So basically I went to work for two days after Granada then went off again on another trip! My life is too easy!
Andorra, for those who don't know, is a tiny little country in between Spain and France, sort of above Barcelona. It's technically not in the European Union, but it's a favorite ski and hiking place for Spanish and French folks because it's got a ton of mountains. Huge mountains and rich people.
This was one of our more expensive weekend trips because we wanted to go skiing/snowboarding, which is yeah... expensive. Plus, again, Andorra is mostly for rich folks. But it was incredible!!
Andorra:
We rented a car under my name but for those of you who don't know, in any other circumstances than on a country road with one lane each way I actually hate driving. I find it endlessly stressful.
'we' being me, Sophia, Hanna, and Hanna Z
So I was in charge of navigation and the Hannas and Sophia taking turns driving
it's about a seven hour drive up, so we took off work on Thursday and headed up in the morning
the drive was really beautiful and full of gorgeous Spanish country side views
lots of little Pueblitos
snack breaks
finally made it to Andorra and accidentally snuck across the border but being white women they didn't care and let us through
we drove another 30 mins or so, basically the whole width of Andorra, to get to our Hostel in Tarter
Checked in and explored the place, found free parking!
went out to get some dinner because we were all super hungry but everything in Andorra is super expensive
I thought the place had some vegan lasagna, but they didn't :(
this has happened to me a lot lately I really just want some good vegan lasagna like they used to have at B-Plate
had some vegan patty thing which was pretty good in the end
Had some wine and met our hostel room buddy, Kate! She is awesome and we loved her
we were in a five-bed, so it was just us and her
hostel was pretty small but nice, and warm which was great except too hot for sleeps
Next morning we got up and got ready to go to the mountain!!
Prepping for a snow day took forever
got a discount on rental stuff from the hostel
walked like 10 min to the mountain (super convenient)
ski rental at the base of the mountain took a while but we were able to get everything we needed
Hanna and I got boards and Hanna Z and Soph got skis
helmets too of course
Hanna Z bought some speed shades and Sophia got some mittens.
Both also had to get goggles too but Hanna and I had gone to Decathlon so we were ready to go
tried to find a locker but the nice people from the ski shop let us just keep our stuff there
went up the lift to go!!! woo!!
The mountain WAS GIGANTIC. I literally cannot over emphasize how huge this mountain was. Impossibly huge. Probably 25 lifts over the whole thing. It was like six mountains in one, like skiing over a mountain range.
The views were incredible from the lift and the top
We went all the way up and across the mountain to make our way over to the furthest area, probably took like 10 up and down trips
At first I was super nervous and unsure if I would still be any good, but it came right back to me and by the end of the day I was carving it up and going down blacks!
It was again SO BEAUTIFUL I can't explain it and the photos definitely don't do it justice, but I try.
By the time we got to the farthest side I was hungry and didn't want to spend any money on the mountain because it was so expensive to buy lunch. And Hanna's feet were killing her.
turns out her boots were too small, so she wanted to go back to the ski shop to exchange them
Hanna and I started making the trek back across to the front of the mountain which ended up taking an hourrrr which was a bit brutal
the slopes to bring us back across were a lot of slow, terrible for snowboard type runs that were super flat
I had to unbind twice in the last one which was not fantastic
I was a bit grumpy and tired, and we had been carrying a bottle of Jager in Hanna's jacket for a while so we took some jager shots on the steps of the ski lodge at the bottom while we ate our PB and J sandwiches
I decided to call it a day because there was only like an hour left of the lifts running, and Hanna went back out for a couple of more runs
I carried my board back up to the hostel and changed and rinsed off to take a little nap
then I went into the hostel hot tub!! it was so huge!! like almost normal pool sized but with jets and warm on the terrace.
eventually all the girlies, including Kate!, joined me and we went in the sauna too which was basically a big wooden tube and I loved it
sauna was sooo hot I swear my skin started peeling off it was crazy
after that we went inside and made a big dinner all together
drank a bunch of wine
Then we went out to see what was up with a party that was supposedly going on, which ended up being fun! The DJ was super cool and hot but it ended at 9:30 because it was après ski style and everyone was still in their gross gear
fell asleep!!
woke up to do it allll again!!
this time we packed sandwiches in our coats so we wouldn't get too hungry
the weather was actually super warm, but it was insanely windy across the top of the mountain
skied all the way over to the other side again
brought Kate along with us!! We loved her
Had lunch and beers and more Jager and good veggie burgers
finished out the day on the mountain with a free run zone, basically a grove of trees we skied down through
Hanna went on Hanna Z's skis and so she went a different way instead because it was scary
Hanna Z crushed it completely on her snowboard
And Sophia, Kate and I thoroughly bonded through the panic of almost dying several times trying to make it through on a super steep slope where the trees, if you got too close, sucked you into deep powder holes
terrifying
so so fun
but only after we made it out
we went homeward to return our gear and have more dinner!
once we got a little more wine in us we decided to go out to après ski again, but earlier
they refused to let us in!!
apparently if you try to get in more than 30 mins before closing, like we had the night before, you need a ticket... especially on a Saturday night... so rude
So then we wandered down the street to The Boss, an outdoor club thing with another Après ski DJ
It was free and fun!!!
I told my friends, half joking, on the way in that I would only get with someone if they were tall that night
it was just a mood I was in and there were lots of northern European men so the average height was like a foot taller than in Spanish clubs
I ended up with Benjamin, a very very tall Belgian (?) guy who was so so drunk he thought I lived in Valencia the next day and I was like.... no no that is you. You live in Valencia Benji.
he insisted we take a polaroid together on the camera he brought to the club (?), which actually ended up being super cute
he also took the cutest photo of our little group of five girlies
Went home with the girls to sleeeeeep at like 9:30 and it was wonderful I loved being able to go clubbing but still go to bed and get a reasonable amount of rest 10/10 experience
on the way home we found a GIANT block of ice and I explained ice blocking to everyone so we all tried sliding down the road on the ice because it was a hill. So ridiculous but so fun.
Woke up, had breakfast with Kate and said goodbye because it was her last day on the slopes
We packed up and headed out for the 7 hour drive home!!
the only exciting thing that happened on the way home is that I was very much craving taco bell and we found one that was California themed :,)
I miss CA can you tell
Photos!!!!
And that's about all that happened!! It was a great trip and boy howdy have so many things happened since but it's literally just been a month, life is crazy. I am thinking of writing a general Alicante update next, but who knows. I am slow at this.
I am also here to shame all of you for my having ZERO responses on my last form!!! What am I supposed to share and write about if there's no form answers :(
Here is the link again, do better besties.
Love and hugs and well wishes <3 miss you all lots and lots.
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