The Luggage Chronicles....

Ah, the joys of traveling. I have no idea how many hours have condensed and shifted into each other but in España it is currently 10:50pm. My host family has the internet! Small pleasures. So lucky you, I have time to update this blog in more detail and provide some visual aids. Let's start with the luggage.

This is my main suitcase, which has wheels but itself weighs a whopping 13.4 lbs. My limit is 50lbs per suitcase. Naturally, all of my items would not fit in one suitcase so I had to concede the $50 extra baggage fee and take two. Both were around 43 lbs, and this was with only 7 days of clothes! (I took quite a few american food comforts and some heavy bottled water). I also had a very stylish carry-on bag which just happened to be a bit big. Lessons for next time, lessons for next time. Take a very small carry on! Duly noted, trying to stuff a bag into an overhead compartment with lots of glaring beady eyes synced to your every move is not so enjoyable. Neither is then having to maneuver with said bag to exit the aircraft and valet check it in defeat. Luckily that only happened on two out of my three flights.

The second chuckle of a story about my luggage is the fact that when you arrive at the Valencia airport, they give you handy little carts to help you carry your luggage. So I was able to swiftly grab my two 43lb bags and place them on the cart next to my large carry on bag and purse.

Wheeling this cart out with a smile on my face, I was so excited my travels were over and I was going to be able to settle down somewhere! Think again. After being greeted by Nacho, (short for Fernando) my 25 year old host family member, we had to exit the airport with our luggage and take an escalator down to the metro. Oh dear. I tried my hardest to get every possible combination of weight and luggage and waddle towards the escalator starting it down as if we were about to do battle.

The escalator won. I ended up yelling down to the rest of my roommates and Nacho "neccessito ayuda con mi equipaje por favor! Lo siento soy un americana loca que tiene mas equipaje!!!"  Luckily, my host "brother" was kind enough to come back up and relieve me of my 43lb duffle bag. Little did I know, once we were safely at the bottom of the escalator my journey was only just about to begin.

We hop on the metro, I surrounded myself in my fortress of luggage as my roommates and I all tried to communicate as best we could with little snippets of conversation here and there with Nacho.  His mother is a small family practice doctor, his 21 year old sister is studying to be a doctor. After somehow shuffling all my luggage off the metro when our stop came up, we came to see our first nemesis of the journey to our apartment. Stairs. Not even an escalator. Hot concrete stairs.

Sweating we somehow all manage to work our way to the top with our luggage and then begin the trek. "Es una caminata larga?" I puffed as I kept shuffling my hand position to carry the luggage. "Erm, about 8 blocks, a five minute walk" Nacho replied as he grimaced repositioning my heavy duffle bag over his shoulder.

In the hot heat of the city, we got our first true glimpse of the city of Valencia. Gorgeous! I still think it hasn't sunk in completely. But this epic was not over yet. After arriving at the apartment, we had to somehow go one at a time with our luggage up the tiny elevator. I went first with my large bag with wheels and carry on. Getting to our floor, I step off and wait. And wait. And wait. Nothing. I yell down the stairs, and Nacho comes charging up to see if I did something silly like forget to close the gate.

Somehow I just managed to make the elevator inexplicably dysfunctional. Go figure. So we all continue the trek of our luggage up 3 flights of narrow steep stairways. Sweating, out of breath, and embarrassed at my excess luggage I was introduced to our host mother. Maria speaks no english, and I expressed as delicately as I could muster what a pleasure it was to meet her and thanks for having us.

As soon as we charged into our upstairs private guest apartment (yes! best surprise of the trip yet! --pictures will follow shortly) we each chose our OWN bedroom. (I know! que suerte!) And I unpacked those suckas lickety split.

All of my luggage bags are now hiding in my room corner in shame. Sheesh. I need a better plan for the ride home, suggestions welcome, but at least, I hope it was amusing for now.