Munich

It's been a busy few days since I arrived back home on Friday. Thursday evening, my sisters and I left Malaga and headed to Munich, Germany.

We had a fantastic flight with Lufthansa, and were shocked that they provided so many drinks and a meal while on board for only 2.5 hours! The crew consisted of tall blond hair blue eyed flight attendants- very German. Once we landed in Munich, we were quickly escorted off the plane (within minutes) and shuttled by bus over to the terminal. I was so impressed with the German airport, it was so incredibly organized. 

We waited no longer than 5 minutes for our checked luggage- this is unheard of in North America! The airport was also very tidy, and was just superior in every way. 

We were unable to find a cheap hotel in Munich, so we opted to stay over night at the airport until our 12 pm flight the next day. Now, I've stayed overnight in airports before, but this was way too long. Looking back, we definitely should have booked a hotel, but I'm glad we chose to save money and sleep on a bench in the noisy airport instead haha. Made for an adventure and resulted in me having the best sleep of my life on Friday night.

Inside the airport, there was a ton of ways to entertain ourselves. They had a few bars and restaurants open, as well as a live band. The mcdonalds was open 24 hours, as well as a supermarket with everything imaginable inside. The Germans are so efficient, why waste time and space having to go to multiple stores when you can just get everything you need from one!?

After changing into comfy clothes, we spent time wandering around the airport, grabbed some food, and enjoyed the live music. We were able to store away our bags for 4 euros, so luckily we did not have much to lug around with us all night. Unfortunately, neither of us got much rest, as the airport was constantly being cleaned in some way, so we were always asked to move. Soon enough it was morning and we were ready to check in for our flight. 

To make a long story short, this was one of the most stressful situations I've ever been in. We checked in but were not given a seat on the plane. Although we were flying standby, I found this odd, as last time I checked the load was showing a green happy face (meaning we should have no problem getting on). However, our ticket now proved otherwise. We went to the baggage counter and the man refused to check our luggage. He said the flight was oversold by 20 seats and that we should go to the gate as soon as possible and ask for a jump seat. As you can imagine, I was panicking (tried to appear calm so as to not stress out my sisters, but inside I was losing it!!) How on earth am I going to let my 16 year old sister sit in a jump seat for 9 hours?? I frantically started looking up flights elsewhere, but I kid you not, everything was full. We were not going anywhere anytime soon.

I was finally able to find a flight to London, England. From there I had no idea what we would do, but I thought atleast it's a place I'm more familiar with, everyone speaks English, and there are many flights to Toronto that we could try to get on. All of the flights of course were also oversold from London to Toronto, but I figured it was worth a shot. I checked us in for the London flight, and what do you know, it gave us seats. Thank The Lord. So now we had a backup plan. The only problem being that our so-called backup plan was scheduled to depart at the exact same time as our original flight. Well... Wouldn't this be interesting. 

We hurried through security and then rushed to the gate for our original flight. Luckily, the two gates were nearby, so I was able to quickly run back and forth. After such a terrible night and an awful morning, we were so blessed to have such nice Lufthansa crew members working at the gate. Upon hearing that our mother works for Air Canada and that we were thinking of connecting through London if there were no alternatives, they seemed very eager to help. It was an oversold flight with other standbys listed, but these ladies were determined to get everyone on board. Alas, we were able to squeeze on the flight just minutes before departure. We were all scattered apart on the plane but none of us cared as long as we made it on. 

The flight itself was fantastic. Lufthansa is by far the best airline I've ever flown with. The crew was so nice, and the service was impeccable. We received 2 meals and a snack, with many rounds of drinks being offered as well. Unfortunately I was seated right at the middle exit, so it was freezing. This also happens to be where the baby bassinets are located, so I was stuck beside a crying baby the whole flight. Now, normally this would not bother me, as I love babies, but having been up for 24 hours, I was definitely a little irritable and that crying baby was putting me over the edge haha. I managed to tune the baby out, it wasn't his fault after all, and watched a few movies. 

To my surprise, Storm showed up to meet me after my flight. This was incredibly sweet of him, although he didn't end up making it in time hahahaha. I hate to laugh because I'm sure it was very frustrating for him but it's such a typical guy thing to do. I really appreciated him coming all the way down to surprise me though, it was really cute. We headed straight home, and have had a very low key weekend, as I am still exhausted from the trip. Looking forward to getting back into routine tomorrow though!! That's it for now, my European adventure is over, but hopefully there will be plenty more ahead in the future!

Beach day in Benalmadena

I'm currently sitting outside on my balcony after just having a relaxing shower. I wish I could say how serene it is out here, but I'm listening to this group of people make what sounds like a mixture of duck and seagle noises across the street hahaha. It's the strangest thing I've ever heard. I'm just waiting on Alanna and Rachel getting up from their naps and then we are all headed to dinner. Today was another beautiful day here in Benalmadena! We spent the first half by the beach and the second half by the pool.

I stand corrected- to my left is Alanna, naked, posing against the balcony door. How unusual...

Here's some photos from today:

Not sure if I'm running away due to the freezing cold Mediterranean Sea or because I stepped on a sharp shell..

We walked along the beach and saw the most amazing selection of rocks and shells along the shore. Alanna seemed pretty uninterested, but for Rach and I this was a gold mine!! We spent so much time looking through all the rocks, trying to spot out the coolest ones.

Since we are on a tight budget, we decided to make our own sandwiches for lunch. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and mozzarella cheese were bought at the local supermarket! Not the fanciest meal, but this has become a standard practice for us on this trip!!

We are headed to dinner now, so I'll post again tonight and hopefully share some details from Emilee and Mj's trip to Morocco!! I personally can't wait to hear all about it! If they are in good enough moods to tell us, that is. 

Beautiful day in Malaga!

Beautiful- a word to describe my first official day in Malaga in a nutshell. Most of today was spent outside enjoying the beach. We started the day off having a buffet for breakfast, which consisted mainly of croissants, churros, and an assortment of fruit (watermelon and pineapple mostly). I had a few cups of coffee with my breakfast as it was quite good. We then headed down to the beach and tanned for a few hours. 

We parked ourselves right by the water, as this was the coolest area. It was such a beautiful day!! The sun was beating down on us all day long, which has resulted in Rachel looking like a lobster (She was "testing" out the sun to see if she needed sunscreen....lol). After lunch we decided to stay at the hotel and enjoy the pool area.  

Isn't this amazing!!? This is my mom and sister's view from their hotel room...and they still complain! 

After enjoying many hours in the sun, we went back inside to relax in the hotel before dinner. I took this time to do some yoga on my balcony, it was SO NEEDED. My body was as stiff as a board- it felt so good to move. And what could be better than doing yoga outside, on a balcony, in Spain!!! Nothing.

**No butts were harmed during this yoga session, despite what appears to be a lack of circulation caused by my bathing suit in this photo. hahaha**

For dinner, we roamed around the streets for a while before grabbing a quick bite from the Panda Cafe on the boardwalk. Fries "chips" and salad for me and Rach to split! 

Emilee and Mj are headed to Morocco tomorrow with the rest of the dance pack, while Alanna, Rachel, and myself will be enjoying the beach again. Hopefully the beach volleyball tournament will be finished by then so we can have some fun on the beach!!

Ps- I apologize for the low quality photos. We have really terrible wifi here in the hotel! I'm literally sitting in the corner right now, by the balcony, waving my arm in the air. It sucks. But... It's Spain, and I sure ain't here for the wifi haha so the only real inconvenience is times like these when I'm trying to upload my posts!

Goodbye Madrid, hello Malaga!

Today my sisters and I left Madrid and took a 6 hour bus ride to Malaga. It was on this bus ride that I wrote a fantastic (in my opinion haha) and lengthy blog post about yesterday's festivities. I was unable to post it until I checked into my hotel here and had wifi, by which time my post seemed to disappear. This was incredibly frustrating, so I am in the process of re writing it now and will post it as soon as possible ! So far yesterday was the highlight of my trip so I cannot wait to share the details!

Anyway, back to today's events. After saying goodbye to our quaint but lovely hotel "Acta madfor" we took the metro to the main bus station (Alvaro) in Madrid to board our bus to Malaga! 

I was actually surprised, the bus ride flew by today. You could choose your seats ahead of time, they were comfy, there were TVs, and even a 15 minute pit stop. Canada could learn a thing or two from the Spanish!! 

Maybe I'm ignorant or not well versed in geography and countries of the world, but I had no idea what the terrain in Spain was like. It was the most beautiful 6 hour drive, consisting mostly of hills and mountains. I'll be honest, I was scared on a few occasions that our bus was going over board!! But we managed to make it to our destination safe and sound! 

After arriving in Malaga, we then had to take the city bus to Benalmadena. I think I've spent more time on buses and trains on this trip than anything else, but it really has been worth it. It was a stressful event trying to find a bus to benalmadena and not many people were able to help us due to the language barrier, however, we eventually hopped on the 110 bus and made it to our destination! 

Benalmadena is gorgeous!! The beach is beautiful and the architecture of some of the buildings is outstanding. Walking down the steps towards the boardwalk feels like you're in a totally different world. 

My sisters and I were starving, so we went out for dinner and tried to find something for 25 euros, as this is all we had left haha. 

Along the boardwalk we found many restaurants, cafés, and shops, but we chose to eat at El Ventisquero, as the staff was very engaging, the menu looked great, and we found some fellow English folk in there! We ordered pizza (Margarita pizza for me) and salad for dinner, and enjoyed a football match that was playing on television. 

After dinner we walked along the boardwalk and the beach. What a beautiful night.

We later met up with the rest of my family and walked around the marina. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, as I left my camera at the hotel, but I absolutely will tomorrow. It's crazy how alive the city becomes at night. It's 2:35am right now and people are flooding the streets! We are headed to bed, as we have an early date tomorrow morning with the beach (and breakfast buffet) otherwise I would have enjoyed staying out! 

Day 1 in Madrid!

On Wednesday night my two sisters and I took off to Madrid, and it has been quite the adventure ever since. Yesterday was our first day in Madrid. It was my first time flying with Euroatlantic Airways so I was a bit hesitant, but it turned out to be a great flight (minus the zero vegetarian food options available on board). 

We landed around 11:30am and then hopped on a train to our hotel. My first impression of public transit in Spain was a good one, as the train was so easy to navigate and very cheap. After getting settled in our hotel, we ventured onto the streets of Madrid. My sisters kept poking fun at me for carrying a map, but I couldn't have walked around without it! 

The streets were pretty busy, and a lot of them unmarked, so a map was essential.

We walked up to the Gran Via, by which time my ears, not legs (surprisingly), were sore from listening to the complaints of my sisters. Yes it is a steep hill, but we're in Spain, so frankly I'm not concerned about anything other than enjoying this beautiful country. 

The Gran Via was flooded with people and was full of life. We explored the many shops and cafés that it had to offer, and took many pictures on the way. I really enjoyed our walk back to the hotel however, as we chose to go down the smaller not so popular streets of Madrid that depicted Spain just as I imagined it, and were so charming and cute. 

After having an unexpected but desperately needed nap back at the hotel, we went back out and ventured the streets once again. Our first stop, gelato. Chocolate for me, of course!

After enjoying my gelato, I convinced my sisters to accompany me to check out a CrossFit gym nearby. It also happened to be right as the sun was setting, which was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen! I mean, can you imagine doing a WOD in a place like this?

I was super drained from all of travelling, so I had a coffee as soon as we were back at the hotel. We then spent the next couple of hours planning the following day in Madrid, as well as the remaining week of our trip, before hitting sheets! 

That's it for now, I will post about the next exciting day of my travels soon!! xo

Lobster Legs

I haven't posted in a few days, mainly because I have actually been quite busy. My boyfriend just opened a new CrossFit gym in Kingston (more on which I will be posting soon) so I spent a few days up there helping out with the grand opening! I felt that it was necessary to post about what a gorgeous day today was! So much so, that I thought I would do a throwback photo (or photos) to our recent Cuba trip! 

Some (most) days I wish I was back there having fun and relaxing in the sun, but today for the first time it actually felt like I had been transported back in time to that beautiful place (minus my bestie and plus a ton of really good food)!! Tomorrow is supposed to be just as beautiful. Piece of advice: do not forget to put sun tan lotion on your legs!! I do it often, forgetting that is, and boy do they burn today!!!

Till next time,

xo Sarah