Summary
Alana and Francis are on a break this week. Tune into a new episode on July 14th! In the meantime, enjoy a remaster of one of our favorite episodes!
Francis took a trip to Europe which some crazy turns. Literal and metaphorical. Find out how Francis almost died, photographed nude people and bashes an entire airline company all in one episode!
YouTube: https://youtu.be/l8O1nzQPSq4
Transcript: https://hqafradio.wordpress.com/2021/06/30/rerun-viva-espana/ — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hqaf-radio/message
Transcription
Rerun: Viva Espana
Francis: Hi, everyone. Alana and I are on a break this week. We’ll be posting a new episode on July 14th. in the meantime enjoy this remastered of our Viva Espana episode.
Alana: Welcome to HQ a radio. My name is Alana
Francis: and I’m Francis
Alana: best friends, United States of America.
Francis: Well, yes we are. Congratulations.
Alana: If you couldn’t already tell we’re Americans, but that being said, uh, some of us were in the United States of America for a bit of time.
Francis: That’s that’s right. I was in Europe for the past two weeks.
Alana: Your first time in
Francis: Europe. Right? First, my very first time I went for business, but then I spent another week for pleasure. And let me tell you, it was a lot of fun Alanna. I can’t wait to dedicate this entire episode to my travels.
Alana: I know I can’t wait to hear it. So I’ve been dying to hear all of it.
Francis trip. And he was telling me Nolan, it it’s for the radio show. This is for you.
You
Francis: guys, this is for you, seven listeners
Alana: out there. So you’re hearing it for the first time ever folks live on a recording Frances trip that I’ve been dying to hear. So get ready.
So Francis, what can you tell us about your trip to Spain?
Francis: It was pretty good. I was actually feeling very nervous because this was the first part of my trip. And I had never been to Europe. I’d never traveled by myself before. This is, I mean, yeah. So the business part, I was, I was, you know, like with people that I knew.
You know, for the most part though, I had never traveled by myself to a foreign country where the main language was English. So I was nervous, uh, on the plane way to over. I was like very ancy and, you know, just kind of unsure of how this entire trip was going to be like. And. Actually like, even just getting to the Canary islands was, uh, which is where I was at.
It took me a day and a half. So I, I left on the eighth. I didn’t get to my destination until the night of the ninth. Yeah. And, um, the plane ride getting to the island was, was horrific. I was on T uh, On a discount airline. I’m not going to name names, but, um, but it was this airline. It was this particular airline that it was one of the worst airlines I’ve been on.
And as we’re getting to the island, there’s a moment where, um, the, the, the plane literally maybe like falls like a few years. You know that moment when you’re on a, on a roller coaster and you’re at the very top and you’re about to go down in your waitlist, like
Alana: yeah, yeah, yeah.
Francis: We all had that feeling.
And I think you could tell, like if you took a survey of all the people in the room, Which, which ones were kids in? Which ones were like old people, because like, because
Alana: kids were like, whoa,
Francis: I’m here. And the old man next to me, he’s like
Alana: gripping onto the side. Oh my fucking God.
Francis: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Honestly, I had a lot of moments like that. I mean, not just, yeah, I know, like be prepared, like, but yeah. I will admit, like the first week of me getting there was kind of stressful, um, part partly
Alana: in partly
Francis: because it was business and, you know, I was, I was doing some work and trying to get other things done, but a little bit of is like trying to get adjusted to this new place, this new culture, this new kind of scenery for me and not being able to speak my native language, you know, to the people.
So, um, Yeah.
Alana: Man. So Francis, uh, language barrier must have been something that came up or was an issue during your trip? Uh,
Francis: yeah. Yeah. My sister had given me this tip where, um, if I needed help with anything, the people that I. Really seek out are the younger Europeans, especially the ones that either might work in the service industry or white collar workers, just cause you know, like based off of their job, they might be more exposed to English and yeah, like her tip was pretty much spot on because, um, you know, like there for the first day or two, I had to take a taxi to get to work and, you know, Some of the people that I talk to, like the taxi drivers, you know, like a lick of English, but you know, my hotel concierge and the clerks had had better grasp of the English language.
So that was pretty good. Um, speaking of which I, after the second day of just being at the Canary islands and I decided I can’t do this whole taxi cab thing from the, the, the hotel to the, um, To the Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, I was like trying to think if it was an office, but it really wasn’t. I was just like at a building, just like at a satellite building.
Yeah. Yeah. Like literally a building with a satellite right next to it. And that was it. It’s hard to call it an office, but, um, yeah, so I go to the airport and I get this rental car and the. The thing about driving in Spain is that all of the road markings are white. Like there’s no, you know, here in America you have like different, like there’s yeah, yeah.
There’s white and blue, you
Alana: know, for
handicap
Francis: or something like that. There’s, there’s different colors. But in Spain, I think, I don’t know if it’s particular to grant, um, the Canary islands, but, um, I’m in Spain, it’s all just white. And so there’s no way for, to tell him. What the different lanes are. I think you just kind of drive on one side of the road.
And, and so I had my GPS on it. I was navigating to a particular place and it tells me that in a few kilometers, I have to make this right. Bright terror, turn my, you know, like get off to the ramp and go right. And. I’m used to, um, sort of just hearing the warning on my GPS and maybe following it like a few, like, uh, maybe half a mile down the way, and it just kind of ignoring it because sometimes there’s a turn that might not be the turn that you want beforehand.
Right. And so I am still in that mindset. I’m still in that American mindset and. I accidentally turn into the wrong lane. Like I switched lanes into coming traffic. Oh my God. Yeah. And luckily for me, I was going pretty slow. I was going like 40 kilometers hour an hour, which is about 2025 miles are miles per hour.
And there’s no oncoming traffic yet. So I, I pass this, um, Eric. And I realized my mistake and I immediately like flip into reverse and there’s like, somebody coming on my way. And I was like, oh my God. Hitting the thing. And luckily the person that was behind me, like saw what I had done, it stopped to let me do, you know, like to let me get into the right, right lane.
And, um, I, I just, I get out, get into the right lane and my heart’s just beating in like, oh my God, I had. Such a close experience. I like the only thing that I could think of was like, if I died here in a foreign country, what would happen to me? Like I’m freaking out right now. And, uh, I just kept driving to my next place.
Alana: Thank God you didn’t tell me. I would have been
Francis: worried, freaking sick. Like I told Chris, I couldn’t tell him until after, like, after he was done. Jeez.
Alana: Oh my God. This terrifying. And also if you would die, who would have told me, oh my God, Chris. No. Well, I’m really happy that you’re safe also that I didn’t find this out till now.
Cause I would have been worried shitless just the entire time you were gone.
Francis: Yeah.
Alana: So for instance, while you were in Spain, like, did you get to see any cool sites? Did you get to go to the beach? I mean, yes.
Francis: Yeah. So, um, after work was done, I got a chance to go and explore the island. I was on grandkid area and apparently like there. Um, so it’s one of the biggest islands of the Canary islands and it’s known for being a party island, but also like a lot of.
Retired Europeans come down there, you know, during the winter to, to, to enjoy some of the sun. Um, yeah. And so I just got to travel around. I got to see must papillomas, which is, I think the, one of the party cities of the island. And then I went to Las Palmas, which I think is one of the more retiree towns of the island.
And so like after seeing those two cities, I wanted to go see a little bit more of the nature east side. So I took a scenic route to get to my other place, um, to, to another, another place I wanted to go to. And the, uh, the route took me along this cliff side, um, right along the beach. Uh, yeah, so like, it’s, it’s a Rocky kind of beach, if you can imagine, and you’re just driving along.
Um, and it, it curves a little, um, There’s a point where I stopped at, um, the site where, uh, there’s there’s this historical site where there’s ruins of like old, an old house. And so I thought, okay, cool, let me go check it out. I parked off the side of the road and I go down and I climbed down the side of the cliff to get to these ruins.
And like, when I say ruins, I’m not talking to like the Acropolis or a Coliseum. Literally just a couple of rocks off to the side that’s guard, like fenced off. So it wasn’t as impressive as it sounds. But what I did notice was that like, on one way down, there was some guy that was coming up and he was shirtless and that he had spoken to me in Spanish, but I didn’t understand what he’s saying.
So I was like, okay. Keep walking and hope. Like I’m not doing anything wrong, but you know, in the back of my mind, I’m like, that’s kind of weird. Like, why is this shirtless guy like going up, uh, you know, like there’s nothing to be shirtless about. And I guess we’re on an island, but whatever. But then I realized, like I didn’t see him come back down and the souls, or he wasn’t carrying anything with him and I didn’t hear a car drive away.
And so it was like, well, okay, well, let’s just kind of weird. After I look at the ruins, I decided to go and just walk along the cliff side, because there are trails that are, that are, um, kind of like, I wouldn’t say dug in, but they’re worn in by obviously like people are also exploring this area. So I’ve figured why not?
I come in and there’s this. I I’m come down to the seaside and there’s this stretch of Rocky beach. And I notice off to my left. That there is this woman and she’s topless, like, like I don’t see her like her, her breasts, but like she’s, she’s pretty obviously topless. Yeah. And I realized, oh, those two must have been in here doing naughty things or whatever.
And that’s, it’s cool. This is like Europe, whatever. They’re free here, there they’re able to do other things. I’m just gonna like. Walk away and, you know, meek, Alaina, like I have my camera with me. And so I’m like, I just don’t like, yeah, like I’m just like not going to be creepy and I’m just going to walk away and like explore somewhere else.
And so I decided to, instead of like walking along the beach, I’m going to go walk up alongside the cliff side. And so I’m above it all. And there’s this point that is right up to the top of the beach. The very tip top of the beach and there’s this point that you can stand and you can kind of see over.
Um, and to my right, I see the woman and that’s fine. And, um, I’m taking pictures of the island, but I’m doing my best. Not to look like I’m taking pictures of her. And then I look over to my left. And I see more people on another decent beach and I’m like, that’s so weird.
Alana: And the closer I like look at these people, the
Francis: more I realized, like they’re all naked.
And, and then I’m like, oh my God, I’m standing on this like thing, like, uh, on the, on this point with my camera in hand. And, uh, what I think is a nude beach.
Alana: Like these people must think I’m a pervert
Francis: and that’s why, like, I’m getting like these weird looks. Yeah. So I’m like, like mortified and I like get off of the point.
Um, and I’m standing and I’m just walk away. And, um, I, when I’m kind of like a distance away, I see that somebody else had taken over like a random, like, hi, Had I had like taken over the spot that I was at and he literally brought out a pair of binoculars and I was like, people
Alana: thought I was a pervert people thought I was
Francis: a freaking pervert
Alana: taking pictures of her nakedness.
Francis: Yeah. Yeah. And so little did I know? So I go back to Mike, my car and then. Uh, I, I look at my phone and I’m trying to figure out what, um, what else is going on. And you know, what else is in the area? And I realized. Like a few kilometers down the way. There’s a, um, a point of interest called Playa Playa Del new Desta sta
Alana: it’s it’s, it’s a new beach.
Like that’s the main beach. I am just wandering around thinking like, wow, I’m checking out the nature here. Like here’s my camera. Here’s face. Here’s the sneering here. Oh, my God Francis. So wait, what were the ruins called though? That you saw like, were they ruined, stay new D stuff, like weird beach. The first nudists came here and they like trashed the place and then they, oh, so it was like, just
Francis: like a small little, like, uh, from my, what I remember of this description, the houses were just like three different houses.
They had like a. Pile. And I think it was just like a place where people lived and yeah. And people just are now nude around them.
Alana: So weird.
Francis: Right. So after my trip to the nude beach, I had the destination in mind. I wanted to go see the highest point in grand canyon area, which was the Pico dead loss nievus. Aye. I’m pretty sure I’m not saying that. Right. But it’s the highest point in the whole island and, you know, I thought it would be really cool to go see, you know, you don’t mean, I love going on top of the tall buildings and shit and getting pictures of.
The scenery. Yeah. Um, so I go and it’s up this mountain and you know, the thing about Melton’s here in the U S is that mostly they’re on like two lane roads. Um, yeah. And, and so what’s, what’s kind of scary about going up this particular mountain is that there’s no line that. That says, this is the left lane and there’s, this is the right way.
And like at their certain elevation, it just becomes one lane, which is barely, barely big enough to fit two cars. And you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re winding up this mountain and sometimes the curves are just so, um, tight that it feels like, like, um, if another car were to come by. You would be pushed off the mountain, like you would just crash and you would die.
Yeah, it was, it was terrifying. And I had another flashback of like, if I fell off this mountain and died in Spain, who’s going to find me and new who know who I am, but I pushed on. I kept pushing on. And honestly though, like I got to in the mountain where, um, the scenery kind of changed. And it went from just kind of Rocky and desolate to like this, this really crazy like temperate zone and trees were growing.
And I stepped out of the car and wow. Like the scenery is just so beautiful and it was fantastic. And I thought to myself, like, yeah, that, that trip off this scary Melton was worth it. And then I. Circle around. And I, I go down, back down and for some reason there were more cars driving and winding around going up the mountain then, or me going down the mountain.
Then when I was going up the mountain and that was actually a lot, a lot of stress. How did you get around?
Alana: Who, what ha what did you do? Were you able to, was there a way of like getting around people. Oh, my God. What did you do then?
Francis: You, you see, stop. I stopped like maybe like actual Spaniards going, doing this.
They wouldn’t stop, but I like stopped when I saw somebody was rounding the corner, uh, was about to round the corner and I just like, didn’t even know. Because like, if I one wrong turn and you’re off the map. Yeah. Wait, so how
Alana: did you get around these people? Or did they just go oh, okay. I’m just going to reverse.
Are you serious? They just were like, sorry. Okay.
Francis: Sometimes. Yeah. Holy shit. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It’s it was, it was kind of terrifying. Yeah. Something happened. And you did one wrong thing,
Alana: kind of amazing mate, here’s this mountain where it’s like, if you run into someone, someone just has to like, well,
Francis: and the thing is like, it’s obviously a tourist attraction because once you get to a certain point, it has signs of like, oh, this is what this hiking trail is about.
And you know, like if you, um, want to do this hike, you can go this way. You know, like people obviously go here to do things. And the fact that this mountain is so treacherous. Yeah, it’s kind of mind-boggling yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alana: Wow, that sounds like an amazing trip. Uh, wow. How do you feel about all that?
Francis: Spain was, was really good. I mean, I had to get over myself, um, after the first few days, you know, like trying to adjust, but after I had the chance to kind of explore on my own terms, it was, it was, it was an adventure. Like I’m excited for you to go to Japan and us have a radio show.
The experience. Yeah.
Alana: Yeah. And, uh, just by the way, folks, we do have more content, more, uh, content. I read said that for this trip, obviously prince had a great time. And so we’re going to make this a two-parter, uh, so feel free to tune into the second part of this episode. Uh, but in the meantime, if you want.
Tune into our episodes on the regular we post once every other week. Um, that’s once every two weeks and Katie
Francis: that’s bi-weekly, that’s that’s twice
Alana: a month, 14 days apart is important. Yeah. Like how I have to reassure myself of how time works. Um, but yeah, you can find us on.
Francis: Play, you can find us on apple podcasts
Alana: and Instagram.
We’re on H U a F dot production.
Francis: And, uh, on anchor. I mean, if you’re not already listening to assign an anchor, then I don’t know what you’re listening to a song. Maybe Google play. Sorry. I was trying to wrap anchor, but
Alana: not great increased such a platform. I love the lot. It’s really good and easy to use, and I have no complaints about it and that’s our show folks.
So until next time, the best ship to sail on is friendship.
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