happy about your feedback!