Where was I? Oh yeah. So, after I got to the hostel with the Aussies, I went with Jarrod and watched him eat an enormous amount of falafel while talking to some American girls who were sitting at the table beside us. We picked up the Swedish girl from the night before and went back to an Irish pub some guy was handing out fliers to. Strangely, we saw the American girls from before there and spoke to them for quite a while. Then back to Kabul, then back to the hostel for sleep.

Up at 7, free breakfast at 8, out of the door around 9 to go pick our car up at the train station. We spent entirely too long looking for where to go, then everyone was sick, then the car was too small, then we were on the road. Navigating in Spain is a nightmare and we spent most of the morning lost, until we found a beach to lay out at. I didn’t have my sunscreen so I sat around with my shirt on to protect my burnt back. Good choice. After a while on the beach, we packed up and found an eatery for lunch and sat near the beach eating sandwiches and chips. Back in the car, more being lost, we finally stopped at a McDonalds for free wifi in order to book a hostel for the night.

Spoiler, we didn’t book a hostel. We booked a 4 star resort. For less money. It is in Peniscola, Spain, and had such amenities as a pool with jacuzzi in the middle, mini golf, private beach, flat screen TV in the room. We could hardly believe it when we got there. I still can hardly believe it. 4 backpackers in the lap of luxury. We ate more grocery store dinner, watched the football match, then proceeded to try and find nightlife in Peniscola. There is no such thing. We read some good reviews, got our clothes on, and walked nearly 10k into the heart of the city only to find that there was absolutely nothing going on. All the places that were meant to be busy were completely deserted. We glumly got a taxi home and I slept on a couch nicer than the nicest bed I’d slept on the entire trip.

Up at 8ish for a free continental breakfast. Eggs, bacon, pastries, fresh orange juice. You have no clue how nice it is to have such small things. We then spent the entire day laying out by the pool and swimming. Literally all day. It was absolutely awesome, there are pictures coming eventually once Jarrod can upload stuff from his camera. But yeah, we finally packed up and hit the road for Valencia. Getting there was pretty easy, we ate grocery store lunch in a car park and rolled into Valencia around 7pm. We booked the best hostel in the city, Purple Nest, and took some time trying to find it. Once we got in, Jarrod and I got our room settled and went downstairs to meet Daniel and Jennifer. Got the car parked right out front, go everyone in their rooms, and went upstairs to take a much needed shower. Busted out my laptop for a few minutes to check Facebook and such, talked to a rather nice girl who said she was from Barcelona and another guy from Russia, put my stuff away in my locker, locked it up, and went downstairs for the football match.

The football match was a lot of fun, a ton of German people were there and had no problem cheering as Greece made asses of themselves. Drank a bunch of big sangrias, generally had a really good time. After the match, we decided to move the car because the car park would cost too much money. As I am walking through the lobby, the Russian guy from before standing there and said that someone broke into our room and stole his laptop. I instantly knew what had happened and ran up the stairs to my room. Sure enough, the lock on my locker was broken off and my laptop was gone. The rest of my bag had been rummaged through, the charger was also taken but that is all I could tell. Luckily, too, as my passport with 500 euro inside was in the front part of my bag, but they didn’t even touch that lock.

I was absolutely livid, I went downstairs and did my best to keep my composure. The police came and went, did nothing. The hostel wouldn’t help at all. I called my bank and cancelled my card. I changed the passwords to everything I could think of. We eventually went to the police station where they told us there was nothing they could do until “tomorrow maybe later this week.” Fantastic. I watched the security cameras and sure enough, the girl claiming to be from Barcelona was a con, her and her “boyfriend” weren’t even staying at the hostel. She was the lookout in the hallway while he stole everyone’s things, and in 5 minutes after we had left the room, they left the hostel with our laptops. We had a huge night planned, but decided to call it early due to theft. Jennifer and Daniel had even more trouble in their room, and we left the hostel early the next morning after no sleep.

We took the metro after a quick (and free) breakfast at the hostel. When we got to the F1, it was completely crazy. We walked around for seemingly ages trying to find cheap tickets, but the cheapest we could find were 75 euro. We elected, instead, to watch from the street where you could see little to nothing. Jarrod and Jennifer climbed the building beside the track to get some pictures, I did no climbing as I don’t have travel insurance. Oh well. We walked away after the first round of qualifying, took the tram/metro back into the city, ate at McDonalds (for free wifi) and departed Valencia after a very miserable time.

The drive to Alicante was peaceful, quick, and rather uneventful aside from stopping for cookies and Sunny Delight. Don’t judge me. When we got to Alicante, we spent an hour driving in circles trying to find the hostel that Jarrod had booked for us. Turns out, only him and I could stay there, so we broke the news to the happy couple who informed us they were going back to a resort anyway and didn’t mind. Whew. We carried our bags back to the hostel from where Daniel had parked, checked in, extended for another night, and went to watch the Spain/France football match at a local bar. What we walked into was total pandemonium. Every single bar, every single seat outside, every place where anyone could stand was completely packed. We somehow found our way directly into the middle of an Irish pub style place, directly in front of the TV, and it was chaotic beyond anything I could possibly type here. I took some pictures which I’ll upload once I am back in the states.

After the match, the streets were insane with people celebrating and the festival ongoing. Jarrod and I ran home to change, then followed some people from the hostel out to a local place. We lost them at some point and spent the entire evening wandering around saying, “I can’t believe this is real.” I’ve never seen such revelry, I don’t think I will again. We found our way into an outdoor Spanish dance party at one point and a parade at another. Around 4am we called it a night, and I slept while Jarrod talked to the 6 Swiss girls we are sharing a room with.

That’s it for now, hopefully I can upload this blog from Daniel’s tablet. I guess we’ll see. We’re off tomorrow morning for another resort, this time only 20 euro a night. I will do my best to keep everyone updated, but without a laptop it is pretty difficult. Much love from Spain, be home in a week!

Here are some pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.939476316785.2233361.201404634&type=3