by Pete Barba

Travel isn’t all fun, and is often exhausting.  Our 3 day journey from the Netherlands to South America exemplifies that travel doesn’t go always go as planned.  This long series of flights is abnormal for us, because it is brutal.  Unfortunately, the political unrest in Peru made us scramble to change our plans last minute.  We did a quick pivot to Argentina (click here for that story), but some of our flights could not be changed and this strange path from Madrid to Argentina was our best option.  (Not a complaint post, just a real peek into the unvarnished realities of traveling!)

We left the Netherlands after the holidays, with a quick flight and then overnight stopover in Madrid.  We had planned an evening of strolling and tapas as we gave the kids their first taste of Spain, but unfortunately our plans were stymied.  The center of town was closed down due to a New Year’s Eve dress rehearsal.  Who knew that you had to do a dress rehearsal for New Year’s Eve?  At home we watch some fireworks, buy some alcohol and good food, and invite our friends over for an evening of celebration.  I guess when your city has one of the largest New Year’s Eve parties in the world, you leave nothing to chance.  Due to the police barricades we had to abandon our taxi and walk the last 1/2 mile, weaving our way through alleys and police cars.  Once we talked our way through a barricade and reached our hotel it was late and we didn’t have enough stamina left to do a traditional tapas crawl.  Instead we crossed the street to a small restaurant to sample the local dishes.  No worries through, the menu was filled with Spanish delights: fried potatoes, amazing ham, and cheap but good house wines.  We ate until we were full, surrounded by locals.  I quickly began to relearn my Spanish.  We’ll need it for the next two months!

Despite taking 7 years of Spanish between school and college, my Spanish isn’t great.  I even had Spanish practice during my obstetrics rotation at Denver General Hospital, where the large number of Spanish-only patients made me quickly learn “OB Spanish”.  So while I have trouble understanding conversations, I am able to deliver a baby in Spanish!  Phrases like “Empuje mas fuerte” (Push hard), might be helpful when delivering a baby or helping move a broken down car, my Spanish often fails me when trying to order an iced coffee or medium rare burger.   Meanwhile, Kate and the kids are only a quarter of the way through their online Spanish program and are shy about practicing on native speakers.

After spending the night in a nice hostel in Madrid, we woke early to get a breakfast of churros, one of the kids’ favorite sweets.  Before they became a treat staple at fairs or Disneyland, churros were a typical breakfast food/dessert in Spanish speaking countries for the past 100 years.  One of the oldest churro restaurants is called San Gines, located in Madrid for the past 129 years.  The churros were freshly made in front of us as we waited in line for a table, then were quickly served up piping hot accompanied by a thick chocolate dipping sauce that was somewhere between hot chocolate and melted chocolate chips.  The kids only rated them a 5.5/10, or about average (major points lost for lack of cinnamon sugar).  To this day, despite trying churros from Greece to Copenhagen to Spain to California, the kids swear by the Disneyland churros.  Who am I to judge the palate of a 12 year old?  Kate and I more than enjoyed our coffee and churros, set in a historic building, surrounded by photos of famous people who have eaten at this living history establishment.  We also reminisced (or at least I did, because Kate didn’t remember 💔) about having a youthful romantic experience at this same restaurant 15 years ago on our way to Morocco.

With bellies full of fried dough and coffee, we attempted to navigate the train system from the center of Madrid to the airport.  Somehow we failed, exiting the metro before ever getting on a train.  Having lost $30 in tickets and running low on time and patience, we quickly pivoted to our favorite mode of travel, Uber.  It continues to amaze me that when traveling with a family of 4, more often than not public transport is not the cheapest option.  While we would love to travel by train and metro more often for environmental reasons, usually renting a car or taking an Uber is markedly cheaper and has far less headaches.  

We arrived at the airport on time, but with long security and passport control lines, we had only a little time to spare.  Usually we like to get to the airport early to relax and get situated before our flight—rushing just makes things more stressy.  This time we only had less than an hour to spend in the lounge (we have access through our travel credit cards).  There was just enough time to snack, do some math homework, and dash off a quick Facebook post.  Finally we boarded our plane and off we went on our long flight from Madrid to Peru.  Isn’t it amazing that it took the Spanish months to reach Peru in 1524 and it only took us 12 hours?

My family and I love to fly.  The kids get (mostly) unlimited screen time and the adults are able to take a nap, read a book, or watch a movie.  There are no phones or internet to plan a trip, reply to emails or pay bills, and there’s no need to worry about making our next meal or booking our next hotel. This 12 hour flight, leaving at noon and arriving at 7pm (gotta love time travel!) was no exception, and I indulged in great movies (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Top Gun: Maverick) and then a nap.  Kate doesn’t nap, so she argues that she spent a lot of time reading tour books and deciding on future locations and activities.  To each their own!

We arrived in Lima tired and ready for bed.  After passing though passport control for about the 15th time in 5 months, we took an Uber to our hotel for the night.  For the first time this trip we discovered that the lodging we were expecting and the actual place were were staying were dramatically different.  We were prepared for a simple hotel, but unfortunately we got a run down hostel in a questionable neighborhood.  While the establishment was clean and the owner was a sweet old lady, the room was cramped and barebones.  It had mattresses and sheets from before I was born, a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, and no temperature control in a hot and noisy city.  Thankfully the kids were exhausted and quickly fell asleep.  Kate and I were up most of the night because of the jubilant New Year’s celebration surrounding us.  Lively music and the stuttering of firecrackers was interspersed with larger explosions (dynamite?) all night long.  Though we knew we were safe with bars on the outside door and windows and a lovely family downstairs, the noises were disconcerting enough to prevent a restful night.  

The next morning, we awoke before sunrise to catch our final flight of this journey, a 5 hour leg from Lima to Buenos Aires.  Mercifully this flight was uneventful, capping 19 hrs of plane flights over 3 days.  Thankfully we were met at the airport by Joel, a delightful man who drove our exhausted family an hour to Tigre, a riverside town north of Buenos Aires.  (During our rescheduling rush we decided to spend the first week easing into South American culture.)  So close to reaching our destination, the final frustration was our Airbnb host’s assistant was 15 minutes late meeting us and then noticed she forgot her keys to the apartment.  After standing in the pouring rain for 30 minutes, we crashed into a quiet and safe apartment overlooking the Tigre river.  For more on our adventures in Argentina, click here!

After the long travel days including unexpected police presence in Madrid, challenging lodging in Lima, and standing in the rain, I’m really proud of my crew.  Through the exhaustion, safety concerns, and disappointment about changed plans, they kept their spirits high and attitudes in check.  We’ve had some amazing travel karma up until this point and a few rough days are occasionally needed to contrast the phenomenal time we are having overall.  (Besides, we scored country #20 and #21 with this journey!) Don’t let this story stop you from traveling…though maybe let it guide your decisions about holiday travel and multi-leg journeys!

Thanks for reading to the end.  Next up: Bolivia!  Don’t forget to check out our past stories and subscribe for future articles as well.  Find us on Facebook and Instagram for bonus content!  Please note that any links or business names provided are for information only, we did not receive any compensation for our opinions or recommendations. As always, if you are planning a trip to any location we visit we are happy to provide more details and opinions, so feel free to contact us.