To Europe!

26 Jan 2026

I’M FINALLY GOING TO EUROPE!!!

I always thought it would be one of the cheap flights I see pop up from time to time to Dublin or Reykjavík that would take me to Europe, but it’s cold here at home, and I’m looking to escape winter, so I started looking for a warm place to do some hiking. There are a few other hikes in Europe I’m hoping to do, but they are more summer/fall hikes and sure, I could just find somewhere here in the US to hike, but the travel bug has definitely bitten- I’ve got to go explore somewhere new.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any great flights for my off week, so I’ll be flying out of my local airport (and leaving my car for Matt, who will be flying home a few days after I leave), which means a very early alarm for a very early flight:

And since it’s a whopping -18ºF / -27ºC, we needed to be deiced before we could take off:

Not a big deal- I’ve got an 8.5 hour layover, which is longer than my next flight over to Europe, so I spent the first couple hours walking the airport, where I discovered this rotunda area with quiet seating overlooking the runways:

K-gates had this fun globe:

Underground passage between B and C:

And finally, a postcard for my niece’s class:

They are hoping to collect cards from all 50 states so I figured I could help them out with a few as I’ll be hitting 3 different US airports on this trip. Unfortunately, I learned that there are no longer post boxes past security, so any cards I pick up will have to be mailed from home. Sorry!

Then, since I still had several hours to kill, I headed to my gate, curled up with a book and waited.

…but my flight never popped up on the gate’s sign. I double checked my app, which said I was at the right gate, but when I checked the departure board, my gate was B16, not C16 where I had been waiting.

Strong work, United App.

But I got to my new gate with plenty of time to spare only to get a notification text:

That’s a whole hour delay- my layover in Frankfurt was only 3.5 hours and I’m not sure what sort of security I’ll need to clear. Plus I want to get a German pretzel. This is cutting into my pretzel time! Priorities 🙂

Around the time my flight should have been departing, I got this helpful message:

Thanks United, but I already figured that out.

Eventually, my plane showed up:

We started boarding as the sun began to set:

and I was super-excited to get some sunset shots from the sky

but then we sat, and waited, and didn’t actually depart until the sun had set. Bummer.

Also, this plane had the fancy self-dimming windows that don’t let you control them until you’re in the air.

But, on the plus side: I GOT A WHOLE ROW TO MYSELF!!!

I mean, yes, it’s right by the bathroom, so we’ll see how that plays out, but poor man’s business class for the win!

Dinner was better than it looked:

and once the lights went down, most people slept- myself included. I mean, I woke up every time I rolled over, but between my 3 pillows and 3 blankets and having an entire row, I think I slept pretty well for being in Economy.

They woke us up for breakfast:

and I watched the sunrise over Germany:

Germany is also cold and snowy:

But security wasn’t nearly as intense as I thought it would be- I guten morgen-ed the officer who stamped me in, he asked if this was my first trip, I said yes and that was that.

Plenty of time to get my pretzel!

…though the woman taking my order was confused by “one pretzel.” I noticed the sign actually called them bretzels, so I tried ein bretzel, and that secured me my snack! I have now exhausted my German vocabulary.

Despite the cold temps, Germany also does that thing I love about my tropical trips, and we took a bus to board our plane from the tarmac:

Farewell, Germany:

Hello, Gran Canaria:

I ended up with an aisle seat for this flight, so I didn’t get any shots of the island as we approached 🙁

There is an extensive bus system covering the island, and it’s super easy to use: just tell the driver your destination (fares are distance-based), how many passengers, and tap your card.

The trip down to Maspalomas, where I’ll be starting my hike, took about an hour:

Fun sculptures along the way:

(click to embiggen)

I hiked a little bit further past the “You are Here” marker, then left the trail to find food:

This shopping center was pretty much empty except for a small grocery store and a pharmacy, but it had enough for me to grab dinner, breakfast, some trail snacks, bananas and a water bottle (tap water here is potable, but it tastes TERRIBLE- I brought some Gatorade powder along to help keep me hydrated so hopefully that covers the taste. I hate buying bottled water).

My home for tonight:

It took me longer than it should have to realize there was a backside to my apartment (#34):

and that the lockbox with my key was back here:

Sitting area:

Kitchen and bathroom: