HOME!

We are home. Shower us with love before Joel goes to Hilton Head and Janelle to Jamaica!

Rome,Germany,Chicago in 24 hours!

GELATO!

Ich haba dem blishtift.

We woke up this morning to the best sleep we had gotten in the trailer park. After the night before of "fun", Janelle and Joel were quite spent haha. But we enjoyed "sleeping in" for our last day until 930 or so (: We were finally ready to get out of our camping hostel. So we left our luggage at the hostel and went into town for our last Roman adventure! We tried to find out how to get to the airport from a rude lady at the information stand who kept cutting Janelle off when she would ask questions. But she gave us some poor information on how to get there and then we were off back to our hostel. After spending the day in Rome, we went back and got our luggage from the hostel and began our journey to the airport. The way that the lady told us was much cheaper than any other way, but also quite confusing. We decided to go with it anyways. So, we took her route and got confused on where to go but finally got to the bus stop where we were supposed to be. We then waited for 30 minutes and the bus finally came! Joel was trying to rush on before the doors shut and in the process broke the handle of his suitcase. Janelle thought it was hilarious while Joel was angry and frusturated (no surprises on either reaction). Not only did this happen, but then the bus ended up going the opposite direction of what we wanted! We took the bus that the lady told us and it took us NOwhere! So, we had to get out and take the MOST expensive way-a taxi. In a way though, it was a nice relief from the stress and it got us to the airport nice and early. We enjoyed that a lot. We checked into our flight and then it took off late (no surprises there! :)) So then we were in Germany. From the airport we were able to hop on the train and receive some help from a nice man who spoke English and told us where to get off. It was great! So then Janelle and Joel got off the train and there was their hostel about 50 meters away! So we checked in and put our stuff down to go explore the town. It is pretty dead, considering its 2AM but we still enjoyed it. Janelle even led us down the red light district. It was quite enjoyable. All of the prostitutes were out to get Joel though and he was frightened by them. One of them tried to get him and Janelle said "He is my brother!" The lady then replied "If he is your brother, den give 'im to me!" It was scarier than anything possible. Now we are chilling in the hostel and have to get up in four hours for our flight back home. We should be arriving in Chicago around 11AM, and therefore home around 2PM. Hope to see everyone soon!

Rome is ROMantic

We made it to the top!

After the long hike, still smiling!

YAY Rome!

Bene! (good)

The Colosseo.

Salve! Hello!

RAWR!

Harry Potter in Madrid!

Janelle and Joel got a horrible night of sleep last night because their "trailer-mates" next door were talking about being arrested at the airport until about three in the morning. Also, our room could qualify as a sauna and they lied about air conditioning on their website. Actually, the hostel lied about a lot of things, but we will get into that later. We woke up and went into Rome by the bus and train that we take to get there. Janelle and Joel enjoyed a morning donut and walked over to Vatican City to try to get more pictures of the beautiful monuments and such. We even climbed up a gigantic castle on empty stomachs and you could tell by the exhaustion on our faces. Janelle felt a little sick climbing up the stairs becausethe walls were so close together and it was SO hot. It was intense and there was not a lot of breathing room. But then we finally reached the top of the tower and Joel screamed "Fresh Air, finally!" It was a great feeling of emotion. We then toured more of the city and decided to go get our well deserved lunch. We each got our own cuisine (the first time that we have the whole trip without sharing!) and enjoyed the Italian pasta. We enjoyed every bit of it...until the check! They try to suck the money out of you here with our lunch totalling up to $54(USD)! It was crazy! We didnt even get an appetizer or dessert or anything. We then walked around Rome more and enjoyed chilling out on the buses-for free, we still arent sure whether or not we are supposed to be paying :) Finally we returned back to our hostel to recover from exhaustion in the HOT sun and walking more miles than ever before. We enjoyed every bit of Rome we could and tried to explore everything since we arent here that long. Still haunted by the lunch we payed for, we returned to town to buy dinner for McDonalds! Hooray! The cheeseburgers here were even better than in Spain. But upon returning to the hostel, they showed us more injustices that we will have to tell when we get back. There are WAY too many haha. Tomorrow we enjoy our last bit in Rome and then its off to Germany/home! Ciao!

Best Day of Our Lives...

Sorry we dont have much time to write to everyone. But yesterday was our last day in Madrid and we enjoyed it quite thoroughly. It was fun and Janelle and Joel said goodbye to all of their favorite things like the grocery store and etc. We even went to go see Harry Potter and it was better than what both of them were expecting-after hearing poor reviews. Then it was off to Rome! The flight was like an evil demon that you wanted to strangle to death and punch in the face. In the airport we were so early but they only had one person manning a station where you take questions and stamp passports. Unluckily we got stuck behind a man that took forever with his question while stamping our passports took maybe two seconds...we survived though. Our plane even left 15 min after it was supposed too. Janelle and Joel got on the flight thinking that they would be sitting next to each other, little did they know that there were no assigned seats on the plane haha. not joking. But anyways, it was a noisy and annoying plane ride. Joel is just whining. It wasn`t THAT bad! Then we finally landed in Rome! This is where it gets good...We tried to figure out a way to get to our hostel at midnight and all we could do was pay for a 55 euro taxi to get there! BUMMER! As we pulled into the front reception area, excitement was rushing through our veins. First, they could not find our reservation. Second, they did not speak english...and we don`t speak italian! Talk about a language barrier! Nonetheless after strains and struggles, we made it into a "room" as he handed us a key. After walking through the wilderness, running into a German and a girl who warned us about the ants in our beds, we made it to our...well trailer. Correction, half of a trailer. Small enough to suffocate one`s self if they are in there long enough. I wish I could explain the amount of self control I had to use from laughing to hard and peeing my pants. Joel was so upset with himself as I let him choose our Rome hostel...never doing that again!! haha what an experience. More details when we get home! We spent the day exploring the City Center in Rome! It was awesome! More details soon!

Presents for All

Beautiful Espana.









Joel eating his favorite chocolate covered pretzel.




Janelle holdin the goods!

The crazy market. FULL of people.

Street worker levatating...seriously?

Janelle and Joel woke up this morning and performed their usual rituals. Janelle put on make-up AKA mascara to make her seem more awake than usual, while Joel slid on his shorts. We then decided to go to DD and get our usual donuts from the same lady (she didn't seem surprised). Upon arriving back to the hostel, we discussed what we should do. "I think we should try to spend all the money we can in our bank accounts before we get back home!" Janelle said. "That's probably not a good idea...but ok, why don't we spend it on the people back home too?!" Joel said. So we set off to go souvenir shopping and get the people back home-following the blog- some presents that means you too grandma and grandpa! We walked around for almost five hours looking for the best deals and the best gifts we could find. Hopefully all of you like yours, don't be expecting anything extravagent...we're broke. But anyways, we enjoyed the first half of our day by shopping around and walking through Madrid until we somehow happened upon the market - we actually stumble upon everything, it's kinda funny. Just when we start to think we are lost, we look to our right or left or sometimes even in front of us to find we are 25 feet away from our destination! But the market was packed and there were so many cool little shops and things to buy-which we didn't have the money for, but still looked anyway. Janelle and Joel ended up buying jerseys for themselves (only 5 euro!) which you will get to see in tomorrow's blog. We planned a jersey day together how cute right? It should be great. But after that, we went to dinner and spent a delicious meal snuggling and staring into each others' eyes. Not really, but we still enjoyed our dinner at least. Janelle and Joel have been getting along better as they spend more time together; it's like the opposite of a married couple! We are still having an excellent time in Madrid, and we are also excited to go somewhere new. We leave for Rome tomorrow, so everybody get excited!!! There will be plenty of new adventures and views for us there. We have big plans for our last day in Madrid tomorrow, so be ready for the entry. A Dios le pido!

P.S. We would like everyone to wish Keegan Bannon a happy 17th birthday and a happy 20th to Brittany Hiner too, because its twelve o'clock in Madrid baby!

Haagen Dazs (aka Haagen Daas)

Snuggling at Sol...lookin a bit tired.
The Haags!

and the Dazs!

One of the many crosses seen in Spain.

Lumpy booty bear!

Janelle and Joel got a HORRIBLE sleep last night. Words cannot even explain how bad the sleep that we shared together was. Even worse than the "Sex on Fire" night! We are located on a busy street of Madrid and every five minutes you will hear a loud car horn because people love to honk their horns just for fun sometimes. Not to mention the people next door who stayed up all night laughing and "canoodling" which was quite loud. And also, the people outside our room playing cards and singing songs. All around, it was a long night as far as sleep was concerned. This morning Janelle and Joel agreed that they had maybe gotten three/four hours of sleep (you can see it in our eyes in the pictures). But anyways, we "awoke" around 10 and walked to Dunkin Donuts to get our breakfast which was quite tasty for only 2.20 euros! After that, we walked around the town and looked around Sol-a metro station. We were enjoying ourselves and all that we could think about was the Haagen Dazs day that we had planned almost a week ago. Our mouths were watering the whole day so we decided to eat lunch at McDonalds to save money-which we're losing fast-and to also save room. Janelle was quoted saying "these burgers are the best I've had in my life." It was true. They made burgers much fresher here than in the United States. But anyways, then we walked the city again until it was finally time. THE TIME. Time for the Dasz! Janelle and Joel decided to share a four scoop sundae with a caramel topping. It was delicious and they could not get over how sweet and amazing it was. So amazing that they returned to the hostel to rest and discuss the deliciousness of their sundae. Janelle ended up taking a siesta while Joel stayed up and watched "Recess" on the computer. Then they stopped being lazy and got up to go get dinner. They got Dominos to go and watched more Recess back at the hostel. We were both content with how the night went and enjoyed our pizza with the "Recess" playing, especially Joel. The day was simple and we were both content to return back to the Madrid life. Our lazy day of the vacation is dead and gone as tomorrow we are planning to do some shopping for the most valuable bloggers back home all day long. Until tomorrow...hasta la vista baby!

Madrid again!

Buenas noches.

JNelly's "closet."

Attempted nap time.

RENFE! Our favorite train!

Telepizza!

Janelle and Joel took their final trip to the beach this morning after spending their last night in the apatment hostel. We made our last trip out to sea and returned to shower off the salt before leaving for the train back to Madrid. It was sad to leave Alicante, but it had to be done and the two of us had had enough of the sun-for our skin...sorry again daddy. But we still had the most fun that we could in Alicante and enjoyed our second stay even more than the first. After that, we headed for Telepizza-aka the gift from heaven for food/cheapness/pizza. We got there at 12 but unfortunately after lugging our suitcases around the city, it turned out that Telepizza didnt open till 1! Janelle and Joel were tired and needed to sit down for a while. So...they decided to sit on the step of an apartment building right next to Telepizza to rest. They had been sitting for maybe five minutes-Janelle with wine bottle in hand-when suddenly an evil, old lady began to curse at them in Spanish. Janelle and Joel just stared in awe at this lady that was going off on them. We understood every word but when she asked "Entiendes?", we just blankly stared at her as if we had no idea what she said. Then Joel found a sitting spot inside a mall where Telepizza had tables to sit at-even when not open. It was genius. Who would get mad at them for sitting there?...Answer: a mall cop. But, he was a little more understanding and told us that there was public seating down the escalators. We finally found a safe haven. After all the stress, we played favorite food games (surprise, surprise) and passed the time until 1. Telepizza then opened its doors and we were the first customers to receive the greatness. It was delicious as expected. We then got on the train back to Madrid and tried to sleep but to no avail. We were still happy. Upon arriving back in Madrid we found our new hostel-which is greatly hidden from the world-and went up to our room to rest. No A/C...we are making the best with the 5" TV and wireless. Not much time is spent in the room anyway. We then went to scavenge for dinner and ended up eating at "El Brillante" which was a delicious meal. We headed back for the hostel to close out the night. Joel enjoyed the dinner but was passing gas in the room and decided he needed to go #2. Meanwhile, Janelle is hanging out in the room when Joel runs into the room laughing nervously with a red face. Janelle said "oh lord joely, what could have possibly gone wrong now?" In between laughs Joel explained that he went to the bathroom and could not figure out how to flush the toilet. Janelle said "you just pull the string above the toilet seat." "oh" and joel further explained "i had to run out of the bathroom because there was a girl in there and i was embarrassed i couldnt flush the toilet." Then Janelle told Joel "you know the bathrooms are not unisex here right?" joel did not realize that not only did he go #2 and not flush, he was also in the GIRLS bathroom. WOWZERS! and joel thought Janelle was the "blonde" of the trip. Everything is alright though. The world is still spinning and we are still having fun. Janelle is excited for Haagen Daas Day tomorrow. She also made the mistake of using the mens' bathroom earlier today so HA! We are trying to decide what we want to do for tomorrow...Goodnight!

The Climb (not Miley Cyrus)

Married on Mount Krumpet (or some Mayan monument...?)

Puppy Jojo! Correction, elephant Jojo!

The RESPONSIBLE one of the trip.

Our favorite city! Alicante!

Donuts! Janelle says ew! Joel says yum. We woke up to strawberry donuts and they were quite delicious. This was around 11 AM!-the longest we have slept in the whole trip. What a great time to wake up, soon after we headed off to the beach for a day under the yet again hot sun. It was not as hot as yesterday, but nonetheless, it was HOT. For this reason, Janelle and Joel enjoyed the water quite thoroughly. Janelle did not get to see Muhammed today so she was a little upset, however, she still made the best of it :) After hanging around the beach for a bit and taking in our fair share of the sun, we returned to the hostel to wash up. We then made our way over to Burger King-yes another American establishment- and ate a delicious, cheap lunch. The two of us were feeling adventerous after the lunch, so we decided to finally go climb the "mountain" we have been looking at ever since arriving. We took some back streets and finally made our way to the beginning of the long journey. The slope of the first hill seemed to go on forever and the two of us were unsure but determined to make it to the top-plus we needed to get more scenery/"cute" (from Janelle) pics. The journey took us a while, but the views at each stop were breathtaking. "This is the best view I've had in my life" quote Joel. "I can see Champaign from here!" quote Janelle. We loved every minute of it (as we do every moment we spend together ;)) Then we went back down the mountain to rest after our journey of exhaustion. Janelle wanted to go get wine and therefore we went to the supermarket-Mercadona. Along the way, Joel decided to get a caramel and chocolate crape that ended up more on his clothes than in his mouth. Then they arrived at the supermarket and Janelle FINALLY bought her CHEAP wine after talking about it the whole trip. We returned to the hostel to bop around on the computer and talked to our sibling Jeffery. This was a pleasant time, but the two of us began to feel hunger again. PIZZA HUT! Janelle had picked up an advertisement for it on the way to the beach and it sounded delicious. We then followed all the directions and BAM there it was..blue?red? and DOMINOS???!?!?! An imposter. We assumed maybe it had been redone. Even though it wasn't Pizza Hut, we settled for Dominos. We then headed back to the supermarket and grabbed us some ice cream bars for desert. What a dinner! After enjoying our meal and watching TV in Espanol-where a black couple had a white baby-we began writing this blog. Now Janelle is laying on Joel's shoulder as she reads what he wrote. What a day. What a day.

A few notes from JNElly: First and foremost, Joel failed to mention an important part of our day yesterday when we were walking along the market purchasing gifts to bring home we stumbled upon a crazy street performer who was getting to the climax of his "magic" trick when he started yelling at the audience to leave because "THE POWER IS GONE!" He just kept repeating in spanish the power is gone the power is gone, which had Joel and I running for our lives. Rather entertaining. Second, Joel overexagerates anything he ever says about Janelle, especially when there are direct quotes. Third, Joely is the best little brother ever and I appreciate the fact that he enjoys writing this blog because if Janelle were to write the days would be far less detailed. Oh and last but not least, Janelle was overjoyed when she did not run into Muhammed again today. AND Janelle has NOT been drooling for alcohol all trip like Joel says. Thank you.

Note from JOEL: Janelle's last sentence=bs

Note from Janelle: Joel will be sleeping outside tonight.

Half Way Done...But Still Having Fun

Lil burnt after a long day in the sun! Sorry daddy!

Joel's dinner if he doesn't repect his elder AKA Janelle.

Janelle thinking "I hope that's not my reflection!!!"

Crack kills.Do it like the Alicantes do.

Our living room of our apartment!

Well everybody this marks the half way point of our adventure in Spain/Rome. So far we have had many laughs, cries, shouts, and smiles along the way(as you can see from all the pictures we've taken). Today was a perfect half way day too. We woke up at 10! That is the latest that we've slept in since being in Spain. It was amazing-although our room was so cold that our "see through" sheet did not provide much protection from the cold. We still enjoyed our stay at the hostel and the man there was very nice. We then trucked across the city of Alicante with suitcases and bags in hand. The walk seemed long with the hot sun beaming down upon us. But in reality, the walk was not that long and we were rewarded at the end of our journey. It turns out that at La Miligrosa, they didnt have any rooms left-even though we had already booked one-so they gave us "the apartment". Neither of us knew what this entailed, but we knew it was something good. She opened the door to our "room" and the light from heaven shone down upon it. Air conditioning. DVD Player. Four beds. Our own bathroom. Mini fridge. Microwave. Toaster. Anything else you can think of!! It was the best thing we have seen in our lives and we were paying the cheapest for this hostel that we had the whole trip! We almost died. But after cooling off, we undressed ourselves and went to the beach! PARTY TIME! Joel layed out a bit-payed the price with some burns-while Janelle went swimming-also payed the price. But it was all worth it. The beach was as beautiful as it could ever be. After swimming and laying a while, we went to lunch and met the nicest waitress we have had the whole time here. She bounced around, knew English, and was willing to wait on us hand and foot. We have even thought about returning just to see her again. It was fun though and we got way too much fried chicken that we didn't even eat half of it! It was still delicious. We then decided to go shopping for things to put in our mini fridge and walked all the way to El Corte Ingles-which we didn't even end up stepping foot in the building. Might we add that it was blistering hot and probably the hottest day experienced haha. But anyways, we returned to the beach after getting our groceries at side markets and enjoyed more time in the water to cool off. Janelle then met a boy named Muhammed and we will spare you the details ;) but you can ask her about it when we return. We then ate at a sandwitch place called "Bocadillas" or something similar to that and enjoyed caramel sundaes soon after along the beach. We are now in our hostel lobby-the only spot of the hostel that gets wireless-talking to an older man about Benidorm and the city of Alicante. Anyways, it was a great day of beach filled fun and we are hoping to share a similar day tomorrow (maybe minus Muhammed! haha)!

A Whole New...otra vez

Today, we woke up around the same time as usual, which how we keep waking up so early I'm not really sure, but everyone should be quite impressed. We then rushed to the train station because Joel thought that the train left at 9:05 when in actuality, it left at 9:18, better early than sorry I guess. But then we began our four hour train ride to Alicante-Joel's favorite. Along the way we made many stops in the middle of nowhere and neither of us could. figure out why they were such random stops, nonetheless, we made it to our destination after Joel's napping and Janelle's IPOD jammin . After taking our stuff and dropping it off at the new hostel-Pension del Encanto-we made our trip to lunch. The ladies at the restuarant that we went to were vicious and we tried to make the best of it. Joel ordered a cheeseburger and ended up with a chicken/pork/beef burger done quite rare...whereas Janelle wanted a ham and cheese sub but ended up with it in just a regular sandwich. Displeased with their lunch, they justified it with an Oreo McFlurry from McD's :) Well anyways, the hostel is pretty nice, we have to use three different keys to get to our room and air conditioning is included in the room! Anyways, we went down to the beach and Janelle wanted to take some pictures of us along the beach to show the true beauty of us :) and the city. We finally got to walk on a boardwalk that was closed last time we were here and we enjoyed the brisk, cool air running along our bodies (thought I would add some detail haha). Joel begged Janelle to go gamble at the casino since he cannot (age 17, not 18), and as usual Janelle refused the offer. When we left boardwalk, we went back to the hostel to chill for a little bit before dinner. We decided to get dressed up and go to our favorite pizza place here...yes, we have a favorite pizza place after the two days that we've actually been here haha. It tasted delicious and Janelle commented on the pepperoni, "I wish my life was as spicy as these babies! Wooh!" Joel shook his head in disapprovement. After we ate dinner, we took a nice walk along the beach and JOEL watched the topless women and children play. We then walked around the city for a while and wanted to get breakfast for the next day. It was 9:58, so we rushed to El Corte Ingles-the supermarket from before- and picked out doughnuts and orange juice. Finally, we were able to be rushed out of the store by the employees (literally) and began to head back to our hostel. Eventually, we ended up near the interstate because Joel had led us down the wrong way. Janelle also began to whine about her feet hurting from wearing sandals which she hates to wear but wanted to look nice for tonight. Both of our feet ached like the back of a 50 something year old father until we finally found our way back to the hostel. We are now watching TV in Spanish and preparing for our nice move to our favorite hostel tomorrow. We are also getting ready for the beach again! Hooray!

One Week Anniversary

Who is cuter?!

My baby boy.

Always happy in Madrid.

Banco de Espana.

One of the metro signs we see everyday.


It is the one week anniversary since the beginning of the trip! We are still having new discoveries everyday and loving every minute of it. Today we woke up pretty late(8 am haha), and had our delicious breakfast as usual. Then we booked our hostels for Rome since yesterday everything seemed to be booked but the site was messed up. It was fun though and our hostel for Rome doesnt seem too shady :) But then we actually started our day and began to walk all around Madrid. It was a blast. We even bought a churro along the way, but it didnt have cinnamon or sugar so we added our own American twist by adding the sugar on top and that made it quite delicious. We then went back to the Plaza Mayor again and it was quite amazing. Janelle has made our plans to return on the 18th for the huge Haagen Daas there. We had fun walking today because we got to many of the different metro stops including Sevilla and Banco de Madrid. The further we walked away, the more we were able to discover the new territory. We saw many different types of architecture and got some more beautiful pictures. Janelle hated walking around in sandals but Joel obviously embraced his typical sandal wearing. We loved walking around the city though and feeling all of the culture around us...okay maybe not the guys that like to gawk and hit on Janelle. We then went back to our hostel and had more of a chill day.





Janelle made her version of tortellini mezzaluna for dinner. It was actually good! Then we met our new hostelmates and they are two awesome Aussies. They like to make jokes and are quite funny. It turns out that Ausies were happy when Steve Erwin died-who would have thought?! But they are quite fun and Janelle and I have enjoyed their company. Tomorrow we are headed to Alicante and are excited to hit the beach again. I hope everyone is doing well! Questions, comments, concerns below

Back to Madrid

Pink guy was JNel's fav!

Our tickets! Only five euros!

Bullfighting arena.

Market.

We had to do it.

Plaza Mayor.

Atocha train station or "jungle" as Joel calls it.

GARGOYLES!

There is a fountain behind us...

What a babe! This looks photoshopped!

One wedding photo...better ones to come in rome.

Photo from our romantic stroll in the park.

The day started much later than usual (8:30!)as the two of us actually...strangely...slept. It was a morning like most of the others though with our delicious toast and cereal for breakfast. Janelle's computer was not working and Joel was doing everything in his power to try to fix it-to no avail. After realizing the computer business was going nowhere, they took off on a journey to nowhere in particular. We printed of our boarding passes for Rome and bought our train tickets to Alicante. But before buying train tickets, we went to the most amazing sight see(in Joel's opinon) since the start of their trip. We went to a public park and there were many cool fountains, greens, and other extravagent flowers and such to make the perfect setting. We had many amazing pictures to show the perfect views for the park. After the park was when we went to Atocha to print off our train tickets. It was a station unlike any other, there was a jungle inside, yes, a jungle. It was interesting and there were a billion and a half turtles living inside of it. But with everything of future importance out of the way, the two of us were hungry and on the prowl for something delicious. After passing up pricey (Spanish) restaurants, they had almost given up hope under the beaming sun at any chance of food; until suddenly, there it was, the most beautiful restaurant they had seen, Dominos! The two of us shared a delicous meal with pepperoni pizza and you can pretty much say we are getting the true taste of Spanish food...NOT. But, the two of us did discover after complaining for a week now that there is more Americanized food a block away from us, don't judge us :) We then continued to walk after lunch and passed by many souvenir shops. We then arrived at the most plaza in Spain, Plaza Mayor. The day was jam packed with walking and lots of traveling so we burned off the pizza-that one is for you dad. After that we came back to the hostel to cool down for a bit and then off we went to the bull fight. Joel found it entertaining for the first two "fights", but then it got old. Janelle thought that they were cruel and could see why the bull fights were "debated" in Spain. It was a good day for the most part. Now we are headed off to bed and hoping to have a good day tomorrow like the exploration day that we had today.
Note from Janelle: Spain is like a drug. The more you see, the more you want. I'm thinkin mom and dad should just pay for Janelle to stay here this year and I'll come back and work and go to school next year. Deal? Okay! We'll call it a "life exploration."