Sunrise over Stanstead

So my arrival in Seville was an adventure. This entire trip is turning out to be full of surprises. I flew RyanAir(pretty cheap flights...cost me $50 or so for a one way flight from London) and my flight was leaving Stanstead airport, 45 minutes from London, at 7am. Considering that I had had an hour of sleep before my mini cab picked me up at 4am to get me to the train station by 4.45 I was a bit tired. Thankfully the train to the airport left on time because I was running pretty close to the flight time.



Side note- One of my favorite things to do when I travel is to talk to the cab driver. I luckily I got a rather chatty cab driver named Earnest. He and I chatted about daily stuff around London. I tend to ask questions surround daily living in the place I'm at and he was happy to talk about London and continue with his life story. I found out that in London(UK really) people get 20 days paid vacation...generally speaking. I had no idea, he laughed at my two week vacation period. He was also the one that mentioned that Senator Kennedy was in the hospital as I have been lax on my US news. The topic turned quickly to politics and the upcoming American elections. The consensus that the driver said that was that the British are interested in US politics because it affects so many area of their own country, but that since the new Prime Minister was elected(wildly unpopular here in Britain) people have shifted their gaze more towards home. He was a rather nice chap and made the drive through the dark streets of London enjoyable. Thank goodness I paid for the cab as the streets of London at night would have scared me a bit to navigate on my own.


We passed lots of lovely green pastures and farm looking land on the way out of London. It was about 15 degrees C when we left so it was quiet chilly outside...thankfully the train was a bit warmer. I always sit on the window side in trains, because frankly I adore train travel. It has such a romantic feel to it that really attracts me. About 20 minutes into our 55 minute ride IO started to see signs of sunshine. Looked down at my watch...yup 5.30am. The sun rose slowly over the green hills and because of the rain the night before, the rays shot through the dewiness with a soft look. It was stunning and looked like a scene out of a Jane Austen novel. Actually it reminded me of that scene in Pride and Prejudice(the Keira Knightly one), the scene at the end with sunrise over the hill with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy coming over the hill. Breathtaking.


I thought that due to the earliness of the flight to Seville, I thought that the flight would be pretty empty. Wrong again. I'm pretty much getting used to being wrong in Europe. The flight was booked solid and while checking in I found that my bag was 4 kilos over limit(stupid kilos) so I was forced to take some stuff out and stuff them in my already full carry on. I managed to waddle(yes waddle) resembling a penguin because of my carry on and my purse and grabbed a chocolate croissant and some coffee at a nearby coffee place. I turn around and see the immensely long line for security and join the others for the standard security checkpoint. Normally I have no problems with security, I pack my 3oz plastic bag brimming with a myriad of glosses, face cream, lotions, perfume, a water mister for the plane, etc. But this time was different. Considering I had taken stuff out of my checked pack and chucked it in my carry on apparently I was tagged for a complete search. I got patted down by a security guard and my carry on and purse were dissected with the scrutiny of medical student. Every lip gloss, compact, piece of paper was pulled out and inspected. My camera equipment and each lens was carefully assembled onto the camera body and tested to make sure it worked. Apparently the curly hair has signs of "imminent threat" to the British. I was patient and complied with security. I know it's their job to be so thorough but when he dropped my new wide angle lens I made smirked and made a comment. Finally they were finished checking for Kelly made weapons of mas destruction and I was on my way. I think I walked easily a half mile to my gate.

Now I had hear that RyanAir was a cheap flight and that I shouldn't expect much but I was not prepared to have to walk on the tarmac to board the flight. I thought it was pretty much the coolest thing and slightly annoying at the same time. I'm so used to the giant arm that greets you at the plane's door and the stairs leading up to the plain aren't too horrible, just a bit steeper. I'm a little scared of stairs as I tend to fall on them quiet a bit. And given that my center of weight was uneasy due to my bags the plane stairs weren't so bad going up. The flight was uneventful, no drink service or anything, but it's a relatively short flight(two hours or so.) Thankfully when we got to Seville and as we debarked the plane it was sunshine and warmth that greeted me. Yay no more cold, wet weather! Welcome to Espana.

Took the bus and finally found the little hostel I decided to stay at. It's in the Triana quarter of Seville along these tiny streets. The hostel itself is very beautiful as it used to be an old house where 10 families lived together. Very pretty courtyard and terrace with hammocks. Got settled and and went walking around the neighborhood just taking in the feel of Seville. There was a flamenco show scheduled for 10pm so I decided to take a little nap in the hammocks on the terrace. That night a group of us went to the Flamenco show. We(including me) were expecting the traditional flamenco music coupled with the flamenco music. Apparently, it was only the music and although I enjoyed it some of the others were not too pleased. I met a nice young married couple from Canada(there's alot of Canadians on vacation now) and we chatted rather well. I worked as their translator and they bought me drinks. I learned that in Canada you get 20 days paid vacation as well and a whole year at 80%pay for maternity leave(the couple wanted children after this vacation...that's how we ended up on the topic.) And apparently in the Czech mothers get FOUR years maternity leave. How sad that the US only get three months and sometimes that's not even paid.

Anyway- The show ended around 1am and we had a nice comfortable walk back to the hostel and nice comfortable, much needed, sleep.