AUDREY’S ADVENTURES

TRAVELING ISN’T ALWAYS AS PRETTY AS IT LOOKS

I have always wanted to write about travel, but never got around to it until this year, so here goes.

Having lived in Spain for the past two summers and also having visited Portugal and Ireland, I will be writing twice a week and start off by telling you some of my unique experiences abroad — some funny, while some more serious — with the hope of making you smile or laugh, surprising you, shocking you or most importantly, inspiring you to travel.

Whether you’ve never ever traveled, never been outside of the U.S. or just haven’t been to one of the countries that I just mentioned, I hope this blog gets you to step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. From my experience, with travel comes being uncomfortable or facing adversity at times, but also personal growth, open-mindedness and an overwhelming appreciation for other places, cultures and people. I hate to break it to you, but the world has so much more to offer than just our little bubble. I hope my funny stories will make you want to have experiences of your own that you can look back on and laugh about, and the more serious ones make you realize that you have tough skin and can conquer just about anything.

Trevor Noah said it best, “There’s one thing you will never waste your money on: it’s traveling. Travel the world.”

I promise that you won’t regret it.

THE ONE ABOUT FRIENDS

“About Friends? What?,” you may be wondering.

And nope, I’m not talking about my friends, although they are some pretty great people who I care about deeply.

THE ONE WHEN I GOT IN TROUBLE WITH AIRPORT SECURITY

My first summer in Spain, I lived in Seville, but to get there, I had to connect through Madrid.

Now, if you’ve ever been on an international flight, you know what it’s like when they “wake you up” in the morning for breakfast — you’re not hungry because it’s really not breakfast time, and you’re usually irritable because you didn’t sleep well on the flight, nor have you had a shower in several hours.

I got off of my plane and weaved my way though the Madrid airport, which by the way, has poorly-designed directional signs. I had to go through a security checkpoint, since I was boarding another flight.

I put my luggage on the belt, and right after I walked through the scanner, a security officer with a stern look on his face pulled my carry-on bag off the belt and yelled “whose bag is this?!” in Spanish.

THE ONE WITH THE SUITCASE - PART 1

Want to know what happened to me less than an hour after arriving in Sevilla, Spain? Well, I’m going to tell the few people who are actually reading this either way.

After we deplaned, I got my bag from baggage claim and then walked through the airport exit doors.

A couple of people on my study abroad program were on the same flight as me, and since everyone on our program had to meet at the same hotel, we decided that it would be cheaper to take the airport bus than split a taxi. (Looking back, that was not the move, but hindsight is 20/20.)

THE ONE WITH THE SUITCASE - PART 2

So, for those of you who are dying to know how I dealt with my suitcase when it was time to fly home at the end of my summer of a lifetime in Sevilla, I will tell you.

Now, the normal, and probably easier, thing to have done would have just been to toss my one-wheeled suitcase and buy a new one, but did I do that?