Another teacher, from the high school, asked me if I'd like to join her on a trip to some other country. We didn't know exactly where we wanted to go so we visited a local travel agency. The owner of the agency suggested Spain. That sounded like a great idea. Plans began.
First thing to do was to make the reservations, set for Spring vacation. Next, we had to arrange to get passports. We were able to go to the county offices for that so it wasn't too difficult. Of course, the pictures were (as most are) not very pleasing. I think that passport and license pictures are designed to make everyone look their worst! ( I imagine it's the anticipation of the "awfulness" that does it.)
We flew out of NY late at night...the flight was scheduled for midnight. When we arrived in Malaga, it was afternoon and we looked very crumpled. (Sleeping on a plane was never, and still isn't, a favorite of mine.) A bus took us to our hotel in Marbella, a beautiful town on the Mediterranean. As we got off the bus, someone snapped our picture. (Later we paid for the right to keep it as a momento of how awful you look after a long plane ride!)
Our room was beautiful but we didn't spend much time there. We sat by the pool, making many new "friends." I remember that my big surprise was seeing so many people from Sweden. It was a vacation time for them and this was a perfect place for a vacation.
Evenings were spent having fun. One night we drove (someone had a car) into town and spent the evening riding bumper cars (called "dodge-ums" there). Dinner was always late, continental time about 9 p.m. The food was generally good but everyone avoided beef which was very tough and tasteless.
One day we took a bus (tour time) to Malaga to see a bull fight. It was spectacular. The colors and the grace of the matador were amazing. Fortunately we didn't have to witness a bull being killed, nor a matador slipping and being gored by the bull. We were told that the custom was to take the meat from the bull and distribute it to needy people. As far as I was concerned, the bulls shouldn't have been killed at all!
Another day we took a trip to Tangiers. Since the Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain from Morocco, we took a ferry across. We were able to see the Rock of Gibraltar from the boat. After eating lunch aboard the ferry, we arrived at Tangiers. This was like no place I had ever imagined. Children followed us around, begging for money. (We had been told about this and warned to ignore them. If you give to one, many more will expect something. This warning remained with me when we visited India in 1995.) Bargaining is expected and we did our best to fit it with the local culture. I had so much fun with this. We had a small amount of time to explore but didn't stray far. (I watched too many movies and imagined all kinds of terrible things would happen.) Tired and happy, we boarded the ferry for the return trip to Spain.
A couple of days later, it was time to leave. We exchanged addresses with new friends and promised to keep in touch. Of course, promises like that are rarely kept but our intentions were good at the time. We boarded our bus to Malaga and then flew home.
I was hooked on traveling to foreign lands! Future foreign travel included Jamaica, London, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, and India. We (my husband and I) are planning future trips to Australia, the Orient, and countries of Europe. The only limitation is time. When I retire from teaching, we'll have all the time in the world to see other countries and experience the similarities and differences of cultures. I can hardly wait!