My first vacation
This is the 3rd time I've ever gone out of the US. The first time was an impromptu trip to Argentina to see my business partners. I did not explore Buenos Aires whatsoever. Not even like once. We were extremely busy working on our product we had to ship, and while I was there for over a month I only went outside like...once.
Then I went to Thailand, but the trip's purpose was entirely just to have surgery. I spent a month post-covid in quarantine, locked in a hotel recovering, and the only slight exploration I did was a single night in Bangkok. I would hardly say it was vacation.
Beyond that, yes, I've been all over the US. I am extremely well traveled in the United States. But never truly vacationing, except one week in Puerto Rico (which was good). The majority of my travel has always been for competition, sports, or genuinely difficult and strenuous activities. I've cycled across the country, skateboarded it, and hiked across it. Was it a vacation? I don't know.
So that leads me here. I had been dreaming of doing the Camino de Santiago for a while after I completed the Appalachian Trail. It's not too long, and I don't need to quit my work or cancel my life to do it. So I bought the plane tickets once I got my first marketing clients, and started planning...
But 2 weeks before I was supposed to go, with all my stuff packed, I said "why?" Why put myself through a difficult hike in a strange place when instead I could go and see the world? Looking at my bank account with all the hard work I've been doing I decided this was my ultimate adventure. A vacation. A break. After 3 years of building a business from nothing, losing it, building a bus to live in, losing it, and then rising up as a developer and marketer...I've had literally zero days off. None. I'm a workhorse, I know that. It's hard to say I deserve anything besides a punch in the face, but I deserve a vacation.
So I arrived in Madrid off the back of my Camino plans. My flight was delayed, which canceled my plans to walk from the Camino start to Pamplona, but it was fine. This is solo travel. I'm not broke for the first time in a long time. If I lose a ticket or something changes I can pivot. So I booked a hotel in downtown Madrid, slept off my jet lag, and had a cute little night just eating and drinking. Nothing too crazy, but that's because I was overwhelmed.
I remember how alien Thailand felt. Sure they spoke English most places I went, but the signs and the whole landscape was incredibly foreign. Madrid was worse than that. Very few Spanish waste their time learning English. The signs are in Spanish. And every time I try to be not a stupid tourist and say "Hola!" they think that means I speak Spanish. The ultimate catch 22.
Leaving the airport was overwhelming. I tried to follow the signs for rideshare pickup like you do at an American airport, but then they just stopped. I could have taken the subway but I didn't understand the address of where I needed to go. What the hell is calle 26? You can just say that and then people know where they are going? Crazy. In all of this I ended up funneled into a taxi service. $40 to get to the city center, I guess. Whatever. I was out of options. Super overwhelmed out the gate.
I got to the hotel tired as hell. I didn't sleep on the flight and ended up working my ass off, shipping 4 new features for my sim center software and getting my newest project, Pour People, completely live. It was a ton of work and research but I did it! And I needed sleep. So as soon as I got to the hotel room I was out like a light.
The room was smaller than any bedroom I've ever been in. A twin bed, tiny shower, tiny toilet. No problem for me though. I probably spent about 8 hours sleeping until I decided I needed to go explore, and I reluctantly did. I could have shut myself in all night, but I need to do this trip.
I went to a tapas place, but it was horrible. Once I said I don't speak Spanish she stopped coming back to my table. The menu was pictures, and of course like an idiot I ordered the only non-alcoholic beer. I was upset. I ended up not even eating because my server literally never came back! I had to pay somewhere else. $10. Crazy.
Then I was like ok the Spanish is a lot, let's go to an Irish pub and watch the world cup. Basically like being at home. So I found a spot and went and welp, it's cash only. That set me on a whole adventure of finding out that the US Dollar is shit and my money is worthless. Once I had cash I went back, caught the Canada Morocco match, and finally got some air. The Guinness was poured properly. Not even worth dwelling on how they charged me 15€ for the first beer then 6.5€ for the second, but alas.
After that I went next door and ate a few really good tapas and had an IPA. I finally felt human again. I read something online that said "every bar is a tapas bar, and if it has tapas in the name it's a tourist trap" and that was the most helpful thing I read all day. I paid, and then I had to decide if I was going to keep exploring or go home and then I remembered the bleakness of my hotel room and kept going.
My friends back home were a rock for me while I complained about how lost I was. I wasn't having a ton of fun. I was mostly stressed.
I went to a place called Salmon Guru and it was cute. Very unique. I ate a tuna dish that was legitimately divine. Probably the best tuna dish I've ever eaten in my entire life. When it sat on my tongue my face lit up. It was incredible. I had their drink and they explained it to me in Spanish so I don't fucking know what they said. But it was great. Then I tried their "strong" drink and boy was it strong. It was then that I realized I was at my limit. If I had more I could potentially start blacking out like I usually do.
And then I dropped a cherry on my pants and stained them and I'm really pissed about that.
I decided to walk home instead of grabbing a cab and I'm glad I did. There was a concert in the city center I stopped at, and there was just people everywhere. Madrid had a lot of NYC vibes to it. Definitely nothing like Miami.
In the morning all the happy people were leaving a club and I wish I went. It looked like fun. I should go to a club.
Anyways...to Pamplona! See ya!