I'm Home!

I cannot begin to tell you all how happy I am to be home. While I loved the sights, history and culture of Spain and the surrounding area, this was one of the more stressful vacations I've ever been on. After having my purse snatched on Thursday, I had to fly to Madrid on Friday, get to the Embassy before it closed, get a new passport and fly back to the resort the same day. Including the cost of the items I lost (camera, wallet, etc.), the plane fare to Madrid, cab fares and the cost for the new passport, I'm out almost $2,000.00. There was also the stress of trying to get credit and debit cards cancelled from overseas. Believe it or not, I consider myself lucky. When I got to the Embassy, the waiting room was full of Americans who had been robbed and most of them had been beaten for good measure. One of the guys in the waiting room had been mugged and beaten twice. On my way back on the plane, I sat next to a woman who's daughter had been robbed and beaten three weeks earlier. I'm glad that I got the opportunity to go and see the rich history of Spain, but I don't see myself returning. As we were disembarking in Atlanta, America the Beautiful was playing on the plane's speakers and the passengers cheered. I don't think I was the only one who was thrilled to be on home soil. I'm happy to say that in spite of eating well, I didn't gain an ounce. I walked and walked and walked. Water was very hard to come by as Spain has been in a drought for quite a while and the tap water can't be consumed. Buying bottled water everywhere we went and being charged for water in restaurants became expensive. Wine and coffee are cheap there, but don't do me any good so I just kept paying for water. I'm glad to be home and back to the Marchers. Hugs, Connie

Welcome home world traveler!! I'm glad that you are back safe with us. I'm sorry about your troubles, but must agree that it could have been worse. Money and things can be replaced, but health and body parts are not so easily restored. I hope that the good points of the trip still out-weighed the bad in the long run. My older daughter returns from a college term in Italy next weekend, and I'll be happy to have her safe at home too! I'm glad she had this opportunity, but I'll sleep better knowing she's back in the USA. Looking forward to reading about the good side of your trip!! CHEERS! Mike

Thanks, Mike. I can't tell you how glad I am to be home. The history of Spain is fascinating and I loved seeing the Alhambra, the cathedrals, museums and the ports, but even before the incident, I wasn't thrilled with Spain. My Spanish is passable and I can communicate fairly well, but we weren't accepted very well. In restaurants, it took a long time to get served and many other tables would come and go before we ever got menus. The concierge at our resort was from Russia and told me that there was a lot of anti-American sentiment running in Spain. I'm not sure why this was, but it was palpable. We were treated much better in Morroco. Anyway, saw lots of stuff and the history is fascinating, but I'm more than happy to be home. Hugs, Connie

Glad you're back in one piece! Looks like I'm taking Spain off my list...sounds too high-crime for me. Things are tough, as usual. I've turned into a gym rat, I literally spend 3 hours at the gym every other day. While I'm still waiting for results, I have to take 2 Advil after every work out. No pain, no gain, isn't that what they say? I have a job interview tomorrow, so I'm glad about that and the hours are great. We're going to Boston this weekend, so that should be fun, I just hope the weather holds out. BRRRR. Anyway, enough ramblings from me. Welcome back. You were missed! Joanie

Joanie, Being a gym rat can be addictive. When I'm in the gym rat groove, I hate taking a break from it. Remember to measure and not just go by the scale. I would recommend taking Spain off your list for a while. The authorities are having a hard enough time getting the crime under control and it's only going to get worse because there are many problems with desperate people sneaking into Spain from a very impoverished Africa. I've traveled to other countries and have frankly never felt less welcome and safe than in Spain and that was before the robbery. There are an awful lot of other places to see so I would postpone Spain until things settle down there. Have lots of fun in Boston and stay warm. Hugs, Connie

Connie, Welcome back we missed you! I'm glad you are home safe with minimal damage but I am sorry that you did not have a good experience whlie you were there. I'm not sure why americans are not recived very well there right now. Spain is not listed with the U.S Department of State with any current travel warnings. As a Travel Agent I have not heard bad things comming out of Spain, but on the other hand France is not listed either and we all know that they are also not very friendly to Americans. People are strange and the world is in a constant flux of change right now so it is hard to always know the in's and out's of everything travel wise. Anyway welcome back and at least it sounds as if you have some good memories of your travels. I would love to read your travel diary on this trip, I bet it makes for some interesting reading. Leslie

Hey Miss Connie, Glad to hear you got back home to sunny Arizona safe & sound. We are a little cold today, but we have no snow like you in the east areas. We will take this 50 something anyday. We did miss you, & will be waiting to hear lost of your stories. You always give us a laugh or two. You are working on that book of yours right!!! Marilyn, the Bearlady By the way I have added 2 more bears to the collection one very big one & a little one that is all blue to give my blue moods too instead of keeping them inside. Isn't that neat!! See ya, time to get some sleep

Welcome back! Your trip report is quite frightening! One of the things on my "lifetime list" is a trip to Europe--I think I will make it to another area than Spain! (My Spanish is more comical than passable--If a mugger told me not to move, I could easily think they told me to stand up!) I'm glad you are not hurt, and know that your enthusiasm for new experiences will return when you are rested in a safe environment for a while. We sure have missed you! Joy

Hey baby doll! I can chalk your safe return off my list of reasons to keep me up at night. Listen, I don't want to start a political frey here but it's painfully obvious why Americans are not welcomed in other parts of the world -- we're initiated a war that cannot be justified and shows no sign of ending; and we have an administration (I'm being diplomatic here) that has run this county from a platform of blatant arrogance. Americans are not looked upon favorably anywhere these days. I'm just so thankful you're home safe and sound. Lots to catch up on! Maureen

Upon careful consideration, I have decided that the Spaniards may not have hated Americans as much as they were afraid of my family. Taking a look at this from the outside, here's what someone would encounter.... My father is 6 foot 6 and slightly stooped with a white beard, but dark, black hair. During this trip, he had decided to wear one of those neck pillows that people sleep with on a plane... EVERYWHERE. The more my step-mother complained, the more he wore it. He also wears his traditional medicine bag and sometimes one of his tribal shirts. Add to that the beanie hat thing that he bought in Morocco and his propensity to tell people that he was descended from the Berbers and I guess he stood out in a crowd. Somewhere along the way, my step-mother picked up a British accent. It may have been because she was so afraid that someone would hurt us because we were Americans, but imagine my surprise when I found myself sitting across a cafe table with someone that sounded like Queen Elizabeth. She also talks at about 90 decibels with a voice that could peel the chrome off the bumper off a '57 Chevy. We love her greatly, but on more than one occasion it has been noted that God was in control when he caused her to fall in love with a deaf man. I'd like to think that I didn't look or act too strange, but then again, I ordered manteca liquado instead of mantequilla liquado with my broiled seafood and got a bowl of melted lard instead of butter. Kind of like the time in Can****hat I told the hotel concierge that the toilet was constipated. Maybe I should stop speaking Spanish. On top of all of this, my father is deaf so we all use sign language. I guess this loud, strangely dressed group of people with hands a flyin' and bad Spanish could be a little disconcerting. I probably wouldn't have wanted to deal with us either. Connie