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Published: January 27th 2008
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Ah, Spain. The land of cerveza, tapas, and endless fiestas!!
Our first long weekend we booked a trip to Spain. We bought plane tickets from Frankfurt (Hahn) Airport to Madrid, Spain for 1€ cent each!!! After taxes and airport fees, we paid a total of 60€ TOTAL!! That means 2 roundtrip tickets to Spain for less than $100 total!! How could we say no?!?!
Andrea studied in Zaragoza, Spain in the fall of 2002. She lived with a family and studied Spanish and had an amazing experience! She's been back only once, three years ago, and was very excited at the opportunity to visit her friends and 'family' again.
Romas and Andrea flew out of Frankfurt (Hahn) which is about 1 hour west of the actual Frankfurt International Airport. When we arrived we were shocked to see a building with the sign "Commissary." The next buildings we saw were old and had fighter planes painted on the side. We realized that this airfield was a former Air Force base and had, at some point, been handed back over to the Germans.
We flew out of Ryan Air and the best way to
describe the airline is that it's a cheaper version of Southwest. If you think Southwest is bad with their A, B, and C boarding groups and no assigned seating, you should fly Ryan Air. Each ticket might cost only 1€ cent on Ryan Air, but they make you pay for EVERYTHING!! Taxes and airport fees are a given and are included anywhere, but they charge for Airport Check-In. We would love to check-in via the internet, however you must be a citizen of the European Union in order to do so! So...we have to pay 6 € each person, each way for Airport Check-In. Then, you are not authorized any checked luggage. Each checked bag is an additional 6 €. They also have Priority Boarding, where you can pay (of course) to be in the first group on board. We didn't think it would be worth it, but after seeing the craziness at boarding time, we may purchase priority boarding if we fly with them again!
Anyway, the trip to Madrid was only 2 hours. We landed and manuevered our way on the Metro to the Puerta de Atocha Train Station. We were planning on buying our tickets
for the AVE (high speed train) to Zaragoza however when we arrived at the ticket booth we were amazed to find that every seat was booked!! We talked to the man at the desk and finally, after 10 minutes of him complaining (in Spanish) that we were crazy for even trying to get a ticket, he was able to book us a seat in the Priority Car. We were riding First Class to Zaragoza!! We had big comfy seats, dinner, and free drinks!
Dani picked us up at the Delicias train station in Zaragoza and took us out for some tapas and drinks with his friends. The next day we toured Zaragoza so Andrea could show Romas where she had lived. We spent time shopping and had coffee in a couple cafes. We met up with Dani again and spent a couple hours wandering around and had more tapas!!
Later that night we met up with Maria and her boyfriend Alberto. Maria is Andrea's 'Spanish Sister' and they are incredibly alike in many ways. We spent the night trying out more tapas bars (we LOVE tapas!!) and having some drinks. We bar-hopped a little and were
out until the bars closed at 4:30am. To us Americans that may seem late, but Spaniards are actually livid because closing time used to be 8am!! It was recently changed and many young people are very upset. It's understandable because their culture is built around late nights and social drinking/partying. Andrea was sad to see the change because it means part of the Spanish culture is dying. Politicians want Spain to be more like other European countries but it has always been drastically different. Spain is a place of 10pm dinners, tapas, and late nights in bars/clubs.
The night out with Maria and her friends was a great way for Romas to see Spanish culture and its people firsthand. On Sunday we slept late (like the Spanish!) and then walked to Maria's parent's house for lunch. Lunch in Spain is the biggest meal and is typically eaten together as a family. Sunday is especially reserved for family dinners and we were invited to eat with her family. Andrea had a great time seeing her Spanish 'mom and dad' again. Romas got a tour of the apartment where she had lived while studying in college. We had a huge
meal and Romas won the respect of Rosa (Spanish mom) for having seconds and Marcial (Spanish dad) for drinking wine with dinner!
Sadly, we had to head back to Madrid for the night. We took the high speed train again and spent the night in a hotel (where we enjoyed yummy tortilla de patata sandwiches compliments of Maria!) and Sangria. We watched horrible dubbed TV and went to bed.
We flew back to cloudy, Frankfurt the next morning. We stopped for food on the Autobahn and were actually speaking Spanish to the cashier...weird!!
We had a great time in Spain!! Now Andrea doesn't have to wait 3 years in between visits!! ¡Viva España!
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Jeff
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I worked at Hahn Air Base,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
for 3 years from 86-89. The USAF 50 Tactical Fighter Wing was there and closed in 1993-94. I loved it there. I lived on the Mosel River in a town called Bullay. I also spent a few months in Zaragoza Spain as we had an Air Base there until it closed.