Day 25: Venice/Valencia

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I know now that me catching a bus/train/plane to a new destination is a crap shoot. I really don't enjoy getting minutes there before it leaves so I thought this time would be different. I left at 7:40 am and was going to find some breakfast and snacks. The grocery stores nearby didn't open until 8:00. I decided to get some McDonald's, but it didn't open until 9:00. What the hell? I ended up having a nutritious breakfast consisting of water. By now it was 8:10 and my flight was at 9:45. I tried to catch a cheaper bus that took a bit longer because it made more stops versus the airport bus. It would have been 1.25€ versus 8€. Whenever I asked, everyone said it was 8€ to go to the airport. I caved in and ended up paying the 8€. This bus I got on made every damn stop on the way so I don't know why I paid over six times as much as the other bus. Maybe it's a flat rate to the airport? While on the bus I was daydreaming about power wheelieing past the bus on my motorcycle. I'm so over public transportation at this point. There's a reason back home why I have a car, motorcycle and bicycle. The airport didn't clearly display where check-in for airlines were. Eventually I found it, bought a croissant and got in line to board the plane. I wasn't sweating this time but by no means did I have time to kill. On the plane I tried to sleep and had a dream where I got hit by a flash grenade walking down the street in Germany and couldn't raise my head back up to wake up. I REALLY needed to eat some more. At the airport in Barcelona I confirmed with the info desk that I didn't have enough time to leave and come back and my checked bag didn't not have to be picked up by me. I still wanted an egg McMuffin, but this airport McDonald's didn't do 24 hour breakfast. Instead I got an overly salty fried rice prepared in a burnt wok. It was too hot outside on the terrace and everyone was smoking. Instead I sat down on the cool stone floor next to a power outlet to charge my shitty phone and write for two and a half hours. After the train from the airport to the stop near the hostel, I was finally able to step outside. It was a bit cooler, but more humid. When booking this hostel while I was in Florence, the website had booking restrictions because La Tomatina was going on while I was there. La Tomatina is the massive tomato fight in a town just outside Valencia. I didn't plan on participating. I just wanted to relax, go to the beach, and eat paella. When checking in there was a line up, but it was a great opportunity to meet people. There were three Australian girls who had just gotten there as well. We planned to meet and grab food after we settled in. By the time i got to my room it was about 7:00 pm. There was two people sleeping and the the curtains were drawn shut. I met the girls up in the bar at 8:00. Time started flying by socializing and they started filling up on beer. By 11:00 I was dying and needed to get food. I wanted paella, but at that hour, no restaurants were running a full kitchen. I ended up getting a Spanish ham sandwich at a small restaurant. The cute waitress and I had a 15 minute conversation because she had asked me where I was from. I hung out in the bar for a bit more when I got back and took a shower. Unfortunately I picked the wrong shower. It was one of the ones where you have to push the button every 30 seconds and this one only seemed to be hot and hotter. After the shower I was sweating in bed and got a shitty sleep as a result.

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