And My Wild Adventure to Spain Begins - Part Four

After my nice sleep that didn’t end up being too sweaty, I woke up and said my goodbyes to my Airbnb hosts. I stepped outside into the bright sun and enjoyed my first day-views of Marbella, Spain. I had the giant La Concha mountain before me, shooting straight up into the air, almost touching the clouds. Well, now that I look at the actual picture, there weren’t any clouds. So disregard that metaphor. Anyway, I’m an east coast guy and our mountains are more like hills compared to the real mountains of the west coast. This was a west coast type mountain for sure.

I admired the view of the mountain as I walked back to the bus station; it was not as scary as the previous night. This time I knew exactly where I was going. I walked straight up to the front desk and asked for the bus to La Linea, where my Airbnb was located. However, the bus to La Linea was full—Great!

I know what you’re thinking, Pat, why didn’t you buy your bus tickets online. Trust me, I tried. I wasn’t able to buy the tickets online because the website would not accept my American credit cards. So I had to go to Spain and wing it. As my stomach sunk towards my legs as I thought I’d never make it to my destination, the lady was kind enough to communicate with me an alternate route: I could take the bus to Algeciras and from Algeciras, I could take the local bus to La Linea. Perfect! I was going to wing my trip down to La Linea, and I was going to do it without cell service! A millennial’s nightmare.

I journeyed by bus down the Costa del Sol, looking at the beautiful Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding beach towns like Estepona. Most of the trip I was able to see the Rock of Gibraltar looming in the distance like a giant. At first I didn’t believe it was THE rock. It was so far away! But it indeed was the rock I’d be seeing for the next eight months.

I got to Algeciras and asked, in Spanish, directions to which bus I needed to take next. I hopped on the bus to La Linea, paid my un cincuenta (1.50 euros), and voyaged to La Linea. I arrived to La Linea and was thrilled to have finally, finally, FINALLY arrived. There was no Wi-Fi in the La Linea bus station, but luckily, Past Pat prepared and took screenshots on Google Maps of how to get from the bus station to my Airbnb. Little did I know, I could have easily just downloaded the map on Google Maps instead of just taking a million screen shots…I’m a terrible millennial.

It was a fifteen-minute walk. Piece of cake, right? This was probably the worst walk of my life. It was hot; I had my two jackets on plus my jeans and boots. I was dripping sweat. Not to mention the fly that terrorized me as soon as I left the bus station. I couldn’t swat it away either because I was carrying my bags. This wasn’t a normal fly. Every time the fly touched my skin, it hurt! It wasn’t biting me; it was just irritating. My La Linea folk know what I’m talking about!

With the heat, the stress of my trip, and the torture from the fly, I almost had a panic attack. This was the climax of the buildup of stress from the past three days.

But the Rock of Gibraltar in my peripheral vision kept me pushing forward as I took my deep breaths, and focused on my namaste.

I fought through the pain and made it to my Airbnb. The first thing I did when I arrived was dropped my things off in my Bunker (that was the name of my room and yes, the size of it too). But! It had air conditioning.