After acting as host for Ellie and Johann in Madrid, it was now time for me to be hosted myself as I flew off to stay with Rhea for a few days in London. This trip had been planned for the weeks after my trip to Japan, but my passport fiasco in Tokyo meant I had to delay this trip back to my homeland’s capital for a couple of months.
My flight into Stansted landed in the late afternoon, which meant it was already dark in the UK when I arrived. As my train then trundled along towards the centre of London, I checked the instructions that Rhea had left me to get to her place as I was having to let myself in. She was up in Leeds, celebrating the engagement of our friend Sophie, so I had to rock up at her place accompanied only by a bag of onion rings that I picked up at a Tesco on the way there. I do miss Tesco.
Once unpacked at Rhea’s, I headed off to another supermarket and picked up some bits so that we could have tea (evening meal) when she got in. This we did, and in true Rhea style she whipped up some delicious food before the two of us headed off to bed.
The next day we headed out for breakfast at one of Rhea’s favourite local cafés, where I was not disappointed by the selection of delicious pastries and tasty coffee. From there, we wandered down Portabello Road, perusing the antiques and second hand goods that were sprawled across the stalls along the way.
The smell of fresh bread in the cool Sunday sun was irresistible.
As midday came around I left Rhea in a bookshop and scuttled off to the Underground station, as I’d arranged to meet up with Ellie who was also in London. It was as if I’d not seen enough of her after having her over in Madrid just days before!
I hopped off in Richmond, where I was greeted by my sister who was on a video call with my parents. She showed me around the picturesque London town, including the waterfront where I was unceremoniously pooed on by a passing seagull. Not on my new coat!
After a quick snoop around some shops and other quirky streets of the old Richmond town centre, we were ready for some grub and so wandered into a local Italian restaurant. There we shared some delicious dishes and had a proper catch up: a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
As the afternoon wore on Ellie had to head off and so I made my way back to Ladbroke Grove to meet back up with Rhea. We then made our way to Camden to spend the evening together, where we grabbed some lush Chinese street food before walking to the top of a hill to hopefully catch a view of some Bonfire Night fireworks. Remember, remember, the fifth of November…
This one was taken by a lady who kept calling Rhea – correctly – a very beautiful lady.
Our Bonfire Night adventure turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. I couldn’t for the life of me find any bonfire toffee, there were no sparklers for sale in sight, and we didn’t even see that many fireworks. You know it’s a poor do when the crowd are cheering at the smallest firework off in the distance! I guess that’s the British for you.
The next day I headed off to work at a local coworking spot, after which I headed back to Rhea’s place for a girl’s night in with Izzy, who I haven’t seen in person since she came to visit a couple of years ago. The three of us had a wonderful catch up over some more delicious food by Rhea: it was like being back at university all over again, when the three of us lived together in our final year.
Rhea then joined me at the coworking office the next day, where we managed to bag some tickets to see a musical that very same night. Costing us just £25, we were super buzzed as we headed out for an evening to watch The Book of Mormon in the West End.
The show was absolutely hilarious: we were crying tears of laughter all the way through. It was curious that we should end up watching The Book of Mormon, as just a week or so prior to my trip to London I’d seen that it had just arrived here in Madrid, too. I’m glad I went to see it in English, though, even if I am curious to see how the jokes would translate into Spanish.
I had the next day off work to head back to Madrid, but as I wasn’t flying until the afternoon, Rhea and I once again headed for some croissants and coffee at the local café. As Rhea then had to head off, I bade her farewell and thanked her for being the hostess with the mostest, then heading over to Spitalfields Market to have a nosey around that area.
Spitalfields was nice, but a bit too crowded and commercialised for me.
As I then took the train back up to Stansted Airport, I chatted to Loredana and David who were passing through Madrid for just one day before flying off to South America for an extended holiday. Unfortunately they’d be flying just about the time I landed, so I’d just miss them by a matter of hours. Damn!
When I landed in Madrid, though, I was surprised to find that Loredana was still online and messaging me. It turns out that their flight had been delayed somewhat, so if I could make it from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 on time I might just be able to say hello for five minutes. I sped off to get the airport bus, spent the journey wishing that the driver would step on it a little bit more, and then jumped off the bus and ran into Terminal 4 to almost run directly into the two of them who had just finished checked in the moment I arrived.
Ecstatic to see each other and amazed by the perfect coincidence, the three of us spent ten minutes chatting away and giving each other hugs in a rather empty Terminal 4. I then bade them farewell and they headed off to Chile whilst I headed off for the train back to my neighbourhood. There, I nipped into my local bar and grabbed a pork and cheese sandwich.
In a battle between Tesco and my local bar, I’m still not sure who would win…
Just a week after I’d been off to Cuenca on business and a mere fortnight after I landed back in Spain from the US, I was cleaning the house up ready for the arrival of a couple of guests: Ellie and Johann. My sister usually comes once a year but it’s been a whole five years since she last came with Johann!
After picking them up from the airport, our top priority was getting some food. We visited a lovely little Greek restaurant near my house and had some amazing grub, including some divine roast carrots. From there, we pottered down the road and to the Matadero, which was hosting a series of installations from Luz Madrid.
As you can imagine, this annual festival celebrating light is right up my street. I last managed to visit it here in the city two years ago, so I was keen to see what kind of delights they’d have in store. We rocked up and weren’t disappointed; there were all kinds of installations including my favourite in the form of a big star which interacted with the Matadero’s water tower.
We then carried on further down the river, passing through other installations such as a matrix of flashing spotlights under a bridge and then a series of huge work lamps which changed colours. Ellie and Johann also took a ride on some kids slides which were quite the death trap…
You can just about make Ellie out in the darkness here.
It then began to rain in a rather Madrid fashion: both suddenly and very heavily. Taking it as a sign that it was time for bed, we scrambled for cover and hailed a taxi back home for the night.
The next day it was dry once more and so we hopped on the metro and up to the city centre to to indulge in some shopping and tourist activities. These naturally included some churros for breakfast and a pizza at Ellie’s favourite Italian restaurant for lunch.
Once it was dark again we were back out to check out some more of Luz Madrid, but not until we’d sat down at a bar for a drink. This evening we were out around the Plaza de España, where it looked like a huge and colourful spaceship had landed in the middle of this iconic square.
I then wanted to check out another installation inside a church, but the queue was long, we were hungry, and it had just started to rain again. We nipped a couple of streets down to a restaurant next to my old office, a place I used to haunt with my colleagues and which I knew would have us full of patatas bravas in no time.
We then returned to the church and hopped in line to see the show inside. It was worth the few minutes of queuing: the installation was a visual delight, involving moving spotlights, mirrors, and other visual effects in time with the music and within this rather unusual setting.
I always love it when fog is used to visualise rays of light.
The next day we had some tacos for lunch and then regrouped in the evening to go and watch the sun set from a park in Madrid’s south. We ate some snacks, enjoyed the panoramic views over the city, and shivered as the setting sun brought forth the bitter cold of the Madrid winter.
The Cerro del Tío Pío is one of the best places to get some iconic shots of Madrid.
Another day we headed up to the sierra, the mountains which surround the city. I’d wanted to visit a reservoir up there for a while and Ellie and Johann enjoy a walk around the countryside, so we caught the bus up to Navacerrada after a bit of a drama when I realised I didn’t have enough cash to pay for the three of us.
Once up there we were met with some lovely surroundings. We set off with the intention of walking the entire perimeter of the reservoir but wound up deviating from our course and up into a nearby village as we’d all wound up rather hungry and rather tired. This turned out to be a good decision; we found a nice spot on a terrace to have some lunch, a drink, and then grab the bus back to Madrid from the bus stop just across the road.
It had been a long day, but we still had the energy to go and catch another sunset from a place that I’d been wanting to visit for a while. Grabbing a bike each, we cycled down to the Dama del Manzanares, a sculpture atop an artificial hill in one of the parks which borders the river near my house. We made our way up to the peak just in time to catch some last rays of sun.
Once we’d cycled back home and returned our bikes there was just enough time for us to meet up with Luis. The four of us met up at NAP, the pizzeria that we all enjoy, and had an absolute whale of a time. From there we crossed Lavapiés to have a drink in Bodegas Lo Máximo, a local bar famed for its quirky decor and fun clientele. It was, as always, an absolute hoot!
That night sadly marked the last of Ellie and Johann’s visit. The next day we were all up and out relatively early as I took them to the train station and waved them off on their way to the airport. As ever, it was an absolutely lovely visit and I look forward to having them back over soon.
My next little adventure saw the tables turn as it was time for me to head off to the airport and away for a few days to visit a friend. More on that next time…
Now back in Spain after my trip around the US, there was no rest for me as I was straight back into work on Monday, the day after I landed. This was all well and good, but then I’d to leave Madrid once again that same Thursday as I’d been invited to an event.
This little trip would take me to Cuenca, a pretty and historical city to the east of Madrid famed for how its old architecture meshes with some striking natural features to create some impressive sights. I’d made a quick day trip to the city with my colleagues a couple of years ago, but this time I’d be staying overnight.
Just when I’d got comfy in my own bed, I was off to sleep elsewhere.
The event in question was put on by AUGAC, the Association of Communication Professionals from Universities and Research Centres within Spain. The event was orientated at sharing knowledge about visual communication and promotion within the education sector, so I was drafted in to go over the rebranding project that we at Erretres worked on for UDIT.
Disaster almost struck as the trip began, as once again I was caught up in the confusing mess that is the redirection of trains from Madrid’s southern train station to its northern one. As with Murcia at the start of this year, I managed to get to the correct station just on time. The train ride was then quick and smooth and I hopped into a taxi with another of the event’s speakers in order for us to head to the lovely hotel that they’d reserved for us.
The hotel was rather grandiose and rather lovely.
Once I’d unpacked I left the hotel again and made my way to a restaurant in the city centre where I’d been invited to lunch. The weather was pretty dire, with rain and wind aplenty, but the walk offered some nice views and the food was absolutely top notch. Cuenca is a great place for foodies!
From the restaurant we headed to the event space and before I knew it I was up on stage talking about the process of tackling a project to brand an affiliated design school for its transition to an independent university. I was joined by some other really inspiring speakers who I had a chance to get to know during the wine tasting session after the event and then over a lovely evening meal at another restaurant in the city. A fabulous day all in all!
The next day I didn’t get up on time for breakfast and then nearly missed my train as the taxi I booked to the station took forever and a day to show up. Once it had arrived, the driver really stepped on it and I made it onto my train back to Madrid in the nick of time. Quite the week I’d had…
There were more work shenanigans to be enjoyed the week after, however. For a special internal event celebrating our rebranding, I spent a while assembling a gift pack for the team, including a funky card with an elastic band we used to fire bits of paper at each other over a team breakfast.
A couple of days later I was off for a day trip with my colleagues to visit another one of our clients. They had a stand at the Global Mobility Call, an international event bringing together key players in the mobility and transport sector. We enjoyed a morning there snooping around, learning about the latest about the future of mobility, and even had chance to try out some of Madrid’s new bus stops.
To finish that week off I had a rather busy Friday. Hugo had bagged some free passes to go and watch Bailo Bailo, a musical celebrating the life and work of Rafaella Carrà, whose music I’ve always been a fan of. As much as I was enjoying the show, I had to leave during the interval as I’d to cross the city centre to be at another theatre by 8pm where I’d arranged to watch another play with Nacho, who was visiting Madrid from Prague.
In the end our evening turned out to be rather different than we’d expected, as they advised us at the theatre that the show was a whole four hours long. Nacho had to head back home just after midnight as he’d an early flight, so in the end we decided to ditch the show and instead went out for a meal so we could actually chat and have a proper catch up. We were joined by one of his friends and in the end we had an absolutely blast!
I leave this post here though, as the very next day I had some visitors arrive and what we got up to warrants its own blog post…
You may have seen that I’ve slowly but surely been putting out some blog posts from the fortnight I spent over in the Canada and the US in early October. Two weeks they may have been, but I got up to loads of stuff and so split the visit into six blog posts, which I have collected here below:
Back to Montreal
I arrive in the Americas for some poutine and a quick weekend break with Megan and Mallory before we cross the US border.
In what might be the prettiest blog post ever, I explore the Vermont mountains with Maureen and Mallory whilst surrounded by striking autumnal colours.
Me and Megan finally get some time together, so we head off on a sunset cruise over Lake Champlain and then dive into the water in a local swimming hole.
We show a very special guest around Burlington, including sampling the local delicacies and then burning the calories off as we climb up yet another hill.
Me and Danni make a dream come true as we meet up in Tennessee to visit Dolly Parton’s very own theme park. We watch a cowboy dinner show, ride some fantastic rollercoasters, and have lots of laughs down in the south of the US.
As usual, you can also start at the very beginning of the trip and then just hit “Next blog post” at the bottom of each post as you go along. I’ve also updated my travel page with all the new locations I visited along the way. Happy reading!
My flight from Burlington was quite an interesting one, being just over an hour in a small plane which took me for a quick layover at Washington DC, the country’s capital. I rushed off the plane rather anxious about making my connection, which was just 40 minutes after this first plane had landed, but upon leaving the airbridge I turned a corner to run straight into the gate for my second flight. Easy peasy!
This took me further south and down to Tennessee, where Danni would be picking me up from Knoxville Airport. From there, she drove us the an hour eastward and up to Pigeon Forge, where we’d be staying for a few days whilst we lived one of our collective dreams: we were going to Dollywood!
For those of you who might not know, Dollywood is a theme park partly owned by Dolly Parton herself. It’s themed to all things country and southern, and is nestled in the middle of the Great Smokey Mountains. Me and Danni are huge fans of both roller coasters and Dolly Parton, so this trip promised to be an absolute blast!
We certainly weren’t working 9 to 5 the next few days.
As I’d arrived quite late, the only thing for us to do on that first night was to head to bed in the hotel that Danni had already got us all checked in to. We’d then have breakfast in the tiny reception area of the hotel the next day, and that was quite an experience! We watched all the locals pile their plates high with biscuits and gravy, waffles and syrup, and sugary cereals with milk. We followed suit and I discovered that American gravy, even if weirdly different to what I’d call gravy, is pretty damn good.
Having eaten approximately 5000 calories each for breakfast, we hopped back in the car and drove the short distance to Dollywood. We parked up, grabbed the trolley (what they call a tram) to the entrance, and made our way inside. We were finally here!
What then followed was a lovely day of rides, snacks, and shows, but I’m going to skip over all of that for now as I want to get to the highlight of that first day: the dinner show we went to see.
When booking our Dollywood tickets we’d discovered that Dolly’s entertainment empire also includes some live shows, including one called Stampede. Intrigued by the promise of a cowboy spectacular, we booked in to see it on the very first evening, which meant cutting our theme park day short to head back to the hotel, have a quick nap, and then walk the short distance across the road to the custom built Stampede theatre.
It took us 15 minutes to walk between two places that are a mere 98m (320′) apart across a road. I know it’s that far because I just measured it on Google Maps. Thanks to the brilliance of the US’ prioritisation of cars over all else, we’d to walk a while down the road before finding a crossing, wait for ages at the traffic lights which were obviously prioritising traffic, and then walk all the way back down the other side of the road. We found the whole thing rather funny: a great example of America’s terrible urban planning.
This trek was worth it though, as the show was a real experience. We arrived as busses full of local retirees were also showing up, so we knew it was going to be a good one. We were ushered to our seats around the sand-filled arena, asked what we’d like to drink during the show, and then the lights dimmed.
The show itself was a lot of fun, with comedic relief and audience participation amid plenty of stunts performed on horseback. We were somewhat distracted when our food showed up halfway through though: we were served a whole roast chicken each! It was a small chicken admittedly, but we wound up munching through an ungodly amount of food whilst watching the action unfold.
I think the funniest moment of the whole evening was right at the end of the show, when the whole thing turned very, very American. To the dulcet tones of Dolly’s ‘Color Me America‘, the presenter shouted “stand up if you’re proud to be an American!”, a rallying call to which me and Danni jumped to our feet and started to hoot and shout louder than the rest of the actual Americans in the room. When in Rome…
As we filed out of the arena me and Danni were in absolute hysterics, something which didn’t let up as we hit the gift shop. We tried out a selection of all manner of cowboy goodies, but our favourite was undoubtedly this cowboy hat which was emblazoned with the American flag. I don’t know if you’ll be able to tell in the photo, but we’d been crying tears of laughter as we put them on with a mighty yeehaw!
We left the venue relatively early at night, so we decided to go for a wander to explore a bit more of Pigeon Forge. This took us past the Dollywood sign and then by plenty of neon-clad restaurantes and attractions. These included some shops which we headed into on a search for some pyjamas, only to find ourselves very uncomfortable as we were suddenly surrounded by souvenirs with questionable messages and propaganda on them. It was like the Blackpool of the American South…
Here’s me and the best sign I’ve ever seen.
After heading home for a good night’s sleep, the two of us were ready for a full day in the theme park. We’d ridden quite a lot the day before, but we’d still plenty to check out, so off we set to do what we do best and strategise the best way of riding all the big coasters whilst avoiding the longest queues.
No wimmin, but us two dumb blondes got in.
The sun was out and our plan was working perfectly: we were able to get on all the main coasters before the evening came around. These included:
Blazing Fury: an old indoor wooden coaster with a few little surprises.
Thunderhead: the best wooden coaster I’ve ever been on which may even be the best coaster I’ve ever been on regardless of type.
Mystery Mine: an indoor coaster with a beyond vertical drop.
Big Bear Mountain: a new and fun family coaster.
Lighting Rod: a wooden coaster which is unique in that it launches you up a huge hill and then through a crazy collection of huge turns and hills.
Wild Eagle: a wing coaster, meaning that you sit suspended on each side of the track.
This last one was the perfect example of what made Dollywood so special. Its mountainous location means that most of the rollercoasters begin in the valley, rise up following the slope of the mountains, and then disappear out of sight for the bulk of the ride. This makes for a disorientating surprise as you’ve no idea what’s coming, alongside some great near-miss moments as you zoom close to the ground.
It was also one of the rides that we bagged a photo on. Here’s the two of us trying to compose ourselves as we fly down the side of one of the Rockies!
Once the sun had set things only got better at Dollywood. Alongside the thrill of zooming around a ride in the dark, there was also a spectacle of lights to enjoy. We wandered around to take all of this in, passing by all kinds of illuminated sculptures, walkways, and even a spooky nighttime disco. This led us back to Thunderhead, my beloved wooden coaster, which we wound up riding three consecutive times as there was simply no queue that late at night!
The next day we were back at the park again for our third and final day. This time we had other goals in mind, including riding a one last coaster and hunting down some of Dollywood’s famous cinnamon bread. As the sun was out and things were heating up, we first made a trip to the log flume, where we snagged two rides as the station was empty after our first trip. Success!
After some more rides we were ready for some sweet treats. We had a snoop around a candy emporium but then decided we’d finally take the plunge and try and get ourselves some cinnamon bread. We’d to wait for a while for it to come out of the oven, but this huge loaf turned out to be a gooey and heavenly combination of cinnamon, sugar, and butter. We’d have kept some for later, but the bag was so greasy that we decided to finish it off there and then!
Now full of bread, we decided to head for a ride that we knew would have a long queue: Lightning Rod. Not only is this coaster unique in the world and therefore very popular, it is also famously unreliable, being known to be broken down almost as much as it is up and running.
With the sun beating down, we were in with a bit of luck as the ride was running and the queue was open for us to jump in and get some shade. However, it would turn out that we weren’t the only ones suffering with the temperature, as the launch system overheated and broke down just as we were the next ones to ride.
Now stuck just behind the gates, we’d to decide whether to wait for the thing to be fixed or abandon ship. Not ones for giving up and curious to see how such a ride reset worked, Danni and I plonked ourselves on the ground and watched as the ride crew sent empty car after empty car around the circuit.
Eventually the all clear came, a moment which we all celebrated with cheers and applause, as the poor ride crew seemed as fed up with as we did. At least we got the payoff of being able to ride this absolutely crazy ride – we even grabbed a photo to mark the occasion. The poor girl in front of us looks to be having a rather rough time of it!
We were particularly keen to get on Lightning Rod as many times as we could because 2023 will be its final year operating as it currently does. As the launched lift hill is such a headache, over winter the launch system will be replaced by a conventional chain lift, so we wanted to ride it in it’s current crazy form whilst we could!
Now content to have been on all the rides, eaten all the food, and seen all the sights, we asked some other tourists to take a photo of us together under the iconic Dollywood sign before we left the park for one last time. We bought some goodies in the gift shop, grabbed a tram back to the car, and then headed out for one last little surprise adventure before the end of our trip.
Near Pigeon Forge was a petrol-station-cum-huge-supermarket called Buc-ee’s that Danni had told me about and that we were keen to visit. On our way there, I wanted some snacks and chewing gum, so we stopped off at a local supermarket chain to pick up some goodies.
As we entered I spied a line of what, for me, epitomises America: the electric shopping carts that you see people riding around in supermarkets. I’d never had the chance to ride on one of these, so I went over to get one after checking that there were plenty left for people who might actually need one.
I am about to live my American dream.
I then began scootering around the supermarket whilst Danni – rather understandably – didn’t want to be seen anywhere near me. I filled the basket with crisps, chocolates, and other goodies without even rising from my seat: the epitome of human laziness and consumerism. It was a good laugh, even if it made me a feel a bit grim about the state of humanity.
Anyway, here’s what your’e all here for: a video of my new ride:
Once we’d paid and I ditched the thing, we head off to Buc-ee’s, parking up and heading into what would be a whole other level of American experience. It was a cathedral to high-fructose corn syrup and saturated fats, with a whole wall of fizzy drinks machines and fresh brisket sandwiches and hot dogs for days.
After the awe of the spectacle had passed, me and Danni grabbed some “soda” and greasy grub. We ate this just outside the supermarket on top of one of the barbecues that they had on sale: a perfectly trashy way to end a few days down in the American South.
There can be nothing more American than some industrial food in the middle of a huge car park.
All that was left for us to do the next day was to get up, get packed, and head off back to Knoxville Airport together. There I waved Danni off as she flew onwards to New York for last few days of her US trip before I boarded the first of my two flights back across the pond.
During my layover in Charlotte Douglas Airport, I got talking to a very chatty lady who recommended me some more obscure Dolly songs to listen to during the second leg of my journey back to Madrid. One of her suggestions was “Mule Skinner Blues“, which I have found myself to be quite fond of. Who’d have thought I’d come back from Tennessee listening to some yodel music?
I’m sure you can deduce from all my tales that I had an absolutely amazing time down in Pigeon Forge, an experience made possible by and infinitely bettered by the presence of one of my oldest friends. Stay tuned for the plans we’ve got for next year and then our big 30th celebrations in 2025…
