seojealous

early last week i returned from my first trip to europe since college. and let me preface this - i had a great time. what follows is not a complaint, but i couldn’t help but be taken aback by some of the contrasts.

then: me, backpack, railpass, catching the next train out of town (wherever it was headed), finding someplace to ’sleep’ after i arrived.

now: me, husband, one of those awful rolling suitcases, train tickets purchased well in advance on the RENFE website, emails back and forth with the proprietress of a charming hostal, and hotel reservations made ahead of time online. 

maybe i was braver and more spontaneous back then (and probably stupider - i don’t necessarily advocate travelling alone in italy if you’re a 20-year-old woman).  but it’s become so easy to take care of every detail from your desk without making a single international phone call. the internet has helped foster so many of my lazier tendencies.

among the highlights: a trip to the museo nacional centro de arte reina sofia in madrid to see picasso’s guernica. rolling through thousands and thousands of acres of olive trees near the sierra nevada foothills. jamón. watching from the beach as a naval ship left port in the mediterranean while blaring darth vader’s theme march from star wars. a spanish version of the daily show. sun (sun!). and the best calamari i have ever eaten, expertly prepared by a bartender.