Bonjhola

EP 40 - Aimee Finishes Summer Travel with a Trip to Valencia - Here's the Lowdown

• Rebecca West

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Welcome to Bonjola, a podcast about two women, Aimee and Rebecca, who each moved from the United States to Europe to become expats, Aimee to Spain and Rebecca to France. We're here to share the highs, the lows, and the logistics of this adventure, encourage you to follow your own move abroad dreams, and remind you that you're not alone when the going gets tough. Enjoy.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Aimee.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Fangiolo Rebecca.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

You just got back from more European travel. You and your family went to Valencia.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

We did. And you know, it's funny. We've now lived in your Europe for, I think, 14 months. And this is the furthest south of Barcelona we've

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

We keep leaving Spain,

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Yeah. Yeah. Because I mean, you know, France is like so close. So we usually pop up north to France. Um, and, and I think it just, it, Everything has felt so big and hard, so we just haven't, and it feels, you know, it feels like such a huge ordeal to go further south because we're going to do it on a train, not a plane, so it's going to take longer, but all in all, it's much easier than airline travel because, you know, you, you show up at the train station 10 minutes before you get on the train, it's easy, it's quick. And then you just relax, and it's, of course, more roomy than an airplane, and, you know, five or six hours actually goes by fairly quickly and pleasantly, and I can't say that for an airplane. And, and so in terms of, you know, sort of the, the toll that it takes in travel, I would say that. Doing a, you know, a six hour train ride to, or six hours of, of travel down to Valencia was probably as, or slightly less challenging than the trip to Paris that I just took to see you. Right. Which is what, like an hour and a half, two hour

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

but you have to deal with the airlines and airports and taxis or buses, because you're still doing ground transportation at some point on that too.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

yeah, yeah. But, but both with, you know, as far as the ground transportation part, to get to the airport is very easy for a weekend trip for us. Because it, it is just a short walk to the train station and then the, you know, the, the train takes you to the metro and the metro goes directly to the airport. It is a lot of transferring between places, which I think adds right, but it is pretty. Yeah, yeah. But for the weekend trips, you know, it's usually just a pack on your back, so it's not so bad. and it tends to be fairly seamless, but it is a lot of, a lot more than just showing up at the train station and then, you know, parking your butt in a seat and, and hanging out for several hours. And I always think I'm going to be bored on the train and I'm

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

No, and plus you have all that legroom and you can wander around and there's a view out the window usually of some kind, you know. I am a big fan of train travel. You know, I want to go back to something you said a second ago, though. You said that everything feels heavy or hard. I can't remember the phrasing you just said, but I've been thinking about how. You know, I'm only six months in to my journey. You're 14 months in. But it seems like there's these moments where you almost unlock the next level of a video game where you only have the tools and, and like brain power to do level one, and then somehow you level up and there's little stars and you go, okay, now I'm ready to do the next level.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Language learning is like that too. I'm noticing that. I feel like there's been a recent level up in my Spanish competency as well, at least my understanding. I'm not so sure about my speaking entirely, but I am getting recall. I feel a little bit more diversity in my recall as well, which feels really good. It does. There's definitely. You know, it's, it feels like there's friction forever, forever, forever. And then all of a sudden the, the foot is taken off the brake a little bit, right? So the friction is less and then something happens and the friction's on again. And it is a bit, it's definitely, I like that leveling up analogy. I think it's pretty

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

I'm curious, since traveling has been such a big part of me and my language milestones, and this was kind of your first trip in Spain, you know, where they speak the language you're trying to learn. How was Valencia from a language perspective?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

It was good. It was easy. Sometimes there was a couple situations where people were either speaking too fast or with an accent that was very difficult to understand. I don't think it was a Valencian accent, but it was like, whoa, did you just use words? I don't understand what just happened here. But by and large, it was really, really good. It was really easy and seamless, you know, that said, we were doing the things that we do here, ordering meals, you know, basic shopping, nothing terribly complicated, it wasn't like we were taking full tours in Spanish and trying to integrate, more complex communication or more, you know, into an into our understanding that said, um, we did Shane and I decided that we are going to watch, um, what is known as money heist in the U. S. and here in. Spain, it's called La Casa de Papel, or The Paper House. And in, in the original language, because Shane hates dubbing, he hates dubbing. When the people's mouths do not match what is coming out, it drives him up the wall. So I watched Money Heist in English, a couple of years ago, and now we're watching it in Spanish. I am understanding more than I expected to. I also started watching Love is Blind, Mexico edition. because the language, and the language there is actually very basic, especially compared to Money Heist. And I'm picking up quite a bit more than I expected to. from a Mexican television, television series, and that feels really, really good.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Well, and you guys in Spanish, you have all those fabulous telenovelas. Have you busted into that world yet?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

No, I think, um, I think like, Love is Blind will probably be about as hardcore as I can get. Like, they're really crazy telenovelas. I can't get into them. They're too much like, there's just too much people acting batshit crazy.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Did you watch Ugly Betty in English? Because it was originally in Spanish and I loved it in English. I've always been curious. I

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

you're right. I've totally forgot that was originally in Spanish.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

mean, it could be a totally different show for all we know.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

It very well may be. That's definitely worth looking into though.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Mm hmm.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Was it a telenovela or was it a different

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

I'm pretty sure it was a telenovela, yeah, and then they just turned it kind of more into a sitcom for American audiences, but there's, you know, there's not a huge difference between those two things, aside from the overacting and drama.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Yeah, I'll look into it and see, see if it's

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Worthwhile. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I find that, cooking shows, cooking and home improvement shows are nice because they repeat the same language over and over and over again. And that both makes it easier to follow once you're kind of clued in and it reinforces the vocabulary that you're, that you're hearing. So that's, those are really nice kind of reality TV that you can stomach. You've got to figure out what that is for yourself.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Exactly. Exactly.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

let's orient our listeners a little bit because they're probably as bad at geography as we are. Um, so Valencia Where is it?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Valencia is on the Mediterranean coast, quite a bit further south. It's definitely not the southern tip of Spain, um, into like sort of the Andalusia area. It's not that far south, but it is quite a bit further south than where we

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

And on the very east, east coast. That's the Mediterranean.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

and on the very, yes, and on the very, very East coast. So we basically went straight South for about the total of, a total of about 5 hours on the train. So, don't ask me how many kilometers or miles away that is, because I don't even bother looking at that stuff when I'm not getting in the car and having to think about my gas tank. I couldn't tell you. It's very easy to find on the map. And Valencia is the third largest city in Spain. There's about 800, 000 people there. And I had, I think I walked in with expectations that it was going to be much more like Barcelona than my experience of it was. It is one of the most popular places for expats to go in Spain is so much so that people are struggling to find houses to rent when they are intending to, Immigrate either for, you know, like we did for a longer period of time, or even doing a short stint in Valencia for several months. They're really struggling to find someone who can help them find a house because they're all too busy and there's a lot of supply available and Valencia is also one of those areas in the country that is getting a lot of anti

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

I was going to ask about

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

uh, pushed back. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's shown up a couple of times in the news is one of the places where people are objecting to, to the, uh, Airbnb being of of the property that the locals now struggle to get into. So I did see more people kind of asking for money. In the tourist areas of Valencia than I do see in Barcelona, but it was still very clean, you know, one thing that I love about Spain is that the country hires quite a few individuals to keep the streets clean. So in the morning on my run, you know, there was someone with a pressure washer washing down the, the, sidewalks, there are always people out picking up trash in the early morning hours off the street, you know, emptying the trash cans and whatnot. And so everything stays very clean and that was definitely true of Valencia as well.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Now, you said the tourist area, so I know Valencia's got the old town, like old world part and then the new part. So you're talking about the old town, old world part?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

I am. I'm talking about the old town part within, within the old city walls. And one thing I'm noticing too, about a lot of these older European cities is that the old town or the old city is almost in a circle because they would build fortresses and walls around the town to protect it from invaders. And then as the city grew, then everything outside. Of that circular area starts to look more like a grid system. So you end up with this circle, which may or may not actually be in the center of town. Often it isn't, and then grids outside of it. So, yeah, we were saying staying in the oldest part of town, we didn't do any tours or anything like that. The boys went to the beach a couple of times and I didn't go in the water or even on the beach at all, but Being in Valencia reminded me a lot of San

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Hmm.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

with just sort of the, the boardwalk at the beach and the palm trees. Um, once you get out of that old colonial Spanish architecture area onto the beaches, it did remind me quite a bit of San Diego.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

didn't go to the beach area at all, so I can't speak to that. Did you go to the convention center futuristic area?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

We did. Yeah. Yeah. I had to work the day we went there. So the boys actually went into the, the oceanography area, and they went into it, went into the aquarium, which I guess is the largest aquarium in Europe. Um, yeah, and spent the afternoon there and, but we walked through that whole area and it's just, the architecture is lovely. Valencia has this wonderful mishmash of architecture that is both modern and very, very historic and intricate. But up against each other. So you can see, you know, if you're in old town or you're in just outside of old town, you see these older buildings with all the intricate statues and work, you know, stonework on the outside. And then in the distance, you can see this super futuristic buildings from that whole, or from the whole arts and sciences district down there. And it's really neat. It's really neat. They've done a gorgeous

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

It's, it's, it's remarkable and it's so out of place that it's, I think, extra striking. for anybody who hasn't, who doesn't know and has seen the movie Tomorrowland, they, my understanding is that they either filmed it there or they modeled it on the architecture in Valencia. I think they filmed it there and then took away all of the. You know, actual nowadays and created that very futuristic with our movie was pretty cool. You

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

I didn't realize that. Now I want to watch Tomorrowland

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

should. Yes. It's also where they, um, the birthplace of paella is. Did you have paella?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

I did not. We did not have paella. I did really want some paella, but I also knew where we were staying and our ignorance on the situation that anything I ran into was likely going to be some nasty ass tourist crap that was not really what I want to go for. When I go to a place that is known for its cuisine, I want to make sure that I'm actually getting. An appropriate representation and not the slop that they feed ignorant tourists. Right? And the pay recommendation that that I found was actually out of town by about 30 minutes and we didn't have a car. So it didn't end up happening, but it was actually south of Valencia. Um, in the area where they grow the rice

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Yeah,

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

used for paella. And that would be awesome, right? To like go down here and look at the rice patties and eat paella, you know, along the water, but you know, not, not this time. I have to keep reminding myself, we live close enough. We can go

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

totally. Plus it's probably decent paella near where you live because it's not like it's only done in Valencia.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

No, it isn't only done in Valencia. That's, I, and I wouldn't. I wouldn't choose to get paella up here as well because the only people who are eating PA this far north are the tourists.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

fair. It's probably fair. Uh, we were surprised when we,'cause we, you know, Damien's a chef, he's gonna eat the things and then he did buy a paella pan and he has since made paella. He had gr it's all stashed in Seattle, but, um, we have always associated paella with seafood, mussels and, and prawns and stuff. The original is, uh, rabbit and s cargo. Totally not see food. Yeah. Isn't that interesting?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

That is interesting. I know chorizo was like offensive to put in paella to Spaniards.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

So putting ice and coffee in France, it's just not done.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

just not done exactly, but it's something you know that the tourists are all all into. So you'll see it occasionally on a menu. And I think probably the best advice I got about pa, if you're looking for paella in Spain. Is that if you're going to a restaurant that has pictures of paella, either on the menu or outside on a sandwich board, that is not where you want to be getting your

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

the rule for all food. If you see a restaurant and the menu is in photos, that menu is built for tourists. Hands down, walk away or have a beer, have a drink. Cause they really can't mess that up. But it's generally speaking, not where you want to have your authentic meal experience.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Yeah. We did find, the prices in Valencia by and large to be quite a bit more expensive than up here. Speaking of iced lattes, I had an iced latte for seven and a half euro, which is like an, a, I know it's an abomination.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Half of it, that was water.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

And I didn't realize. That's how much it cost until I got the bill. And I was like, Oh my goodness, where am I? Am I back in Seattle?

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Good grief.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Yeah, that was outrageous. Gorgeous little cafe, and the latte was absolutely fine. It was a good latte, but not, I don't feel like you should be paying that much here.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

I'm curious, you know, because you had mentioned a couple of several episodes back that you had guys had come home to anti tourism graffiti in Girona. I think it was around the flower festival. And then you were in Valencia, which I would say is another heavy anti tourism area right now. Have you personally experienced any friction around being a foreigner? Interesting. Yeah.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

No, I haven't. up here in Catalonia, I have experienced a little bit of friction not speaking Catalan, but that is, that is, you know, anybody who does not speak Catalan is open for that because. You know, they are so fiercely defensive of their language. Um, and I, you know, I don't have any problems with that. And it's not overt, it's just like, they just simply will not speak Spanish to you. They'll speak to you in Catalan. You can speak to them in Spanish and it's fine, but they're going to respond in Catalan and you just have to like deal with it. Right? Yeah. But that's the, that's the thing. And that's not very, that's not very frequent. Not very common. I imagine at this point, because particularly in this area, there are so many more tourists and cyclists, and it has gotten so popular that, they're just a few holdouts left in that area and most, and, and they've, you know, kind of. If they've been more, uh, more, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Not aggressive, but more rude, I guess, maybe in the past it's, it's mellowed out and I don't know that that's true, right? I'm just totally hypothesizing.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

It's only one person's perspective, your, your experience. Yeah.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Yeah.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Hmm. So if somebody were planning their own trip to Valencia, what advice would you give them?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

What advice would I give them? Bring sunscreen, bring sunscreen. Um, it's gosh, and a camera that you really like using because the photo opportunities are abundant. Um, If you have children, definitely take a full day for the arts and sciences area. Go to, you know, go to the aquarium, go to the science museum. It's an amazing area of town that you would really enjoy if you like running or biking, there are plenty of opportunities. There are no hills in Valencia. So, I mean, if you like mountain biking, I don't think that's, that's going to be the best place to go. But if you like, you know, doing this sort of leisurely beach cruiser type situation, lots of opportunities for that as well as running and, um, the beach, the water is very shallow, very far out. It's a shallow beach, which is great for young children and, very calm waters, not a lot of waves. So it's a wonderful place also for families to go if they, if they head out to the beach

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

That's fantastic.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

and the food, the food, we, there's just so much more abundant, options down there naturally than, than we would have up here in, in, in a much smaller town. So we got what I would actually call decent Mexican food. compared to what I have experienced up here further north, which changes my opinion about Spaniards being able to make Mexican food. They can, they do have access to all of the ingredients to make Mexican food that tastes like what you might experience in the States. It's not necessarily what you might experience from, you know, your family in Mexico, but, but something that's got spice, right? Something that's

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

so, I mean, what did Damien use the other day?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

yeah. I don't know how to pronounce it. Esplete or something like

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

There's some pepper and I'm putting, I want to put pepper in quotes because this is supposed to have some heat to it. I'm like, there's no, there's no heat to this. Um, and you said

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

not have a spice. We had great Argentinian food as well. They have, um, They had a gluten free bakery, which I really enjoyed sampling. And I would say it was largely hit or miss, definitely not the same experience I had in Paris, but, their bread is good. Their empanadas were great. Um, their pastries just didn't float my boat. I found them to be kind of over sweet and under flavored, but more gluten free options there. And, um, yeah, a lot of, a lot of good options for different dietary needs.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

it can be hard for people to find a place to stay. Did you guys just go through Airbnb? What kind of place did you end up staying in?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Yeah, we did. We, we stayed in what is now sort of the classic Airbnb apartment where it's all kind of Ikea furnished, very bland, minimalist, um, but has everything that you kind of need when you're just staying for a couple of days. Yeah.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

I have noticed. So I used to love Airbnb because part of the point was that you got character and local character in the place where you were living. And sadly, Airbnb has become just as. Beige as hotels at this point, but Hey, at least you get a kitchen. So it's still wins in my book.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

It's true. It's the only benefit now to Airbnb. I think if there weren't kitchen options, I would just continue to do hotels because at this point hotels have more character. Then Airbnbs do.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Yeah, I think you're right. If it weren't for the kitchen and a little bit more room to spread out, especially if you're traveling for more than one person, you know, having a little bit of space apart from each other. So there's still some real benefits, but yeah, especially if we're just staying someplace for one night, the hassle of checking in cleaning and stuff like that, isn't worth it. So it's just options.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Yep. And certainly, I mean, for anybody who has a larger family, if you have more than two kids, hotel rooms are just not even really a viable cost effective option at that point. Once you need two, two hotel rooms, you're better off in an

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

Yeah. So, in, in the last few months, you have gone to the U. S., you have come to France. A couple of times you've been elsewhere in Spain. Is the travel going to keep up at this pace? Do you think

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

God, no. I feel, I feel good. I feel complete for my summer. I have not traveled this much during a summer in memory. I don't know that I ever have. And, uh, yeah, I did some calculations on the train coming back, and I've only been home, I think, it was, I think, I want to say it was 34 of the last 80 days I've been home. And the rest of the time I've been away. Yeah. It's a lot. I came home, you know, we came home from the train, from the train station early enough, I could make dinner and I was so excited to make dinner. I was like, Oh, let's stop at the butcher on the way home. I'm going to get some pork loin. And I got to cook a meal, which was so great. And it was great to have that feeling again, because I have, by and large, have not been really thrilled about cooking since about six months into the pandemic. So I guess I just needed to travel a lot.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

travel as a wonderful muse for all the creativity that's inside of us?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Indeed.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

you know, you say home so readily and you mean Girona, your apartment, what, at this point, what makes it most feel like home to you? I love

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

It's where all my stuff is. It's where I can just, I know where everything is. I have access to the things that I. No, I need and stuff that I might not realize I need in the moment. Right. But I have, um, I can relax more here, you know, with the Airbnbs and the traveling and everything, it's been. Different beds, different pillows, most of which to be honest, better than what I actually have here. And one of the things that we have been discussing is, you know, we're staying in this apartment, which came furnished for another year. But we're not happy with the couch. We hate the pillows and it is like, we will not be going through another year maintaining that because now it really needs to be home or we're ready, you know, the rest of life we've kind of like leveled up. And so now it's time to like make this feel more like our home and what we want in it. Shane bought a TV a couple of weeks ago to replace the TV that was here, which was a source of perpetual annoyance for him. And, you know, putting up the artwork, right? Cause we've accumulated some artwork and even accumulated all of the gear needed to put it up with the situation that we have with these stone walls, but haven't yet done that. So I really think that this winter there will be a lot of nesting going

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

the sound of that. And you. You struck a chord with me when you were like, like, I don't remember what you said, but something like everything's where I know it is, or something like that, because with Damien and I on the cusp of moving apartments. am so sad because, you know, I am settled into this apartment and I do know, you know, my little cup for my makeup brushes, just stupid stuff like that, where there's, I finally gotten back into a small sense of mindlessness. Whereas when you first do this crazy expat thing, everything is so mindful because there is. No routine, so I finally do feel like, okay, I know where my stuff is and I know what to do when the cat throws up on the bedding or whatever, you know, and I have to push the big reset button yet again, um. And it'll be great. I love the idea of this next apartment and I love the new adventures, but there is something to be said for not having too many new adventures at one time. That whole same back to that leveling up thing. I've got to get into the groove on these 4 things before I even have the brain energy to address the next 4 things. I

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Exactly. Exactly. I mean, no wonder newborns sleep all the time. The whole experience has to be insanely overwhelming.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

thought about that, but that's absolutely true. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, now that you're back from Valencia, settled back at home, what would you like to leave our listeners with?

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Oh, happy autumn. I know it's not here yet. I know it's not here yet, but it's coming and I'm so excited. Happy autumn, everyone.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

this episode actually drops, you're going to be feeling the cool weather too. Yes.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

I hope so. I'm ready.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

So ready. Bring the change of weather. I love the sound of the rain. I love the smell of the rain. I love the foods and the clothes that go with the rain. Bring it.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Yes.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

All right, well, until autumn, everybody.

aimee_1_08-20-2024_044011:

Hasta pronto.

squadcaster-hed9_1_08-20-2024_134011:

A viento!

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