BILLY DREASE AND THE WAITERS

No Player Hatin….just a bunch of Players Waitin’…
It was gorgeous outside though.

WAIT A MINUTE MORE

ATTENTION: Mildly graphic language at the end. I’m innocent..lol

Soooooo….We finally snagged a way from the airport, to the center of Madrid, where we had to…..guest what….”WAIT SOME MORE.” Once again…different site…same problem…the machine. I think the video says it all. But we DID finally get to Zaragosa. Makes me reeeeaaally appreciate Greyhound…they’re on point compared to this nonsense.

Now the greatest laugh of all for us…after all the waiting..and frustration…
(drum roll………..) The bus ride was a 4 hour trip from Madrid to Zaragosa…
4 more hours…pooped!!!

THE HEAVY-WAIT CHAMP part 1

No, it is not a typo! “The Heavy-Wait Champ” is here!
When we landed in good ol’ Madrid…we had a delightful surprise visit from Father Time! It was as if he was waiting and holding a sign with our names on it, right where the limousine and taxi service guys were standing in the airport, right outside of the customs exit. We landed around 8 a.m., about 1 a.m. United States time (when all you party goers are probably just gettin’ started.) El the Sensai and DJ Kaos landed about 2 hours later, so the waiting game began immediately, as there isn’t really much to get into while chillin’ at an airport. An airport where your closest relative or friend is 7 hours away (by plane over the water), and your cellphone is useless.

So, after meeting up with El and Kaos, we asked directions on how to get from Madrid airport to Zaragosa. After getting the answers we needed which were very cut and dry and easy to follow, that’s when Father Time said..”Hola Muchachos!” “Sientense por favor.” We had no idea that we’d be waiting forever to get a lift from the airport into the heart of Madrid. Our instructions were to go to the bus shuttle machine, purchase a ticket, the bus would arrive at the appointed time and we’re off to Zaragosa. Well, the bus shuttle machine was certainly where they said it was…but…THEY DIDN’T TELL US IT WAS OUT OF ORDER!!!!!

THE HEAVY-WAIT CHAMP part 2

(The first person we got to help us.)

Now here’s the good part, the part where you must find humor in unfortunate situations out of your own control. It was a touch screen very similar to NYC or any other transit ticketing machine. You touch the screen to start…a map appears…touch the destination (zaragosa)…it asks you to pick a seat, where you touch the available/open seat on the bus. It asks you to pay (credit/cash) and the ticket prints. That’s the way it was supposed to work. NOT!!! All the steps worked up until the payment part. It wouldn’t accept ANYTHING. Credit or Cash! (and this is the ONLY machine in the airport by the way…Aye Dios Mio!!)

So, here is where we just start gettin’ humored instead of angry. There are all kinds of people walking around in airport employee attire, badges and all, and when we ask for help, they conveniently shook their heads…not to say i WONT help you..but like..”Naw..I dont speak English homeboy..you’re on your own.” I also found that their feet and legs moved a little faster when they blew us off…like something much more urgent in the distance needed their assistance more then we did.

While we’re trying to get help, Tone is constantly and hopefully trying to get us a ticket, and he’s noticing each time he checks the assigned seats on the bus…the seats are diminishing rapidly..like from 12..to 8…to 3…FULL!! We hadn’t left the machine the entire time…and no one has come to purchase a ticket while we were there…but the seats on the screen were FILLING UP with passengers …>??? What in the damnation!!???
The buses only ran every 2 hours or so…and we missed two because of the machine’s quirky behavior. Do the math…”Heavy-Wait Champs”…

(The second guys we got to help us)

So finally, these two guys above come over to the ticket machine. The guy without the uniform had tools, passwords, receipt paper rolls and everything…he was clearly coming to fix the machine,right?!! So we tell him what the deal is…he doesn’t speak English, we try our best to communicate…he opens the machine and starts pushing buttons, and whatever else he was doing inside there…then he closes it as if its fixed. Cool! Tone, for one last time, with them standing there, goes through the steps, gets to the end…STILL CAN’T PAY!!
Both dudes shrug their shoulders, and I think they just went to take a lunch break!
….oh..and we missed that bus too!!

MO’ DESIGN in MADRID

(Above: Luggage carousel)

If I may say so myself, I’m quite a “dope” photographer…BUT…my camera is quite “domestic”…so I guess I’m a “Dopestic” photographer. Either way, the shot above displays more of the design of the Madrid airport, which is huge by the way. This is where we had to wait for our luggage to go “round n round.”

Another shot, showing the colorfulness of the airport. If you look close, and go left off into the distance of the picture, you’ll see the pillars (yellow) slowly going through the color wheel and ending in a deep purple. In the other direction, which I did not capture, the pillars turn from yellow into a deep red, going through all the warm colors in between.

Design is everything!

FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLE DREASE

‘m not afraid to fly, but I do need some distractions in order to keep my mind off of the many things that run through my head when I hear the pilots voice in my airline issued headphones, or when we experience turbulence, or when the seatbelt light flashes. I need distractions when I fly, and I couldn’t have asked for a better or more beautiful distraction as a sunset.

It was incredible to watch the sun and the earth dance through their natural process of sunset and sunrise while flying from New York (JFK), over the Atlantic and into the night and back into the morning again.

(above: shots of the sunrising over the Atlantic)

I caught these lovely shots (above) of the sunrising or the earth spinning, whichever you prefer, through my window. What a pleasure to witness the greatest architect at work…MAMA NATURE!!! I Love you mom. And I love you too MOMMY…my real mommy that is…lol

(above: Madrid airport shot 1)

(above: closer look at the ceiling architecture)

The architecture in Madrid, as well as Spain in general are so cutting edge in my opinion. The colors aren’t so stale and industrial as they are in the States. The structures encourage a feeling of ease and relaxation, especially in an airport, considering the many security issues and warnings and cautions, etc.

CANDY FOR SOCKS

After boarding the flight that was Spain bound and getting comfortable/situated…I realized I was REAAALLY in for an interesting trip, concerning the language barrier that I would be encountering during the flight, as well as when I landed in Spain. I was going to be the minority in more ways than one on this journey.
The majority of the passengers seemed to be of Spanish-decent just judging by the number of conversations that were taking place throughout. I could only catch a couple of the words, as my spanish is super rusty, mi espanol es muy terrible…
But across the aisle from me, there was this older woman, lets call her (mi abuela)…that started a conversation with me that was “totally” non-verbal. It was so funny to me because it was very obvious that she spoke as much English as I spoke Spanish and that was made clear just by the look on our faces. So she didn’t even attempt to open her mouth to kick it with me, which was fine, because just in a few short hand gestures and facial expressions we had an exchange.

So the exchange went like this:
Abuela: reaches across and taps me on the arm
Edreys: turns around and smiles
A: smiles back
E: raises eyebrows
A: puts pointer finger up (as to say “hold on just a second)
A: pulls out two pieces of candy from her purse
E: shakes head with a smile (gestures “no thanks” with hand)
A: jingles two pieces of candy and points at her feet with her free hand
then points to the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me
E: looks and grabs airplane blanket and small bag of socks from out of the pocket
A: reaches for the travel socks in the small bag, exchanges candy into my hand
E: smiles and nods
A: smiles, nods and stuffs socks into her purse…leaned back in her chair and waited for the movie to begin

I offer Tone the other piece of candy as I keep the other…and all is well…all without a word being said except for Tone comment: “Wow! Candy for socks…That’s a weird trade…but not bad..”
Not bad at all…!

The meals on the plane, IBERIA Airlines, were absolutely delicious..and I still can’t figure out why.
I know I was hungry, but this food definitely had me forgetting that we were eating on a plane. Well, maybe it wasn’t that great, but I was surprised that it was good at all.

Speaking of “good”…Here is a good book to travel with. It’s a digestable book that can be consumed in about 7 hours or less. Really insightful.
SEEK JOY and HAPPINESS in all your days!!

MAD-RIDE to MAD-RID

Although I was leaving the United States on the 29th of April, I wouldn’t be landing in Madrid until the 30th of April, which happened to be my birthday. While reserving the tickets, it didn’t occur to me, the significance of sitting in seat 30A. So I arrived in Madrid, Spain on the 30th of April (my b-day) sitting in row 30, seat A (for Awesome). Schweeet!!!

The plane was “muy grande”, and every seat was full. They dropped the TV screens in the center aisle, as 3 movies were scheduled to play during the 7 hour trip. Yep!! 7 hours. An entire work day, minus the 1-hour lunch break. I had an idea of how long it would be already, but after sitting down, closing the overhead cabin, and strapping the seatbelt…MAN!!!..That’s when it settled in that “changing my mind” was NOT an option.
ADIOS

Que Pasa, de Espana

Greetings from Spain family and friends. I bid you all wellness and happiness from across the Atlantic.
Today is the first time that I’ve been able to actually find a good internet connect, and there is quite a bit of catching up that we must do.

On the flight from Buffalo to JFK, we found ourselves upgraded to the first class, with MAD leg room. NICE!!!
I guess when you THINK good thoughts, do GOOD things…Positive opportunities are afforded to you!
(Above) I took a picture of the seat in front me which made me laugh a little bit, as well as gave me a chill…a scary chill. If AT ALL we would need a life vest while crossing the Atlantic…that would NOT be a “good look.”
We flew out of Buffalo into NY (JFK) with very little time to catch our connecting flight, so we were very concerned about our bags making it onto the International airplane, in which we had our merchandise. The baggage handlers told us that it takes 90 minutes to unload a plane of all its luggage and transport it to the connect. We only had about 50 minutes between the time we exited the first plane to the boarding time of the second, headed to Spain. Along the way through the concourses, we went through every possible scenario as to what we would do without the merchandise bags, which was nerve wrecking, until we came to the conclusion that…”There was absolutely nothing we could do about it…so lets just enjoy ourselves.”

Once we conceded to just chillin’ and letting the cards fall as they may, everything was grand. We boarded the International joint, and kicked back awaiting adventure abroad.

(Above) Here is a picture I took while waiting on the runway. Can you see the airplane shape (outline)?
I found this interesting, as the clouds to me almost created a connect the dots airplane stencil.
Or maybe I was just tripping from sleep deprivation…

hasta manana,
Billy Drease

ME GUSTO ESTO

Aight. So “I Like It” is an international smash, and I’m running out of languages for the song to be translated. Now mind you, the interpretor is doing it for free and has never been out of the country, BUT, since I don’t speak any of these languages, I have to roll with what my man is sayin’. Sounds good to me. LOL!!
Japanese: 私はそれを好む
Russian: я люблю оно
Italian: lo gradico

I’ll keep you all posted as we travel through Spain with an entourage of “I Like It” fans from city to city. I’m looking forward to a great time. 80 during the day, 65 at night…but i’m taking my bubble goose coat with me, not for Spain but for Buffalo. Buffalo’s weather tends to have no concept of seasons and that there are rules to this game called “nature.” Like, after March, the temperature should NOT drop below 40. Maybe she didn’t get the memo. So just in case, I’ll be ready for the “hawk” when I return to Buffalo from sunny Spain.

Thank you ALL for the support, prayers and best wishes. YEeeAAahhhh!!!
love you lex.