Alicante & Valencia, Spain: Suitcase and Car Troubles

To be honest, this is going to be a short one. It was my final stop on my Spring Festival holiday and I was joined by Karl, who had been on many adventures with me down the years.

We mainly chose these destinations as the cheapest flights we could get out of the UK at the time were to the south of Spain. With a quick check of the football fixtures, we were able to get to two football games over the weekend. With the exception of the fixtures, we left without much of a plan.

First stop was Alicante. The last time I had seen Karl was when we visited North Korea and I really didn't expect our next trip together to be to the seaside town full of British retirees.

The flight seemed no different than any other I had taken in my 29 years. I checked-in, handed over my checked luggage, made my way through security and immigration before boarding the plane. Karl and I weren't sitting near each other due to it being a short-haul cheap airline, so once on board, I put my earphones in and fell asleep. Once in the air, Karl tracked me down and asked if everything was alright with my case. I mean why wouldn't it be? The problem was that the airline had more cases than they had accounted for and were trying to track down the owners of the cases before departing. My name was announced on the tannoy and I was asked to identify my luggage, it's just that I missed all the drama as I was asleep. 

It turns out that as I hadn't claimed my luggage they had taken it off the aircraft. This was the second time in only a few weeks that my case hadn't arrived at my destination. I have never experienced such a balls up. How did they have extra cases? Why didn't they look up my seat number when looking for me? Why did they take my case off the plane when I'm sat on the bastard thing? 

Don't fly Ryanair.

In Alicante, we spent the day enjoying the sunshine. Karl's first idea was to head down the beach and dip our toes in the water. I wasn't too keen on this as I only had one pair of socks to my name and would have preferred not to have gotten them sandy, but life is for living, I suppose.

Afterwards, we headed up to the Castell de la Santa Bàrbara.

In the evening we made our way over to Elche to take in the first game of the weekend. Despite being a second division game there was still a good crowd of almost 10,000. The game finished 2-0 prevailing over the visitors, Extremadura UD. 

The following day we drove to Valencia. We parked up, dropped our bags off at the AirBnB, and sank beers as we made our way to the famous home stadium of Valencia CF, the Mestalla. 

It's a magnificent stadium which is so steep that it makes finding your seat fairly nerve-wracking.

In truth, the game wasn't the best. An eventless 0-0 draw, but a positive feeling can still be gained from the experience. 

We spent the rest of our time exploring the city and local bars.

When it was time to leave Valencia we encountered a problem. The trip was going far too well for Karl and I. Usually our trips are filled with mishaps which are often down to our own thoughtless behaviour. So far, we'd only had to contend with a missing case which arrived 24 hours late. Our latest problem was that the battery on the car was dead. We tried to call the SOS number for the rental company, but there was no answer. With a tight schedule and flights to catch there was little else we could do but bump start the car. Down the narrow back streets, Karl and I pushed the VW Golf. When we got it rolling Karl jumped in and I was left with the arduous task of getting up to an adequate speed. Karl lifted the clutch and we had power. Unfortunately, I didn't. That was the most exercise I'd done in about 2 months and was exhausted. 

And that was that. Austria, Macedonia, England and Spain all finished in a few weeks. I have a few days in Beijing to relax before starting work again, but those days will be filled with laundry, fighting jet-lag, and teacher training, so probably not all that relaxing.

Only 154 days until the summer holidays...

Macedonia: Official Name Currently Unclear

When discussing holiday plans with my colleagues I recieved a few bewildered faces. Most were speaking of blissful travel plans to Thailand or Vietnam, conjuring up images of lying on a beach sipping cocktails. When I explained that I was travelling to Macedonia most asked "why?" Well, I was off to visit Drew, one of my close friends from the promise land of Korea. We were legends of the famous Seoul Wanderers side that triumphed in the Seoul Sunday League second division in the Spring of 2016. 

Since those golden days Drew signed up for the Peace Corps volunteer program and was placed to teach in the most southern country of the former Yugoslavia. I can't say I ever had any ambitions of travelling there, but now I had a reason to.

I didn't really know what to expect as my only knowledge of the country was Goran Pandev and his unfortunate hairline. I knew more about what not to talk about than what to talk about. Don't mention the name dispute, the Greeks, the Albanians, Alexander the Great, among other things.

Drew met me at the airport and we spent the first few days in his village of Jablanica, which boasts a population of 200 people. I was introduced to his host family and Drew explained that I'd flown in from China to which the uncle pulled his eyes back mimicing 'slanted eyes'. The grandfather was nicknamed 'Mr. Sunshine' as he has a sunnier personality after a few home-brewed rakijas. The family were very welcoming, minus the racism.

Drew filled me in on life in the village. It snows a lot there, which often results in power cuts. Electricity is expensive, especially for famers who have an average monthly household income of about 250 euros. This means that they don't have hot water as it costs too much to heat. Electricity is half price on Sundays so that's when most do laundry and take showers. Yep, showers once a week. The family are self-sufficient, growing their own food and chopping their own wood to heat their homes. Drew's most prized posession is his wood burner, which puts my life into perspective. My prized posession is my phone which I use mainly to chat up girls on Tinder. 

When we were running low on wood we would collect some more from the wood storage room which also houses the family's chickens. You step through the shed and Drew casually says "just step around the pool of blood and get some logs for the fire." Excuse me, a pool of blood? That was where the family slaughtered a pig last week. When we returned, Drew stated "looks like we're having chicken tonight." I asked him how he knew and he pointed to a bloody tree stump and a axe where the grandfather had been standing. Pools of blood seem to be normal in Drew's life. I'm such a delicate city flower that I can't deal with this life. I need to have food delivered, 24-hour bars, and less inbreeding in my life. Even when I last visited my mum back in Bedfordshire she wanted to go for a walk through the field out the back of her house. We got about 5 minutes in when we came to the tall grass, I told my mum I was heading back because I didn't want to get my new Nike Air Max 90s dirty.  

The bloody stump with an axe in the background. The cats and dogs made the most of the remains.

Even using the toilet in Macedonia is hard work. I like to take my time when it comes to going to the bathroom. You shouldn't force nature, just sit back, relax, and let it happen. But that's not possible in Macedonia. It's -5 celcius, so you've got to put on your wooly hat and scarf just to take a shit. I sat on the coldest surface I've ever sat on and I could see my breath as I tried my best to speed things along. 

Drew is hardcore. He lives in the middle of nowhere in Macedonia voluntarily. It couldn't be further removed from my life in the capital of the most populated country in the world. He speaks Macedonian for goodness sake. He walks around the village talking to all the old ladies wearing babuskas, whereas I usually make a point of not talking to any women over the age of 30.

The mist and fog never cleared. There's meant to be a great mountainous view from the village, but I never saw it.

Mr. Sunshine's car. You won't be surprised that it's not road legal.

Life in the village was fascinating and eye-opening, but after 2 days there I was more than ready to leave. Next, we visited the tourist town of Ohrid.

Ohrid is a small lake-side town which is very popular in the summer, but during the winter it was much quieter. It was pleasant to walk around and the temperature was much warmer. I was taken to all the hot-spots, taking in the beautiful view, walking through the narrow alleys and looking at the old churches. Drew told me that beside the lake there are usually Russian women sunbathing topless. As nice as my visit was to Ohrid, given the choice of seeing boring old churches or bare-breasted Russians the answer is obvious.

We met up with Drew's friend, Wade. He's a 61-year-old fellow Peace Corp volunteer and an absolute treat. He's lived the bachelor lifestyle to the maximum. He told us stories from his youth over a fair few rakijas. I'd only known him a short time, but was eager to tell me about Wanda Clack, his first sexual conquest at college in the 1970s. That dirty old dog. 

We called our time short on Ohrid due to the lack of action. We then headed for the capital city, Skopje.

A little known fact is that Skopje is Europe's most polluted city. I was relieved as all the mountain fresh air was giving me the shakes. I breathed in that wonderful carbon monoxide and was ready to take on the city. One of the main sights in Skopje is to see the excessive number of statues in the city. The Macedonian government decided not to invest funds into their education system or to improve their medical system, but to spend a shed load of cash on statues. I was told that, allegedly, the politicians set up companies that manufactured the statues. That sounds completely legit and moral. 

The Alexander the Great Statue...it's pretty controversial

We met up with Drew's girlfriend, Emma, and her friends. We sampled a few of the nightlife spots around town. The girls were dancing away to Macedonia's answer to The Beatles, I can't say it got me moving. I'm not much of a dancer, but when the moment takes me I get it done. I'll just say that when the Macedonian music was on there was one more statue in Skopje.

Overall, my trip to Macedonia was great. The people were very welcoming, kind-hearted, and funny. Emma's mum overfed me and Drew's host family opened my eyes to a different way of life. Everyone told me that I should go back in the summertime, but maybe one week was just about enough for me.