some things about your colorful country are just plain loco.

First let me be clear, I had a great time in Spain and I will do a post with the highlights of our visit after I get home. I won’t be able to really give the research and writing the time it deserves until then because Musicman is working now and I’m entertaining Bunny.

But like any country, there were a few things that drove me absolutely nuts. Some are little and petty, some stressed me out, and some had me quite pissed off after awhile. In no particular order…

• The Spanish eat so much oily food that you can go to a tapas bar and EVERY item on the menu is fried. After two weeks, the most important question I asked when we were deciding where to eat was if the bar/cafe served salad.
• A mixed salad always has tuna in it. I don’t know why, but sometimes I just wanted a simple green salad, and they found this quite strange.
• Juice in Spain is always sweetened with sugar and sometimes is more like cordial. In Catalunya they take this further by serving up the sweetened orange juice with a spoon and a sachet of sugar. I tried asking for sin azucar, but this was usually ignored, leaving me to battle it out with Bunny over why he couldn’t dump two teaspoons of sugar in his already sugared juice. Yes, sugar sachets are huge here - at least two teaspoons.
• Even though the laws were changed to ban smoking in bars, cafes and restaurants, this is largely ignored. It is still common to sit in a small cafe/bar (they’re pretty much one and the same here) and have people smoking all around you. I found it really hard to cope with, particularly if I was eating. And it amazed me that people will light up in a confined eatery when they are sitting within a metre of a young child. To be fair, smoking is much more prevalent in the South than in the North of Spain, and Barcelona did have a few smoke free restaurants.
• In Sevilla we were actually served by a smoking barman and we could see the kitchen staff smoking while they cooked. Needless to say, we only ate there once.
• I noticed this a lot in the South, but it might happen in the North too: Spaniards often throw their cigarettes butts and rubbish on the floor so there is litter all around the bar area. Someone is then employed to walk around sweeping up this mess. They actually get in there between your feet and knees with the broom sometimes.
• In the South, siesta is strongly adhered to because of the searing heat and so you have quite strict hours as to when you can get a meal. If you get caught up sightseeing and snacking until 4.30pm, you’re out of luck. You’ll walk blocks and blocks in the vain hope of finding a bar or cafe who will serve you food. Lunch is usually 1pm to about 3.30pm. And if you want dinner at 7.30pm that’s probably too early too. Heading out to eat at 9pm is much more normal. In the North we had a bit more success with eating between 5 and 7pm, but we still had to hunt around.
• And the heat in Sevilla… it was a killer. I love hot weather and usually I choose travel destinations with a sun friendly climate, but Sevilla is by far the hottest place I have ever been. And it’s not even the peak of summer yet! We found ourselves getting so many cabs because Bunny was just wilting so quickly and we weren’t far behind. The locals cover up and many of them wear trousers, even on the hottest days. I joked to Musicman that it was because the ladies don’t want heat rash from sweat running down their thighs!

• Spanish inner city streets are so narrow (though gorgeous and full of character, particularly in Granada and Sevilla) that people park their cars on the curb, within a few centimeters of the buildings so they sometimes have to hop across to the passenger side to climb out. This also makes driving down these streets a nerve wracking exercise, especially for us Aussies who are used to wide roads and footpaths.
• The Spanish love to double park so you can turn into a street and get stuck because it’s impossible to go through with all the cars practically sitting on top of each other
• Roundabouts are massive affairs with up to 7 or 8 off roads and lots of lanes that everyone ignores. Cars and motorbikes cut in front of you barely missing your headlights to get where they want to go, and if you try and stay in the lines and follow the rules there’s a good chance you’ll be the one stuck and missing your turn off.
• Roundabouts can have lights which are there, but it’s hard to see which off road they’re serving. Sometimes the light in front of you is red so you stop, but then everyone keeps driving and apparently it’s for someone else, though god knows who.
• Sign posting to a destination is excellent until the final one or two turns and then there is nothing. You can get to a major intersection and there are no signs so you choose one and drive for another 5 minutes until you figure out you’ve got the wrong one. You then try another and it’s the right one because a sign to your destination appears within a minute or two. The question we struggled with is why there is no signage when you actually needed it!
• The arrows on road signs to indicate straight ahead are not vertical, they’re at a 45 degree angle. The first day we were driving, the missing road sign problem and the 45 degree angle problem had us driving in bloody circles for hours!
• In the South of Spain they have some of the most intense temperatures I have ever encountered, but for some reason they make the kids playgrounds with metal slides and play equipment. This means you can’t really use them until it’s night-time because the surfaces burn to the touch. This had Bunny constantly disappointed because he wanted to swing or go on the slide, but he couldn’t.

Okay, I think that’s enough; I don’t want to give the wrong impression about this wonderful country. But now you know what I won’t be pining for here in smoke free, eat at any hour London.

Will post about my time in London next. See you in a few days.

Kelly

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Well, we’ve left Spain and arrived in London and yay, I have internet connection!

It’s been a crazy day and we’ve had our share of transportation/travel nightmares, so today I’ll just post the Spain photos I was trying to upload the other day. I’ll write a proper post tomorrow.

By the way, the above family photo was taken at the Alhambra in Granada.

This is the highest peak of Parque Guell in Barcelona.

Bunny checking out Marbella on the Costa del Sol.

Musicians by the harbour in Barcelona.

Tarragona, and a scene from a typical spectacular Spanish city.

A wind farm riding the crest of the Andalucian skyline. That’s olive trees at the base of the mountain. They’re everywhere in Southern Spain.

Granada, Andalucia.

Llafranc, one of the most beautiful bays on the Costa Brava.

Hope you enjoyed this small collection of photos. Will actually write something tomorrow and I can say that with confidence now that I’ve arrived in London and I’m back on wireless. Oh my beautiful, beloved wireless…

See you tomorrow.

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Hola! Sorry I´ve been so long between stops, but the internet in Southern Spain is doing my head in. Wireless connection has been elusive so my laptop is gathering dust, and the broadband connections have been slow enough that writing and uploading photographs takes more time than mi familia are willing to give.

It´s been driving me nuts because I´ve been itching to write a post - I have pages of notes with ideas - but thus far I haven´t been able to actualize my desires. Online connection has been the paramour who is teasing me, dangling itself in front of me every other day or so and then proving itself disinterested in consumating our relationship. I´m like the most frustrated blogger in the world right now!

Yesterday I thought I´d found the right ingredients for a successful seduction. I had the internet cafe scoped out. I´d made introductions. I had arranged with my other loves to be amused elsewhere for an hour or so while I slipped out alone. I had my memory stick all prepped with photos and some scrawled notes to ensure I wasn´t caught up too long. Everything was organised. What could go wrong?

Our apartment, that´s what. Yes, a Spanish apartment kept me prisoner and I had to be rescued. After that I was too rattled to sneak away again and so clung close to the side of mi esposo, certain Spain was conspiring to keep me away from you. It sounds like I´m joking, but I´m not.

Let me first describe the apartment where we´re staying in Sevilla. It´s a building with three floors. The top has a roof terrace perfect for drinking cervezas with the fading sun in the evening warmth. The second floor is ours with an adorable, traditional Spanish apartment. One that has those full length windows/doors that open up in the lounge room and bedroom with the picturesque iron bars and flower pots to keep you from falling out. It´s like having a juliet balcony, but there´s no balcony.

Still the apartment is gorgeous and the view of cobbled streets and adobe buildings all around and the church at the end of the street (with bells that ring at times we find hard to comprehend) makes us feel like we are truly living like a Seville local.

The first floor is another apartment, which has been empty this week, so we are all alone in the building. Great for privacy. Terrible for when you need rescuing. The ground floor has a solid iron and double glassed security door, which needs a key to open it. Mui seguridad The only problem is you need a key to leave as well as to enter. Can you see where I am going here?

The realtor of the apartment only gave us one key for the front door. Musicman and Bunny left while I was having a shower. They unlocked the door and then closed it when they left, thereby locking me INTO the apartment block. Musicman had no idea what he had done.

So I toddle down 15 minutes later, notebook and memory stick in hand, psyched to get a post up and I only make it as far as the door to our apartment before I remember about the front security door. You see, we had noticed the annoying quirk of needing a key to get out on our first day, but then we´d forgotten about it. I was just about to close the front door to our apartment, thereby locking myself in the stairwell, when that memory flickered my mind and I stopped dead. “Oh shit!”

Now I look back and I am so grateful I realized before I shut that door. If I hadn´t had my mobile, I could have been stuck in the stairwell for hours. As it was, I could only text Musicman and hope for the best.

For some reason the fact that both our mobiles are roaming means we can only message each other. We can´t call. We can call other phones, just not each other. Do you think Musicman checked his mobile for messages? Of course not.

I texted him five times and he just couldn´t hear the beeps of the phone in his bag. Bunny had his attention, he was navigating roads, whizzing Spanish drivers and a 4 year old. He couldn´t hear me at all.

45 minutes later I was feeling quite claustrophobic. I couldn´t leave the apartment. I checked the windows - long drop, then there´s the bars - and I wrenched at that bloody front door for ages. I cried and punched the wall. I imagined myself stuck there all day and I began to panic.

That was until I had a brainwave. I remembered a girl´s best friend - her mum.

I called mum, apologised profusely for the late hour (damn that time difference) and got her to call Musicman. I knew he´d answer a phone call because it could be work and he´d definitely hear it. I was right. Mum sent out the rescue mission and I was freed within the next half hour.

Unfortunately, I was way too freaked to come out and write the post. I guess that´s the proof I still have not got over that childhood thing about small spaces. Even an apartment is small when you know you can´t get out. Please don´t think I´m too pathetic.

And now the stupid computer is saying it won´t upload any more photos. Of course not, that would be too efficient.

Sorry to leave you with no more visions of Spain. Will try again when I can, otherwise I´ll be home in 10 days or so. Hasta luego amigos.

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And it goes by the name of Cadaques.

This charming fishing town is nestled between the Pyranees Mountain range and the Mediterranean Sea and is just a short drive from the border of France and Spain. It was the home of Salvador Dali for over half his life and I can see why a man who could live anywhere in the world would choose to keep his home base here.

We actually stayed in the historic Hotel La Residencia, the first hotel in the town and a shrine to Dali. It’s a quirky place, full of art and history and with an elegance that is hard to replicate. Our room had a small juliet balcony and a sea view, and it was a wonderful spot for a beer and a bit of people watching.

I’m not sure if it’s the barren landscape hugging the cobbled streets and white adobe buildings, or the glare of the sun against the sparkling sea and brightly painted row boats, but there is magic and mystery in Cadaques. A sense that you have slipped back in time and you find yourself reveling in the salty air as you spend hours wandering through the rocky, rabbit warren streets and strolling around the bays. The reason it takes so long is due to the many seats along the promenade and dotted throughout the town which encourage you to rest your languid limbs and enjoy the view and soothing atmosphere.

Bunny had a ball with the pebble beach at Cadaques. Better than an amusement park in his eyes. All those rocks of different shapes and sizes, washed smooth by the sea and laid out decoratively for him to pick through and then toss vigorously into the water. The only way we could entice him away without a screaming tantrum was by promising him ice blocks. Never underestimate the power of a well placed bribe.

Musicman and I just couldn’t get enough of Cadaques. This is where we really got into living la vida Espana. Coffee solo and chocolate croissants for breakfast, cerveza and boccadillos or tapas for lunch, and paella and vino tinto for dinner around 9pm. Remember how I said I lost 10kgs? Well, I think I found 3 of them in Spain and it’s only been 7 days! Lord help me by the time I get home. I’m going to be living on bread and water and running every day just to get back to my pre-holiday weight. I think my dreams of sashaying down la playa on the Costa del Sol in a bikini have already been dashed.

We were only supposed to spend a night here, but ended up staying for two. In a week full of highlights, Cadaques has been the unexpected gem.

The rest of the trip has also been fabulous and I will post some more photos in the next day or two. It has been a revelation for Musicman and I to see Spain through Bunny’s eyes and we have both been surprised at how well he has adapted to the language and the change of food, culture and normal routines. He’s totally got into the late nights and half the time it’s Musicman and I who are falling asleep from our busy days while the boy is rearing for more. I should send him out clubbing with the locals - he’d probably love it! He’s also been busy charming all the women with his “Hola” and “Gracias”. There’s a lot of “Mui guapo” being thrown about and I don’t think Musicman is the handsome one they’re cooing over.

Bunny especially loved being spoiled by our amazing host, Anna in Barcelona. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast called Anita’s on Mount Tribidabo above Barcelona. Spectacular views, comfortable rooms, mouth watering breakfasts which are practically two meals in one, and the kind of family style hospitality you can’t buy. And all for 80 Euros, which is great value here. Spain is definitely more expensive than we thought; I don’t know how the locals survive as apparently the wages are crap. I envy the English who get to travel with pounds.

Anyway, have to get to bed so will try and post again soon.

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The time has come. In about 15 hours I will be getting on a plane to Barcelona, Spain. Excuse me while I let out a high pitched squeal of excitement. But I can’t believe after weeks of planning and waiting that this holiday has finally arrived.

I don’t think I talked about it at the time, but this trip really did come out of nowhere. My husband had to have some business meetings in London and Paris and when I found out I was like “You can’t go all the way to Europe for a week!” Of course what I really meant was “You can’t go to Europe without me.”

In a matter of days the decision was made and we were booked on flights. Overnight we went from talking about the minor house renovations we’re doing, to a European holiday that hadn’t even been on the agenda, but was now only 7 weeks away. It was crazy exciting, especially for a die-hard traveller like me whose pack has been hung up for the past few years while I’ve raised a son and bought a house. But for a few days there, I was back where I love to be, floating around on a warm cloud of anticipation and joy. That was until I saw the cost of the airfares on our credit card and I started going through the Spain Lonely Planet and the reality sank in that we did not have the savings to pay for an unexpected jaunt to Europe.

And so the pre-holiday tension hit. The heart said “Go, this will be worth it. You need this” while the head said, “Are you f*cking insane? You’re going to end up in piles of debt!” The struggle between the two of course led my husband and I to struggle with each other. I think the first two weeks of our trip planning were spent arguing over money as I panicked and Musicman took the opposite tack of saying “We’ll work it out.” I would look at him hopefully, sure he must have a divine answer and ask “How?” And he would look back at me blankly and then say “I don’t know.” I would then resume panicking.

The reason I’m telling you this is because there is a lot of advice out there about managing our money responsibly, living frugally, and saving for our retirement (I still can’t get my head around thinking that far ahead), and it’s good, sensible advice. But when all is said and done, there are not many of us who are happy to be sensible all the time.

Sometimes when you REALLY REALLY want something you have to take a leap of faith, commit and then work your buns off to try and make it happen

About two weeks into our planning, after another exhausting fight, we gave up. We realised that we were just struggling against something we had already made a decision on. The airfares were paid for. We WANTED TO GO and it was time to commit to doing whatever it took to make sure we not only went on the holiday, but we could enjoy ourselves and be at peace with whatever the financial consequences were once we got home. We talked about it and we knew it was likely we’d come home to more debt and some post-trip scrimping and saving to get our equilibrium back, but we acknowledged that to us it was worth it.

Let me make it clear that this is not for everyone. Musicman has a very secure and well-paid job and though I work part-time as a freelance copy writer, if I HAD TO I could teach and work a lot more hours and earn a lot more money. It’s just not how I want to spend my time while my son is still so young.

Funny enough, because we were then so focused on going to Spain and HAVING THE MONEY (rather than thinking “We don’t have the money), that much talked about friend, the Law of Attraction kicked in and things started to fall into place that supported our plans.

• We experienced a small rise in income and will receive another larger one in the new financial year
• Some well-paid work basically fell in my lap, increasing my projected earnings
• We re-jigged our debts and expenses to save some money
• Our second car died and we decided to try and live without it to save costs. This has been so successful we’re not going to replace it once we return home
• And lastly we embraced cost cutting so much over the past 7 weeks we have saved a lot more money than we probably expected

All this means I await tomorrow with the excitement of a child at Christmas. Not only are Musicman and I fulfilling a long held dream of going to Spain, but we’re taking out son, showing him new people, a new language and another culture. And I can sleep well knowing this is a dream we MADE HAPPEN with a strong vision, faith, determination, and sacrifice.

If you always wait until you know HOW you’re going to achieve a goal before you take action, then maybe its time to shake things up. What dreams are you putting off? Where could you take a leap and do something bold in your life?

Photo1 by xip
Photo2 by no prawns

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Considering it has been almost a week since my last post and in that time SHE-POWER was kidnapped by a Korean religious group, you could be forgiven for thinking I’ve given up on you. Packed my bags and closed up shop.

But never fear my faithful constituents (see my God complex is in full force now - all it needed was an excuse), I am here. I have returned. I may not have anything exciting to say, but what does that matter when you can bask in my all knowing glory. Bring your offerings, your children, your burdens, your ailments and I shall …

Okay, enough! I’ll stop.  This is beyond funny, I’m probably just getting into offensive territory now.

The truth is my server issues dragged on much longer than I expected and my site has only been functioning in a normal fashion since late Monday morning (Sydney time). Since then I have been flat-chat with work and trip preparations, and I still am very busy so this is probably as good a time as any to let you know that I won’t be posting as regularly from now until the end of June.

I’m leaving for Spain in two weeks and I have clients to please, families to organize, bookings to confirm, itineraries to nut out, suitcases to pack and a million other things to do which probably should have been done already, but my hubby and I seem to have lost track of time.

I will endeavor to post at least once a week, even while I am overseas, but please forgive me if it all becomes too hard and not fun and I forget about you so I can enjoy my first family vacation in years. It’s not personal. I don’t have any issues I’d like to air. We’re still pals. I’ll be back.

But I am SO looking forward to Spain. It’s going to be bliss. With lots of time bumming around, walking on white sand beaches, feasting my eyes on gorgeous architecture, eating tapas, drinking sangria and getting laid. Oops, did I just say that?

Well, come on, what else are holidays for?

Moving on from my currently dismal sex life and my great hopes for the future, I am almost finished with the next extract of SHE-POWER Fiction, so I’m aiming to get that to you ASAP. Then I should have my Clay Collins interview up by next week and maybe even a guest post for you too. So, stick around and normal posting will resume in July.

Kelly

Photo by ul Marga

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Okay, I know I was supposed to publish my post about how I lost 9kgs while eating chocolate cake today - and believe me it’s coming - but I just couldn’t concentrate on finishing it because this morning I booked my family a 4 WEEK EUROPEAN VACATION!

This is super exciting news because:

1. Hello… a month in SPAIN, PARIS and LONDON. Who wouldn’t be excited?
2. This will be the first family holiday my husband and I have ever had with our son
3. This will be the first time in 9 years that my husband and I have actually gone overseas TOGETHER. You may recall from my post about The most daring thing I have ever done that I have travelled extensively on my own, so the fact that this time we are going to SHARE adventures is a big deal for us.

As you can imagine, I can’t really concentrate today because I feel like I have ants running through my veins and I’ve madly vacuumed, tidied the house and wandered around town in a daze. The day is fading fast, and I can’t really think where it’s gone, but I know I’ve been busy and my mum bought me a Lonely Planet book for Spain, and we did go to the shops and I spent $15 on fruit and vegetables, but I have no idea what I bought.

I feel like my head is screwed on someone else’s body and all that’s going through my mind is:

“Spain. I’m going to Spain. Paris. I’m finally going to return to Paris, and with my husband. Yay, romance!”

Then the daze shifts slightly and now it’s,

“Omigod, I’m going to fly on an airplane with my 4 year old for 23 hours. Am I INSANE?”

There’s so much I have to organize and I’ll have to draw up a to-do list, but at the moment I’m so scatty I can’t think past passports. I’ve got to get my son a passport.

We leave on May 24th, so you can expect to receive some more posts about Travel, Spain, London and Paris in the coming months. And if any of you have some suggestions for must see attractions in Spain, then let me know because this is where we’ll be spending most of our time. And tips for travelling with kids. I’m going to be researching that, so any help you can offer I’d sure appreciate it.

Agh, I’m going to Spain! Cue the happy dance.

Photo by PhillipC

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