Hotel

It's been a long day.  I made it to Alicante.  I knew this was a tourist area, but damn!  Walked out of arrivals and there were about 20 people there, at least 15 holding signs.  And a man with a black lab. A couple of signs were for tour buses.

Didn't see my name so I followed instructions and walked another 20 feet to the kiosk.  A nice British lady was there.  She said my plane was early and my driver was on his way.

My driver took my bag and we went off in a big Mercedes van, which isn't quite as big a deal because this is Europe.  He was middle-aged and played an excellent 80s mix from his USB stick.  It was great!

We drove past Benidorm.  He said they have an excellent beach, but the Brits come in for 3 days and 3 nights and party.  Said he used to live there but had to move because it never shut down.

He recommended I visit a really cool church in Altea, the town next to Calpe, so I may try that. And said I had a really nice hotel.

Got checked in, then passed out for about 4 hours.  Got up with plenty of time to spare.  The hotel restaurant opens at 8 pm.  It was a buffet and it was okay. Got to make my own ensalada Valenciana!

Day 14: The Voyage Home

The day started off dreary and rainy.  Mom and I went down to eat breakfast, if it was included in the price of the hotel. Which wasn't likely.  We went to the restaurant area, and a lady told us it was 11 euros and asked our room number.  We asked if there was a free breakfast, and she led us down the hall to another room, with food in it.  Turns out, it still cost 11 euros.  But the restaurant area was for tour groups, and the room down the hall was for everyone else.

We caught the 7:20 shuttle to the airport, because we weren't sure where it dropped you off.  The shuttle was a full size bus.  It dropped us off at the Terminal 2 bus drop off, where you caught an elevator down to the terminal, then walked a long ways to wherever you were going.  We finally found an information desk and were told to go to Terminal 2E.

We trek down to 2E on some moving walkways and escalators.  Once there, we see Air France at #3, so we go there.  He tells us to go to #4.  We go to the line at #4.  She tells us to use the check in kiosk next to #4.  We stand in line and do that.  I check in, but mom has an error.  We go back to the #4 line, and get separated.  She tells mom to get in line behind her, but she tells me to go to #3 to finish checking in with my luggage.  

I get down to #3 and I get to stand in line for the auto-luggage check in.  Except my boarding pass, that printed from the Air France kiosk, does not have one of those fuzzy bar codes on it.  I call an agent and she goes to a desk and prints me a new one, with the bar code.  I continue on,  but my luggage has an error.  Apparently, it's too big.  Not too heavy, too big.  So I have to go to a desk and finish checking in that way.

Finally, I'm done.  I hit the toilets, customs, and security, and I'm through to the gates!  Still no mom.  She had said something about duty-free wine, so I keep walking towards our gate until I find a wine shop.  That's where I'm sitting right now.  If I don't see her soon, I'll continue on to our gate.

Edit: While I was waiting, mom was in huge lines. She didn't show up until 9:30! Almost an hour after me.

Day 13: More Driving

We got up and had our Ibis breakfast, then headed out. I will say that getting out of the parking lot was much easier than getting in. Mom walked behind the car and helped direct me.

So we got on the road, heading towards the airport.  I'm going to cut my writings a little short, and just say that eventually, we got to our hotel.  We've discovered that the French don't navigate by roads, they navigate by towns.  So when you're in a town, looking for a particular road, you need to know where that road goes.  For instance, if you're in Little Rock, and you want to go west to Russellville, you look for the road to Fort Smith.  You don't look for a big sign saying I-40 West.

Once we figured out how to navigate, things got easier.  We still ended up going around and around the town of Meaux, looking for a cafe and a bathroom.  Eventually we gave up and mom remembered a Lidl was nearby, so we drove there.  Lidl is like an Aldi.

Next door to the Lidl was a restaurant!  It's Leon de Bruxelles.  It was weird.  It's a Belgian chain of mussel restaurants.  Almost everything on the menu was mussel related.  We had the lunch special, which was the "starter buffet," a hot dish, and a dessert.  The starter buffet was small and interesting.  There was lettuce, tomato, hard boiled egg, shredded carrots, pasta salad with krab, couscous with salad dressing in it, pickles, boiled shrimp, salami or something like it, escargot, and some kind of salad that looked like mini pieces of corn.

For out main dish, I had the fish and chips, and mom had the bacon omelet.  Which, of course, came with fries.  Dessert was creme brulee for me and ice cream for mom.  And all that was 11 euros and 20 cents!  The bread was also delicious.  It was chewy on the outside, but not hard, and soft on the inside.

So we survived our driving and headed towards our hotel, which is at the airport.  The traffic got really bad at some points and was really stressing me out.  There were a couple of hairy roundabouts.  We finally made the hotel and dropped off our luggage.  Now the adventure was returning the rental car.

The agency had told us to head into the airport and follow the signs.  So we did.  And there were no signs.  We circled and finally I pulled out the paperwork.  It said Terminal 2D.  So we headed there.  I followed the signs and ended up circling through a bus terminal, then finally got the correct road.  Once we got near 2D, there were signs for the rental car.  We had to circle 2D though, to get to our road, because we couldn't access it from our side.  

So we finally get to the rental return.  It says park the car, and there was a hut with computers in it.  But no people.  It said it was open from 7am-9pm, but it was locked up tight.  The sign said go into the terminal, so we followed another guy returning his car and walked to the terminal.  We got there and handed in the key, and they were like, okay, bye.  So we left and took a taxi back to the hotel.

We napped a little before supper, which was when the hotel restaurant opened at 7pm.  Another expensive meal, but I kind of like the options.  They have a starter buffet, a hot dish, and a dessert.  You can choose any individually, or get 2 of them for a price, or all 3 for a price.  The hot dish was a buffet.  There were noodles, beef stroganoff, cod in butter sauce, and something we couldn't identify.  The starter buffet was a bunch of different salads.  The desserts were creme brulee, cheese cake, and a bunch of other stuff.  I had some kind of chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherries.

Day 12: Ibis

We follow the Ibis sign and pull in front, in the 15 minute parking.  I go in to see if they have a room.  About 20 minutes later, we've got a room, breakfast in the morning, and parking.  Mom's knee and leg are acting up, so I get to roll a cart down to the car, load up the luggage, then roll it back up the ramp to the hotel.  Then I get to park the car.

Oh...my...god...I go around the block, and parking is under the hotel.  I ring a buzzer and they let me in.  Bear in mind, we're in a land where many of the roads are small.  It's not unusual for some roads to be little more than 1 lane.  With no marking or warnings or anything.  So when I see a sign saying "Be careful, the road is narrow" I start to panic.  I'm in an Opel Astra, which is not a large car.  But it is a bit long.  I'm turning through this one-lane, two-way, little, narrow underground parking garage, using my mirrors to make sure I don't hit the walls.  Then I get to a straight section, and I have to turn into a parking spot between 2 concrete pillars.

I get as far to the right as I can, then start to turn. I have to stop and back up and turn and go forward and then turn the other way and go through a ton of contortions to get the car between the 2 pillars. And that was with no cars on either side of me.  I'm really praying that when we leave tomorrow, there are still no cars next to me.  Because I'm not sure I can get back out of the parking spot.

The parking is 1 flight of spiral stairs down, so I go up, and get mom and roll the cart to the elevator.  All the elevators in France are small.  The last Ibis elevator held about 4 people.  This elevator sinks when you enter it.  I thought it was just the luggage, but no, even when it was just me, it sinks. 

We get to the room, and are very happy!  We got a triple: a double bed and a twin bed.  I had asked for 2 beds, and I think they were out of twins, because she took a while finding us a room.  So we're happy having extra room.  In the twin room, the beds are right next to each other, because they fit in the space where a regular bed goes, which is between 2 built-in night stands.

So now I get to roll the cart back down.  As I'm leaving, mom says, "Get some ice too."  So I go into the bar to get some ice.  The bar is not a bar.  It's a big fancy looking bar/restaurant, decorated in brass and mirrors, and I immediately feel a little underdressed  After the long day and stress of parking, I almost bailed on getting the ice.  But I managed to  walk past a bunch of people and get to the bar and get some ice.  The lady gave me 2 ice cream glasses full of ice.  She carried them to the restaurant door, because I hadn't realized I needed a hand to get out the door.  I got upstairs and mom started laughing at the glasses, and we both had to take photos.  So you'll see them later.

So we're finally ensconced in our hotel room, watching NCIS in German.  I'm by the window, which overlooks the front of the hotel, on a roundabout.  Not bad.

Day 2: Home again, home again

We started walking towards Notre Dame, and I flagged down a taxi.  We've been having good luck on that front.  This guy didn't speak much English, but I knew enough French to get us home.  We had originally thought we'd walk back from Bercy Stadium.  The taxi took us there, then around the side, and dropped us at the hotel with the same name over there.  Which saved us some walking.  Mom's knee was getting sore and my ankles hurt. 

So we get out and at least it was shorter back to our hotel.  We had almost taken the taxi all the way to our hotel, and maybe we should have.  We made it to the market, and got some drinks, and eventually made it home.  We were pretty wiped out.  By this point, it's about 9pm.  We got some ice from the hotel restaurant (no ice machines here) and got to our room and got comfy.  I promptly passed out and woke up a little after midnight.  Mom woke up then too.

So I was sitting here typing up today's events, when we hear a loud squeaking noise.  We're on the 2nd floor (in the US numbering system) and our window opens.  Below our window is a roof overhanging the sidewalk, so you don't get rained on.  Also, our window has a chain lock on it.  Apparently the people next door were opening their window and it was really squeaky.

I continue typing, and there's a knock on our door.  I answer, and no one is there.  We assumed it was the people next door getting the rooms mixed up.  Bear in mind, it's now about 2am.  There's more squeaking, so I look out our window.  I'm very surprised to see a man outside the window next door, smoking a cigarette.  On top of the curved metal roof.  He seemed surprised to see me too.  I closed our window until he was done, because we were starting to smell the smoke.  And so ends our Day 2 adventures!

Day 2: Getting started

Now, I know some of you are asking, Where the hell is Lauren's post for Thursday?  Well, Lauren is one tired puppy!  We got up early and went to breakfast about 7:45.  Our bus didn't start until 9:30, so we didn't want to be too early. We got home after 9pm.

We paid in advance for breakfast, which was a buffett.  There was a lot of bread, croissants, cereals, cheese, yogurts, fruit, and thin slices of a really good ham.  They had a few juices and a machine that dispensed several coffees, hot chocolate, and hot water, so I had tea.  We made croissandwiches  :)

It was really cool this morning, so I wore blue jeans and my hoodie.  Then our adventure began . . . .

Hotel Fiasco

First, we weren't sure when we were moving. We found out Sunday night that we would be moving during next week's excursion (the one I just got back from). So we had to pack up for the trip and pack all our other stuff so that on Wednesday morning (the day we return) it could get moved to the hotel. So we found that out on Sunday-week before our trip that left on Monday. Well, the day after we found that out, we got a text message saying that since we had made friends, we could choose our roommates for the next hotel, and to come by in the next hour and a half and write them down. All the girls freaked! I even freaked! We had to choose roommates ASAP, for our next hotel, where we would be 4 girls in a 2 bed, 2 bath suite. My big problem was that I was sick for so long I didn't really go out and socialize, so I couldn't find anyone to room with. I like most people on the trip but there are 1 or 2 I'd prefer not to room with. Luckily, when I went by to drop something off, there was a room with only 3 girls, and I liked all of them, so I signed on with them. My roommate will be by same roommate from DC.

Grease Galore

Breakfast is interesting at our hotel. It's a buffet, and it's basically the same thing everyday, with slight variations. My main breakfast is omelets, chicken sausages, and a starch ("saulted potatoes," "mush potatoes," potato patties etc.). The omelets are basically a crepe-thin omelet: plain, cheese, spinach, or marsala (bell peppers, onion). The chicken sausages are my favorite thing to discuss though - they're hot dogs. So yes, everyday for breakfast I have fried eggs and a hot dog. And some kind of potato. But the egg and hot dog are my main source of protein. They also have corn flakes and cocoa puffs, either small pancakes or french toast (but not syrup, only honey), some kind of bean (baked, ful, ful with corn), and some croissants, some stuffed with chocolate. And of course, tea. One day they had camel's milk - it was really good! It was milder than cow's milk, and smoother. So most of our food here is pretty greasy. Which I think is why we feel kind of greasy all the time. But the good news is I'm no longer that picky about hot dogs.

Do Not Be Alarmed!

I woke up one day while I was sick, and opened the door to put the Do Not Disturb sign out for the maid. And there was huge black smoke billowing past my door. I was a bit alarmed, so I went out and took a better look. It was incense. When you burn frankincense, you actually burn it. I mean, you literally set hunks of frankincense on fire, and then get it going like coals. It's a bit disturbing the first few times you see it. My roommate lit some in our room one day, and we were worried it would set off the fire detectors. But it didn't. Which almost worries us more!

Random Thoughts

At our first hotel in Muscat, the Naseem, the elevator didn't work so we had to use the stairs. I was on the 3rd floor, which translates to 3 flights, since the bottom floor is not the 1st floor but the ground floor. That I was expecting. But I didn't realize that in larger hotels, the bottom floor is the ground floor, and the one above that is the mezzanine floor. Then above that is the 1st floor. My room in Haffa House in Salalah is on the 1st floor, so when we arrived I took the stairs to the first floor, and started looking for my room. The rooms had similar numbers, for example, I'm in 1xx, and the rooms were labelled 11xx, so I thought I was on the correct floor – nope, it was the mezzanine floor where they have flats and offices.

The hotels we've stayed at only had one key. It wasn't a big deal at the Naseem, because there was a push button lock on the door. But at the Haffa House, you need a key to lock/unlock the door. So if you want to lock the room, from the inside or outside, you need a key to do that. There is a chain, but that doesn't help if your roommate is out late. You have to leave the door unlocked so that she can get in without waking you up. Unless you want to be locked in the room all evening until she comes back with the key – which is kind of a fire hazard.

Just as a side note, on the first Sunday in Salalah, I sprained my ankle. I didn't mention it before because the diarrhea made me forget it ;) This one wasn't a serious sprain, I could still walk on it. But it's been about 2 semesters since it last happened, so I guess I was due. Oh well.