A vacation from the "vacation"

yeah, planning and traveling non-stop isn't quite a relaxing thing. Well, I have to admit every place I have stayed it's been an amazingly comfy time, and I haven't rushed one bit, even taking whole days off in between things... Hmmm. Well... so maybe I didn't quite need the vacation... Let's call it a "I wanted to do it so I did it 'cause I can" week... ;) Here's a brief recap. (Still no pics... sorry! working through a better process on those :P)

Trip to Spain was pretty sweet. Arrived Wed night after a very quiet flight (I think I am finally getting over my panic of flying that I developed a couple of years ago...) to a very warm Madrid. Netherlands' weather had been exceptionally nice, compared to all the horror stories I kept hearing about rain and more rain and chill... but Madrid was still a welcomed summer heat. After a day of rest, we took off on Fri to go to Valencia for the weekend. On the way we made a side trip to try out some geo-caching. Cris just got into this, so I'd been curious to try it out. I searched geocaching.com for something along the way, and one cache popped out: A trip to the Roman ruins of Valeria!! No kidding, spelled right and everything. The cache logs said it was probably defunct, but we had to go just for the experience, and to take pics :D After quite a bit of driving, and one wrong turn (i'm still working on my navigational skills... :P ) we reached the place a half hour before the sunset. No cache, but cool experience in a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere...

We finally arrived to the hotel past midnight, so we had a slightly late start on sat. We still managed to experience most of the City of the Arts and Sciences. Kinda did the same itinerary as i did 3-4 years ago when I visited the first time. We mistakenly thought we wouldn't have enough time to do everything (oceanografic, museum, imax theater), so we scheduled the museum for the next day. We ended up hanging around, chilly in the Valencia evening, for way too long, waiting for the 9pm showing of the IMAX thing... so, even though we arrived there at 2pm, if u have enough stamina, it's totally doable to see *everything* in just one afternoon. Even if the ticker lady raises an eyebrow at ya in disbelief, don't let her convince ya to split the itinerary over 2 days!

We didn't quite make time to visit the center of Valencia, or its beaches... Instead, on Sunday we got ourselves into a serious hike somewhere north of Valencia, pretty unprepared, had to buy a local map along the way, drove back and forth looking for things a couple of times, then had to hike uphill, me in long corduroy pants, with just a bottle of sugary water with us, under a pretty hot sun... but the final result was really worth it. Gorgeous view of the gulf of Valencia from a place in the middle of nowhere, and this time we did find the cache!! We made it back pretty late Sun night, past 11pm I think... but it was fun. Monday I caught up w/Angelitush and Ariel again, and Tue morning I was already flying back... such a quick trip...

Back in Holland after an afternoon of travel (plane delayed, then had to switch trains once 'cause I missed the direct one, and then a bus ride...) I arrived back to my Netherlands home town a little wet, but happy, refreshed by the sight of a full rainbow as I stepped out of the last train. Was gonna take a pic but I would have had to assemble my camera in the middle of the rush hour people traffic... so I took a good mental picture instead, basked in the happy feeling, and went to catch the bus in a rush, as it was leaving in the next 2 minutes! I arrived to the smell of barbecue, a small gathering of friends, and, tired but happy, I joined in.

Today Wed I just took the day off. I didn't do anything but get hooked to my computer, and spent time learning how to MUD. Prob a big mistake, as the combination of that, the lousy rainy windy coldish weather here, and the general "i dunno where to go next" feeling are not exactly conducive to travel... but I know I can't afford to slow down. Still got lots to go through!!

I'll try to get to pics tomorrow night... Promise! :P Tomorrow it's a holiday in Holland (didn't plan for that one... when you travel, be sure to keep up on the local holidays!!) so I'm not sure what the options are. I also have to make my way to Belgium, Northern Netherlands, Luxemburg, maybe Germany again... and figure out a cheap way to get to London and possibly Ireland... ideally all in the next 2-3 weeks. Then I get another week of "vacation" and then I'll head back down south, through France and finally to Italy...!

*yawn* man it's late. Ah well. NY time keeps creeping up on me ;)