Monday, October 7, 2024

Let me first start by saying that I took a blog break last week and didn’t tell you this was for Spain because I am very superstitious and didn’t want to jinx anything. Also, I am a bit weird about posting in real time anywhere. This was our fall break and this is the perfect time to travel, really!

So, a little back story. I lived in Spain for a month in 1989 with a family and then again for six months in college in 1993. I got to go back to visit for a week in 1996 with my mom and sisters. But, I had not been back since.

Also, keep in mind that I’m a Spanish teacher so my experience is through the lens of a Spanish teacher.

This was really a dream for me from the minute I had kids to get to take them to Spain. Well, really, I had also wanted Tom to get to go. This was why I was so worried about it. The anticipation of this trip was literally 22 years plus in the making. The decision to pull the trigger on it and go ahead and do it may have seemed a bit impulsive, but it was really a plan for a high school graduation trip since well before 2020! Doing it now stemmed from not being sure what job our kids will be in or where they will be after this year. We didn’t really want to do summer and let me tell you that was a good call. I tracked flight prices for over a year. When Tom’s Montana trip was cancelled I literally bought the tickets that same day because they had gone down to $930 each (and it’s much cheaper in the fall than in the summer) and then I knew Tom would not be spending the Montana money he had planned to spend. And, for comparison, I was seeing $1400 in the summer. So, when you are talking four people it’s a huge difference. Anyway, a lot of back story, but this trip meant everything to me.

I now have a fall break and didn’t have to take any days off, so that was really nice, too.

Also, this trip was a win because I didn’t get sick while on the trip and it wasn’t my time of the month! Ha! I had both of those lovely happenings on my last two international trips – Germany in 2016 and the UK in 2023.

Planning for a family of four is way different than for a married couple. I wanted to make sure everyone had their one big thing. I did it all. I booked the flights, the train tickets, the excursions, and I spent hours and hours on it. I overthought and asked for input but didn’t get much. Ha! It turned out that we split up a few times, but for the most part all four of us were together 24/7 . There will be tired, hungry, cranky moments and you have to remember that.

Everyones’ big things – Mason – art museums – El Prado and Picasso Museum, Jack – private guitar lesson, Tom – catamaran on Med in Barcelona, Amy – everything but seeing my former student in Madrid (and wait til I tell you what else heppened!) and just the daily life stuff. I did want to do a tapas tour but it was going to be almost $400 for a family of four and I didn’t really want to just do that with Tom and I. There were places we didn’t get to, but overall I really think we did a lot in the time we had.

My heart is so full and I am so happy we did it. Take the trip. It’s ok to eat ramen for months after! And, I will try to give you advice if it’s something you want to do.

This trip is also the best professional development I have ever had! I got to see what is the same and what has changed in the time since I have been. I got to eavesdrop on conversations – ha! I talked to everyone! My kids have both studied Spanish for four years of high school, Mason one class in college, some of middle, and some of elementary and the beauty of hearing them speak and ask me questions about vocabulary and verb conjugations was really something special for me.

Our airport here in Louisville is a “fake” international airport. Basically we can’t go anywhere without first going to another airport.

Our trip was Saturday, September 28-Saturday, October 5. We flew from Louisville at 3 pm to Atlanta with only a 1.5 hour layover and then flew from Atlanta to Madrid and arrived at 8:30 their time. The flight was rough. None of us slept because it was pretty turbulent.

Also, you know those $930 tickets? We weren’t together on the plane. The kids were in the same row but across the aisle and Tom and I were a few rows back with him in front of me. We also don’t get checked luggage with our tickets. We had our luggage gate checked in Louisville for free because they said they were out of overhead storage and then retrieved it in Madrid. No big deal. We are a carry on only family and if we can do it in the winter, we can do it in the late summer/early fall.

Wow! Arriving in the early morning in Madrid was majestic.

I am in love with AirBnb. I love meeting the hosts (sometimes you get to meet them and they give you the key and show you the ropes) and sometimes you pick up the key from somewhere like a lock box or a front desk. We made it through customs easily and grabbed a taxi and our host Sergio was letting us drop luggage at 11. Well, that timing was perfect and also it was already clean and ready so he let us have it at 11 – well before the 2 pm check in. He was really nice and this is the gorgeous door! The elevator was just like I remembered in my apartment during college. You open a huge metal door and step in and there is only room for like one or two people.

The other thing is – we need two bedrooms and preferably one of them with twin beds for our kids. We also liked having two bathrooms. Sharing space with adult grown children kind of requires this. The layout of this apartment was perfect.

We loved our residential street right by Retiro Park (kind of like their version of Central Park) and our street had a grocery store, pharmacy, and lots of restaurants. Well, that is basically every street in Spain! The funny thing is that the restaurants are tiny but the street has a huge median and each restaurant has an outdoor seating area that is covered and the servers bring the food out to the median. Our area was really walkable, too.

It is a bit cool in the morning and evening at this time of year. I only brought a black knit cardigan and a beige open weave cardigan and that was perfect. The sun is super hot in Spain and walking around a big city makes you hot, too. Short sleeves were the best call for during the day.

The apartment:

The kitchen had a Nespresso machine and I got a kick out of the 3 brands of individually wrapped olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, honey, and sugar along with pods to get you started. I did buy more pods at the grocery.

And, yes, I did buy their wonderful less than one Euro baguette (like two baguettes for one Euro), some Iberian ham and cheese to have in the apartment. I guess I like Airbnb so much because I like to pretend I live there!

We had the tiniest balcony, but I loved it! The tree lined median is where all the seating for restaurants was.

So, no one slept on the plane and we all felt pretty wrecked but it was noon and time to get our body clocks set so I said we were going to explore the neighborhood, get something to eat, and then do like the locals and stroll Retiro Park because it was Sunday and this is a big thing they do on Sundays.

My first Spanish coffee:

Why is their coffee so much better?

My former student Madeleine (she is the one in Madrid who is teaching in a school for the year as an assistant teacher) had told me about this cheap chain called 100 Montaditos and so when we walked by I suggested it. We sat on the street and enjoyed little bocadillos (little baguette sandwiches) with salmon, potato and egg omelette, tuna, ham, and cheese with some fries and potato chips. We really didn’t know what we were ordering but we were all starving.

It turned out that we would get this again to take back to our apartment on our last night. It was so cheap! Like our family could eat for twelve Euros? It was all locals, too. And, it was busy in the morning and again in the evening every time we walked by.

Our weather was literally perfect. It was mid-70s the whole week. It did rain when we got to Barcelona in the evening for maybe a couple of hours. None of us packed rain gear and we didn’t really need it because it was such a light and warm rain. Tom did go buy two touristy umbrellas but I am glad I have them as souvenirs now. I will show you a photo at some point.

Retiro Park:

We split up a bit in Retiro and Tom and I walked and the kids walked and we met back up. I am sure I was annoying because I was majorly people watching and taking photos. I loved seeing the families and the old people and what everyone was wearing. Spanish women are so stylish! They are gorgeous! Also, this is weird but I had heard that the police are good-looking and we saw several that fit the bill! In the park, there were street performers and stands to buy snacks and it was all so very Spain! There were girls handing out free Nature Valley protein bars, too. We strolled for a couple of hours and it was really the perfect thing to do on a jet lag day.

Around 3:00 we went back to our apartment and I had done a stupid thing and packed our electricity adapters for the UK instead of ones for Europe. Duh! I asked a waiter where to buy the correct ones and he told me to go to the grocery. I went to the grocery and another guy told me they didn’t have them but to go to the “chino” which means Chinese another block down. I was super confused but went anyway. I didn’t think I would find them since it was Sunday and then did have a lot closed on Sundays. I went in the tiniest bodega with a Chinese man (“el chino”) who didn’t speak English or Spanish. He had the adaptors for way cheaper than at home or on Amazon! I bought four of them and we were good to go.

We rested in the room for a couple of hours and then Ubered to the Templo de Debod. It had a nice view of the city and of the palace. People were gathering on blankets to watch the sunset that would be happening in about an hour.

We didn’t stay for the sunset because we were feeling the jet lag. We went to a tapas restaurant nearby and it was a hit. The owner was from the north of Spain where the tapas are served in huge portions.

There were zero tourists in this place. You could tell it was a locals place. Also, it was a huge advantage to know the language, I think. The people were so lovely to us everywhere we went. We also never felt in danger of being pickpocketed.

My first tinto de verano:

This is red wine and lemon lime or just lemon soda. I like it better than sangria. I didn’t drink much and if I did it was just one drink at a time. I had one sangria, two tintos, one glass of red wine, two claras (beer with lemon soda), and one vermuth during the whole trip. Apparently vermuth is big in Spain and I didn’t know this before planning the trip, but Mason and I tried it one evening. Madrid’s tap water is so good! Barcelona’s is gross. You get bottled water at restaurants in Barcelona, but in Madrid you get tap water and save lots of money that way. We drank tons of water the whole trip. We would refill our bottles any chance we got.

Also, I did the set of press on nails you see above. As I type this I am one day 8 and still going strong.

This was free to start the meal:

It was cheese atop olive oil and these little crackers shaped like baguettes that we got everywhere in Madrid!

And free baby empanadas:

We ordered mushroom croquettes (croquettes are everywhere but usually have ham), some sort of tempura cheese things, patatas bravas (spicy potatoes with sauce – these vary from place to place and we ordered them like almost every day!), and Mason got beef tacos and Tom got broken eggs with ham on top of fries (this was also common). I also got a tortilla de patata but it was the type that was runny and I didn’t love it. We way over-ordered but it was our first dinner.

We Ubered back to our apartment and all went to bed pretty early. Ahh! The beds were Tempur-Pedic and so were the pillows. So comfy! I fell asleep four times in the Uber on the way to the temple and on the way back from dinner. Ha!

Awake with the pajaritos on the second day…

Wow! People of Madrid stay up super late but they also get moving around 7:00. They really don’t sleep much. A driver told us that they don’t need much sleep. Maybe it’s the siesta in the middle of the day? We went to a guitar shop that still observes siesta with hours from 10-2 and 5-8. They definitely have a more balanced way of life. I also heard someone say we crash on the weekends because we are so unbalanced.

I hate blow drying my hair so I washed my hair every night and actually curled it this trip in the morning. My hair loved Madrid’s water! And air! I guess? I also had the sink space for my curling iron. Amy is the fastest to get ready, then Mason, then we have two major slow pokes.

Mason and I went to a recommended chain bakery from our Airbnb host that was a few blocks away. Again, it was all locals and I loved being in a non-touristy area and feeling part of daily life! It is called Manolo Bakes and it was delicious. They did boxes of savory or sweet croissant sandwiches or croissants of different flavors.

We took them back and then got ready for our tickets to the Royal Palace.

And, that’s where we will leave off. Next up I will talk about the rest of day two and try to be less detailed, but I love details! And, this is for my memories so I want to put them all down.

A couple things to note:

It was fun to message with Tanya before I left. She was exactly one week ahead of me on her Spain trip! If you are a fellow blogger, you probably read her blog, too!

We could have been fine with zero cash the whole trip. I imagine this would be different in small towns, but in Madrid and Barcelona cards are taken everywhere. You can also use cash at most places, though.

They hardly take Amex anywhere so you do need Mastercard or Visa.

All you really need to focus on are portable chargers and good walking shoes! Ha! Fortunately or unfortunately, travel today is all by your phone. Your tickets, your maps, your everything are on your phone. I made a bad choice in my two pairs of tennis shoes. I only brought two pairs of shoes and they were both sneakers, but I didn’t pick the right ones. I also needed better socks. You need athletic socks that are moisture wicking. I chose my sneakers that are more fashionable over my Nike Waffles. Bad move. I have fourth and pinky toe blisters to prove it. I walked 9-12 miles each day.

If you are still here, let me know if you have any questions!

I’ve missed you,

Amy