sandy toes and orange peels

This past weekend, myself and four other girls went on our first weekend trip. What better way to start than the Mediterranean coastal Spanish town of Valencia. I don't know if you heard me correctly, but yes, I said Spain! I was always indifferent to Spain; never thought much in favor of it or thought I would ever choose to visit. But me oh my, am I glad we did! It was beautiful. Our flight out on Friday morning was brutal, being picked up by our taxi at 4:30 a.m. from the palace. But so worth it when we spent literally all day out on the Valencian beaches. After a delicious lunch of fresh shrimp, sea bass, and of course, sangria, we stopped by the market and bought Valencia oranges then hit the sand and surf.

The sun was bright, hot, and perfect. The weather here in Italy has been a bit overcast and cool for our early summer expectations, so the heat and light was refreshing. The grains of sand were the most beautiful caramel color and the sea was extra salty. At one point, I found myself wading deeper and deeper into the salty bath and just letting the waves break into my back. I knelt down and picked up a handful of the wet sand and rubbed the natural exfoliant all over my legs; best spa treatment ever. If I could have bottled that stuff, I would have! If you have ever been in an ocean this is no well kept secret, but there is something so mysterious, majestic, and awe inspiring about just being in that water. It's all connected; every sea and ocean connect somewhere somehow. Being in it, you are a part of this "greater whole". It was a very sobering and moving thought, standing alone in the Mediterranean Sea. Ah, take me back.

So after a long day traveling and in the sun, we hit the sack pretty early on Friday night and slept in on Saturday. We have picked up this mantra that we'd rather travel than eat, so in that same vein, we had trail mix and oranges for lunch, then made our way back to our beach spot. We made new friends from Barcelona, Norway, and even some Italian gentlemen celebrating a bachelor party. So needless to say, we had a lovely afternoon filled with more sand, sea, and socializing. Sunday was another early morning packed with metro navigating, security lines, and even almost getting escorted off an international flight...ok it's a good story now, mom and dad didn't think that one was so funny when I called to share! Well, apparently, when one travels through the Eurozone, a)they do NOT stamp your passport, but only your boarding pass, so that's no fun and b)at the inital gate, they should stamp both boarding passes. Well when three girls in a row boarded a plane with no stamped passes, Lydia the flight attendent got suspicious. As we were sitting in our row, waiting for take off, a man in sunglasses accompanied by a holster and walkie talkie, found our seats and asked to see our passes. Long story short, the pilot wanted to "float" us (airline lingo for kicking the ignorant Americans off of his plane) and leave our sunkissed little rumps right there in Espana- no thank you. After enough plaeading, praying, and eyelash batting we were given a stern lecture and allowed to stay. Being on our best behavior, of course, we finally made it home. 

So I said I wanted adventure, and now I fully understand what it means to "be careful what you wish for". Spain was good to me, my dear friends are good to me, Lydia the flight attendant ended up being good to us, sangria is my new favorite, this life is a dream, and I'm just getting started.

“andiamo!”

If you are reading along, I’d love to hear from you. I want to know all about your side of the pond, too!

P.S. Did I mention we got hair wraps and fresh coconuts from the gypsy woman on the beach?!