http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/sambasa/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from sambasa en-us Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:21:22 UTC Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:21:22 UTC So it was about time that I took a trip to visit Louis in vila. I managed to catch the last us and got there just in time for the trip to the kebab and then the bars Despite it's size vila seems to have a healthy proportion of young people and therefore...bars HurrayBesides that Shannon had appointed herself my winglady for the weekend. If perhaps I had mastered the knack of Spanish chat http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Castile---Leon/-vila/blog-250098.html As much as I love La Mancha it is always nice to get away. I spent the whole of January waiting excitedly to spend the next Puente in Lisbon and Porto. As usual it was the normal mad rush to Madrid and the the airport. I seem incapable of chilled travel. We had organised to couch surf too and as it was my first time I was pretty nervous. Im not sure why I had hosted without any difficulties a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Lisbon/blog-243567.html So we have all heard of Casablanca. Humphry Bogart running a bar in French Morocco and hanging out with the expats. Its a sultry image a stylish and cosmopolitan enclave in Africa. In reality Casablanca is nothing like its Hollywood image. But then again what isReallife Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco although not its capital Rabat and as such it is a busy and sprawling city wit http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Grand-Casablanca/Casablanca/blog-239499.html As a little girl I would sit fascinated upon my Grandad's knee as he described his adventures in the British army in Africa and India. As a poor young lad he had joined up before the war and had seen the marvels of the world before War tore them to pieces. As he would tell his stories of Tiger hunting off the back of elephants and wandering through the sahara I could imagine the heat of a summe http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-232134.html First of all. Feliz navidades a todos The christmas spirit is setting in here in Spain. The Christmas lights are up around the town galaxies of stars cascade from all the shop windows and Santa's sleigh rides across ever street. All the government buildings have lost their austerity and are wishing us feliz fiestas. Nativity scenes adorn ever church doorway all the figurines face the empty ma http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-227837.html A sign directed at a view point in the Parc Guell questioned proudly in prefect English...if it is tourist season why cant we shoot them It made me think. I live in Toledo a city renowned for its historical value and beauty. UNESCO has declared the whole of the old town a world heritage site making Toledo unique in the world. And I will admit that when I first arrived I was as lost in the w http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-226377.html This weekend I spent some of the best days I have had in Spain in the company of Americans. few foreigners and I were welcomed into their Thanksgiving celebrations far from the U.S. and our families we made our own international Thanksgiving. And I would just like to take this opportunity to apologise for all the times I have generalised about American stupidity or ignorance or any other Stere http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Castile-La-Mancha/Ciudad-Real/blog-225389.html La Viuela is a small village in the Axarqua mountains outside Velez Malaga. Although the modern vilage dates from the 16th century when it was on the royal road between Granada and Velez archeological evidence sugests that people have lived here perhaps since palaeolithic times. The surrounding ladscape is a breathtaking sweep of low mountains from which the sun bursts in the mornings. At suns http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/blog-224823.html So as promised at the first opportunity I got I went to visit my Grandmother in Andalusia.As it was a puente and Stephanie had never been to Malaga we decided to make a road trip out of it.So after dropping my worldy possesions off to my third flat in the month of October the flat I found after our Columbian disaster had turned out to be a virtual OCD library we headed off to grab our bus t http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/M-laga/blog-224783.html So after a month of living in Toledo I'm feeling more settled and things are more familiar. Here are just some of the useful things I have learnt.Spain can be cold Donrsquot let the propaganda fool you Although there is always sunshine...it is literally freezing here in the morning and at night.Despite this cold. Very few rented flats will have central heating. And quilts are a novelty.T http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Castile-La-Mancha/Toledo/blog-224778.html so we decided to get the hell out of dodge gathered up 20 euros to leave the crazy columbiana and hailed a taxi.Now if youve ever heard a bible story you will recognise that whenever something really poignant is taking place...when history is being made...God always seemed to send some really affirmative weather to set the scene.So imagine as we were leaving the flat hail stones the size of sk http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/blog-223440.html As a Brit I am often dissapointed by my government in their lack of moral fibre and principles. I am of course proud to be British and hail from the same land as Rhubarb Crumble King Arthur London fashion Radio 1 and T4 on a Sunday morning. But sometimes and especially recently with our 'brits abroad' foreign policy in the middle east I fail to see how a country that spawned such articulate http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/blog-220425.html Monday 1st October 2007 is a day I will never forget and I bet neither will Katie or Stephanie my two amigas in Toledo.The day started off well. I had a brilliant nightrsquos sleep on Katiersquos very broken couch got to School on time and thoroughly enjoyed my first day at work at Juan de Padilla secondary school. After school I helped Stephanie collect her things and take them to Toledo http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Castile-La-Mancha/Toledo/blog-219037.html For anyone about to embark upon the exhausting task of starting a job in a foreign country I give this advice. For Gods sake make sure that you are moved and settled into a suitable secure and comfortable accommodation before you begin your employment. No shit Sherlock I hear you cry.Well youd think wouldnt you If asked I would consider myself on the sensible side of young adults. My pare http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Castile-La-Mancha/Toledo/blog-213971.html Ater my restfull stay at the Hostel Posada I packed my bags again and headed across town to the four star hotel in which I was being boarded courtesy of my new employers for an induction course along with my 600 other colleagues from around the world. Still sore from lugging my bags around the day before I gingerly picked up my 36kg and marched onwards. Three metro lines countless metro stairs http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-207704.html On Tuesday afternoon I arrived in Madrid Barajas airport. I eventually found the metro which was about 300 metres away but felt like 3 miles with the 15kg on my shoulder and the 21kg dragging wearily behind me. Once i had made my way to the Hostel Inernacional de Posada I found it clean and secure with clever little magnetic watches for keys into your room and a locker. As i was in a female only http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-207696.html Theres a certain panic that accompanies any long term trip abroad. At first the elation of leaving the grey skies behind completely masks the underlying fear of something possibly going horribly wrong. Questions like 'what if the weather is terrible' soon escalate to 'what if theres a military coup'. Not entirely rational but then worry rarely is. For me Trains symbolise what is great about Brita http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/blog-205146.html So i handed in my letter of resignation. And to be honest part of me expected a theatrical outcry against my leaving the pub. als there was no outcry no single noise. My manager reached out his managerhand took my letter and tossed it onto the mound of paperwork that looked like it should have been labelled 'to be done at a later date'. 'Thanks. You coming in' He gestured.'Yeah alright' i re http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/England/blog-203715.html