We took off from JFK at 12:45 am. Here we are before going through security: 
We took a 14 hour long flight to Shanghai, China and then would have a 4 hour layover before our flight to Bangkok.
I took a time lapse of us landing in Bangkok. The view from the airplane was so beautiful!
After getting off our second flight to Bangkok and going through customs we were welcomed by a team of people from the wedding. They gave us drinks and snacks and showed us to a van that would take us to the Anantara Resort in Hua Hin, which is about 3 hours away from Bangkok. Our driver was very friendly and was glad to have us play music for most of the ride- he even put in a few requests!
Upon arriving at the resort we were greeted with a welcome gong and floral necklaces. 
We were checked in and shown to our room, which is actually the closest room to where breakfast is served and where some of the wedding events will be held. Our room is relatively normal but the bathroom is beautiful and we have a patio that goes out in the back. Anantara itself is very pretty and the wedding decorations made it even more festive and bright.
On our bed we got a leaf with this message- we think they got Hannah’s name mixed up but it made us laugh!
Hannah in front of our room:
Our patio in back of our room. Through the bushes you can see a bit of the pool:
Since our beach day in San Sebastian was rained out, we decided to spend a day at the beach our first day in Barcelona. After traveling a little farther out of the center of the city we found just what we were looking for: a nice quiet, not-so-crowded, beach where we could rent towels for the day, and enjoy the sunshine with a nice breeze. The beach and water were beautiful.
As we toured Italy and Spain there is one thing Lindsey wanted to do that we just could not fit into our schedule: take a cooking class. As we passed several cooking schools, Lindsey just wanted to stay and join the class. I would not be surprised to see Lindsey return to Europe at some point in the future for some culinary training.
We will let you go Lindsey as long as you promise to cook for us when you return!
San Sebastian (Donostia in Basque) is a coastal town in northern Spain with a long, beautiful beach. Our plan was to have a quiet, relaxing day on the beach. Unfortunately, light rain filled our day. We made the most of our visit after a brief search for four small travel umbrellas.
Due to the rain, we cut our visit short, jumped on a bus, and headed back to the Bilbao airport for our evening flight to Barcelona.
Our new umbrellas
Kelsey visited the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain during her trip as an exchange student in 2013. Unfortunately, she did not get to see as much of the museum as she would have liked, so we decided to incorporate a visit to the Northern shore of Spain into our trip. We looked forward to also having some cooler weather.
Inside the Bilbao train station.
After 5 hours on the train, we reached Bilbao and spent the afternoon at the Guggenheim Museum. The architecture for this building is amazing. The modern art inside the museum was not really our taste, but it was a neat experience.
From Bilbao we took a bus an hour east to spend the night in San Sebastian, a beautiful coastal city with a wonderful beach and a neat place to celebrate Lindsey’s birthday.
Evening in San Sebastian.
After saying good-bye to our Madrid friends, we spent one more day seeing some more sights in the city. We explored the Palacio Real de Madrid (the Royal Palace), the Mercado de San Miguel (a historical central market) and the Parque de Madrid (a large, beautiful central park with a pond and rowboats you can rent). It was a wonderful place to sit in the shade and enjoy a breeze on such a hot day, the hottest of our trip at 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit).
To cap off our last night we took in some flamenco dancing and one last serving of churros con chocolate at Valor Chocolates, serving chocolate since 1881.
One more serving of churros con chocolate
The weather in Madrid continues to be hot and humid, so Teresa and her parents led us on a fun day trip to cooler temperatures. 30 minutes away on a high speed train lies Segovia, a charming little town north of Madrid that still has a Roman aqueduct standing.
In addition to the aqueduct, this small town has an amazing castle (Alcazar de Segovia) and a large cathedral. The castle looks like it was taken out of a storybook, complete with towers and a moat. The cathedral has more chapels around the outside of the sanctuary than any other cathedral I have seen.
It was a fun and enjoyable day, especially with a little cooler temperature.
One of our reasons for traveling to Madrid, Spain was to see Teresa, the Spanish exchange student we hosted in CT, and her family, who hosted Kelsey in Madrid. Kelsey enjoyed getting to see Teresa again and we enjoyed having her parents be our local, Spanish speaking, guides to the sites around Madrid while having an opportunity to get to know them.
Teresa and her parents guide us through Madrid.
During our walking tour of Madrid, we spent some time in the Prado art museum and visited the Plaza Mayor, the Catedral de Santa Maria, and the Royal Palace of Madrid. It was an enjoyable day that ended with churros con chocolate at one of the oldest establishments that has served it since 1894.
And if that was not enough, we found a bubble tea shop in Madrid! Kelsey was able to satisfy her bubble tea withdrawal.
On the way to dinner, we came across a procession of a patron saint from a church out to the main square. A band accompanied the saint, carried on a large, very heavy float like structure. You can’t see them, but there are people under the float carrying the entire thing on their shoulders. After our dinner, we saw the same saint procession return to the church.
Hammond Adventures 