Spring Break Trip to Valencia
Arriving and settling in
When my parents proposed last fall to come to Europe to see us, of course we got excited. The original idea was to meet in London since it’s a direct flight for them from the West Coast. But we’ve been to London a couple of times now and, though we really like it and still have lots to see there, the weather is dicey at the end of March and it’s expensive. Plus, if we had a whole week to travel, we wanted to see somewhere new to us. So we proposed Spain. Statistically, we knew the weather would be better and the cost would be cheaper. Valencia got mentioned and we ran with it, as it was a new location for all of us, including my sister, who also was able to come!
Throwing in a trip to Florence just a week before our Valencia trip probably wasn’t my best planning ever, but we made it work. We even got a direct flight from Tirana to Valencia that just so happened to arrive within 15 minutes of my parents’ and sister’s flight. (They connected via Zurich.) So we waited for them at baggage claim. It was so fun to meet them at the airport!
Our first test was figuring out how to get to the AirBNB. On a map, it wasn’t terribly far from the airport, but there wasn’t a direct way to get there. We ordered two Cabifys. The first one arrived with no trouble; the second one was a disaster. Apparently there’s construction happening at the Valencia airport, so it’s hard for drivers to navigate getting into the parking garage, which is where the designated Cabify and Uber pickups happen. We somehow got a driver who had never done a pickup at the airport, so it was a cluster. He finally canceled and we tried again. Similar situation with the second driver; it didn’t make a difference that I could communicate in Spanish.
So after having waited a long time, we walked back to where the regular taxis were and took one of those. We should’ve done that to begin with; we only didn’t because we didn’t know if we could pay by card (turns out, we could). I had some cash but wanted to preserve it until I could get more out.
The taxi driver was nice but he had trouble routing us to the AirBNB. It wasn’t coming up on his map, though I was able to show him on mine, and then the route Google was trying to use was wonky. It was just a whole ordeal. Meanwhile, those in the first car had messaged to say they were lost and couldn’t find the AirBNB. It was now dark and my parents and sister were extremely jet lagged. We eventually all made it, but whew! What should’ve been a simple and quick ride was anything but. It’s a reminder that sometimes that “last mile” of travel is the part that gets you.
I made a mad dash to the grocery store before even going into the house—Shelby and Auntie N came with me—so we could stock some groceries because: Supermarkets are closed on Sundays in Spain (and much of Europe)! It felt like we were in Supermarket Sweep (I am really dating myself now!) trying to find items before closing time. And if you’ve ever shopped in a new grocery store (let alone in a different country), you understand the challenge of not knowing where anything is. At least I speak Spanish, so that helped. We left with quite the random assortment of food items, but it was enough for a picnic dinner and breakfast, plus snacks the next day. Success!
The AirBNB itself was really cool. I had had doubts because it wasn’t in Valencia; it was west of the city proper, about 25-30 minutes away by metro. But its size and amenities more than made up for the distance. Plus, it was only a 7-minute walk to the metro and trains ran very frequently. Anyway, the house was three stories! The ground floor had a kitchen with eat-in area, dining room and living room, and a bedroom and bathroom. It also had a separate space with some workout equipment.
The second floor had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the third was a hangout zone that had a cinema area (complete with cinema seating—not actually that comfortable since the chairs didn’t recline at all), a pool table, and a little kids play area. And plus also, there was a whole outdoor patio area outside the kitchen with a small pool (unheated, unfortunately), dining table and chairs, and a parilla, plus a sink. It would’ve been a great place for a BBQ/party. The only challenge was there was no pool cover, so mosquitoes were swarming the area.
We worked out sleeping arrangements and everyone turned in for the night. We were ready for a fun week!
Do you have any “last mile” travel stories? Do share!
«Read more about our time in Valencia here