Spain: Traveling (Part 1)

Post date: Sep 27, 2017 12:01:55 PM

By: Abbie Schmidt, Co Editor-in-Chief

Posted September 27th, 2017

Over the summer, I went to Spain with the high school. It was an unforgettable experience with so many memories I’m grateful to have. However, getting there wasn’t any small feat. We travelled for over 24 hours straight! Here is what I recall from that first day:

We had to arrive at the school at 11am and then took a 2 hour bus ride to Chicago. From there, our flight left at 4pm. We tried not to check any bags on the way there and only had to check one due to weight restrictions. On our first flight (with a German airline!), we received pretzels that looked like clouds. Because it was an 8 hour flight, we also received dinner and breakfast. I loved the food on this flight. Towards the end of our flight, there was a crazy beautiful sunrise out the window. The plane also had movie screens where we could watch pretty new movies or stream a view of the ground from cameras outside the plane. We could also see the flight path. I never realized that is would be quicker to reach Frankfurt by going over Canada, but it was. We arrived in Frankfurt at around 7:30am for our layover. We got our passports stamped in Germany, took out some Euros to get us going, and then got on a plane again for 3 hours. The second plane was the first time I’d slept since leaving. After we arrived in Malaga, we boarded a pink EF tour bus to take us into the city for a little tour while we waited for the rest of our group (2 groups from Florida) to arrive. After we walked around, we all sat in a circle and introduced ourselves to each other and talked about our expectations for the trip and what we normally do at home. Then, some of us laid down and took a ½ hour nap. Afterwards, we went back to the airport to pick up the Florida groups, and then we started our bus ride on our big, pink bus. We drove past rows and rows of olive trees. Then: our bus broke down. We waited for a couple hours, parked up a hill in around 90 degree weather. A new bus came and we stopped at a rest stop before continuing what felt like a never-ending journey. Finally, we arrived at the hotel for dinner around 8pm. That wraps up the first day (technically 2 days) of my unforgettable experience in Spain.

Our first plane, a German airline, that flew us into Frankfurt.

A beautiful building seen during our mini-tour while waiting for our other groups to join us.

A ferris wheel seen from a park where we all rested for a bit.

View of the sunset from our first night in a hotel in Granada, Spain.

A view of a port in Malaga, Spain.