Sav: I woke up at 4:30 AM today. FOUR. THIRTY. Anyone who knows me knows that I firmly believe anything before 7 AM is still the middle of the night. I blearily packed up my stuff and prepped for a 13.5 hour train ride to meet Meaghan in Madrid. That was the only saving grace: I finally get my girl back. Five days apart and it’s felt like a month.

There’s not too much to say about my train riding experience, other than I am proud I somehow made so many connections without getting lost. Sleepy autopilot took over maybe, and I couldn’t overthink so I just made it where I needed to get to!

Meag: Instead of taking what would have been an even longer train ride than Sav’s, I opted for a flight from Berlin to Madrid. Much faster than the train option! This was definitely the right choice, but boy does Ryan Air ever have uncomfortable planes.

I have been ridiculously excited about going to Spain for so long. I could barely contain myself as we dropped down below the clouds and I could finally see the rolling hills and little towns leading up to Madrid. I arrived mid-afternoon and everything was absolutely lovely – the bus drivers, the city streets and even the airport washroom. Normally there’s some kind of time crunch on a travel day to make the next bus, to meet someone or to check in. Since Savanna wasn’t arriving until the evening and since I felt immediately so comfortable in Spain, there was none of this travel day pressure. I leisurely found a coffee, I leisurely found the bus stop, and then I leisurely walked through the streets of Madrid in search of our hostel, Way Hostel.

I spent the afternoon wandering around the neighbourhood and making note of a few places to eat later (this is almost always priority numero uno). I passed a few fountains and a lot of churro places.

And then the time finally came – REUNIFICATION. I waited down by the front door for Savanna’s arrival and almost jumped into her arms when she arrived. Good thing I didn’t, I can imagine it wouldn’t go well if she had to hold me alone, let alone while wearing her backpack. I missed her so much and was ecstatic to be with her again. Now there’s someone to listen to my out-of-the-blue thoughts, and someone to make fun of me for them too.

S: I was exhausted from my ridiculously long travel day, so it’s a good thing she didn’t jump into my arms! Instead I sort of bear-hug-slumped into her with so much relief. I am seriously concerned about my needing to be independent from Meags after this trip is over. The merging has begun.

M: While she was in Switzerland, Sav sent me a message saying that she had the best present for me EVER. So good, in fact, that I would want to marry her. Now if you’re thinking there’s no way the present could live up to this high bar, you would be wrong. So, so wrong. She brought me…drumroll please…Swiss chocolate! It is velvety smooth and has such a great flavour. I may indeed marry her for bringing me four chocolate bars from Switzerland! And I won’t hold it against her that the fifth chocolate bar didn’t make it all the way here.

S: I’ve been complaining non stop about not having a novel to read since I finished the one I brought. I haven’t been able to find an English bookstore and it’s felt so weird going to sleep without reading a few pages. Meags brought me a book from Berlin! It’s the sequel to ‘Me Before You’ and I was ecstatic to receive such a thoughtful gift. Then again maybe she just wanted me to stop hearing me whine about missing reading… Win win, right?

We are so happy to be back together.

S&M