A Continental Shift

 

10/03/2025 - 19/03/2025

"The moon is up over One Tree Hill" echoed through my headphones as I gazed across a hill that was almost as far away from One Tree Hill as you can possibly get on this Earth. A weird sense of melancholy mixed with nostalgia and adventure washed over me as a tear started to well in my eye. I was a long way from home in the central plateau of Spain. I think that I have began to recognise on this trip that there are such a wide range of emotions that we can go through as humans that aren't necessarily split into positive and negative. This moment in Segovia outside Madrid was one of those emotions that I couldn't define as either "good" or "bad", it just was what it was. 

I spent my last portion of time in Thailand back in Bangkok, albeit in a different part of the city. In the end I stayed in five different places in Bangkok, which gave me a better understanding of the city than if I'd just stayed in the same place I reckon. I spent three nights in a hostel in the backpacker area of the city, meeting a wide range of people from across the world; Scots, Germans, Americans, Canadians, Swiss and Norwegians. Kayaking through the (polluted) waterways outside Bangkok was a highlight, with our motorboat back breaking down and drifting the opposite direction to where we needed to go for 20 minutes. By jumping off the boat onto the side of the canal (remaining dry), we had a short walk through some bush and found our way back onto a main road for a Grab (Thai Uber) ride home. Drinking, bracelet making and a massage filled the rest of my time in the Thai capital, with my last night in a fancy hotel with a rooftop pool. I had a real moment of clarity when I stood on the 30th floor overlooking the bright lights of Bangkok; I am happier with how my life is now than I have been in a very long time. The past few years have been challenging for me, with mental health struggles, a difficult relationship and a sense of lacking purpose with my chosen career path. A feeling of true fulfillment with this current path I've chosen washed over me standing on that rooftop in Bangkok and it's a moment I won't readily forget. 

A 14-hour flight to Madrid awaited me on my last day in Thailand, something I was not looking forward to. Fortunately I managed to effectively delete three quarters of that time by sleeping, although I can't say it was the best sleep I've ever had cramped into the budget Iberojet seats. My arrival time in Madrid was 3am local time. Not the greatest time to arrive in a new city, country and continent. Bumming around the airport watching Instagram reels, drinking cafe con lecce (coffee with milk), and getting yelled at in Spanish for getting on the wrong bus, I managed to kill a few hours before arriving in the centre of Madrid as the sun had just come up. A balmy 1 degree, I warmed up by wandering around the very impressive Parque de El Retiro. A perfect time to see it, with very few people around, just early morning runners and dog walkers. I navigated the train to my hotel outside the city, barely staying awake the rest of the day, crashing at around 6pm for a good 12 hours of sleep. I did manage to go to the Aldi down the road and get a feast for only 10 euro! 

I switched to a hostel in the city the next day, and marvelled at the wonderful architecture of Madrid as well as some art in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum before a truly fortuitous event occurred. Checking into my hostel I started chatting to this Dutch guy, Thijs, who was in town for "the" game. I clarified and said "oh do you mean the Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona game?" knowing full well this was on as I had tried to get tickets back in NZ with no luck. He informed me that if you just wanted a single ticket there were still some available. I stared at him in disbelief, thinking that a significant La Liga game like this would all be sold out. Oh how wrong I was. 150 euros later (!), I was in possession of a ticket to quite possibly the biggest football game I have been to in my life. Watching Thijs' team, Ajax, play AZ in an important Eredivisie game, we killed some time at a bar ahead of a 9pm kick off at Estadio Metropolitano - everything in Spain is later than us Kiwis are used to. Bound for Atleti's home on the Madrid Metro, the excitement was bubbling away inside me. When my ticket actually let me into the ground, I breathed a sigh of relief and my eyes widened as I saw the cathedral of football that the Estadio Metropolitano is. Goosebumps prickled on my arms as the whole ground held up their red and white scarves and sang in harmony as Atleti entered the pitch. What a moment. I spoke in a mixture of broken French and English to this Spanish guy next to me as he said his French was better than his English which was an interesting experience to say the least. The game finished 4-2 with Barca scoring two goals in stoppage time to win, which really put a dampener on the mood in the stadium. The quality of football was incredible and I cannot wait to watch another La Liga game soon. 

The next thing to blow my mind was the Roman Aqueduct in Segovia outside of Madrid. Constructed 2000 years ago by the Romans in Hispaniola, it was made out of granite stones and used no mortar to hold it up, they just stacked the stones on top of each other. This marvel of engineering with many huge arches still standing thousands of years later was truly breathtaking. It was hard for me to comprehend how this was built so long ago and still standing today. Definitely one of the highlights of the journey so far. A cathedral and castle were also in Segovia, which were cool but not quite as impressive as the aqueduct. Overall, my first foray into Spain has been great. Delicious food, friendly people, impressive architecture and efficient public transport, I would recommend Madrid to anyone visiting Spain. 

Writing this post from my first class train seat on the way from Madrid to the old Roman town of Merida, I am excited for some more train trips in the coming months. It's such a comfortable and enjoyable way to travel, with so much to be seen whizzing past towns and countryside at 250 km/h. Following Merida I will continue westwards into Portugal, another new country with more adventures to be had, food to be consumed and people to meet. Bring it on.