Home from Spain

We are home! We had a good time. Cory is back at work today. He said he would rather still be at the beach in Spain. I think the kids and I are happy to be home because we can just relax and not be on the go and it's not so hot here. I went to Spain for the heat and I got it. It is needed to play in the water but when you are not in the water it is miserable and you seek shade and a breeze constantly. I was wet and sticky from sweat the whole time in Barcelona until we got in at night and showered. Showers never felt so good. Of course salt and pool water make you feel yucky too so showers were greatly appreciated the whole time. Air conditioning was great too. I am glad I made sure to book places that have it. You forget about it living here.

Spain reminded me a lot of California and sometimes it felt like I was in Italy. Of course I have not been to Italy but I've seen pictures. I didn't really know what to expect but it was very pretty where we were and the people seemed pretty nice. Of course there were a ton of tourists and we don't know who is a local or a tourist because you get all sorts on holiday in Europe speaking all languages and that area of Spain is Catalunya and they have their own language as well. They know Spanish though and we used the few words we know and recognized some that we forgot we knew. They say other parts of Spain are very different. It's interesting how these little cultures exist everywhere.

I am very thankful that our trip went without any troubles. I worry so much about losing one of the kids and things. Once we were in Barcelona and using the metro I kind of had a bit of a panic attack thinking about what we would do if we somehow got separated, like one kid didn't get off or on the train. It kept me up worried and I knew I had to talk to the kids and have a plan. I told them how scared I was and that the city was full of millions of strangers and if I lost one of them I might never find them again so it was very important to stay together but if for some reason they were lost they should stay put and try to call me. It would be ok to use someone's phone but never go anywhere with a stranger and if they are on a train and we are not they must get off as soon as possible and stay there until I find them. I gave them each a card from our hotel and wrote my name and mobile number on the back. They each kept one in their pocket. This discussion alone scared the kids enough that they all did much better at staying close than they usually do. Later on at a park or something Avery did come up to me, show me his card and said, "excuse me, could you call my mom?" and then laughed. Ha ha kid, funny.

One nice thing about flying with Ryanair is that they use small airports. They also don't assign seats so you worry about sitting together. I found that it wasn't so bad though because most people were traveling with a group and so they didn't spread out. It's those darn business flyers on the big airlines that want the aisle seat and spread out all over that make it hard to book six seats together. With these small budget airlines they don't even assign a gate until an hour before departure. You get in the airport and get a bite to eat and hang out until they assign a gate and then everyone dashes there to get in line. We were very lucky the first time and happened to be right near the gate when they assigned it and we were the first in line. On the return I was stressing as I always do and I told Cory I think we should start walking to the other end of the gates because it would likely be one if those since where we were was already pretty busy. As soon as we started walking they assigned the gate. We got there quickly but were about 1/3 back from the front. We got seats together with no problem. They board you from the ground and up stairs at the front and back of the plane. You chose which stairs to use. I think the back moves faster because the people that bought the few reserved seats are in the front and not in a hurry. Anyway it worked out even though it does stress me out. The seats do not recline so it is harder to nap but nice that the person in front can't take your space. They don't serve you anything to drink or eat unless you pay but I'm fine with that. It's only a two hour flight. They also allow only one cabin bag and it must hold everything including your purse and their dimensions are smaller than most airlines. Lidia and Aiden brought their carryon suitcases but the rest of us used duffle bags. We packed light, each bringing three or four outfits and swimsuits and a towel. It was nice to have less stuff and just wash it. Packing up was so much easier.

We realized while there that our crappy Geico International insurance doesn't cover rental cars so we are so thankful that nothing happened to the car and that we paid with our American Express that does have some insurance for travel emergencies and rental cars and such. I may be looking into a different insurance but our options are so limited since we don't have a full UK license. We just have a international drivers card that work issues. Our rental car was a Ford S Max and it was pretty nice. I wouldn't buy one but Ford is better than it used to be and the ride was more comfortable than our Honda. I'm wondering if we need to fix our shocks or if our Honda is just a bumpier ride. I also like sitting up a bit higher like in a minivan than low in a car. It makes a huge difference to me in how comfortable I am. The lady at the Avis in Girona was so very nice. They had an accident right before we walked up. A truck picking up some cars had hit a guys BMW and the trucker wanted to leave and get on with his work and the guy was like no you are staying for the police and even pushed the guy around a bit. The lady was so stressed and trying to deal with that and get us our car at the same time so it took longer but I didn't care. I wasn't in a hurry and we were watching the drama unfold anyway. Hee hee. She was just so nice so that was a good first impression of people in Spain. She is from Croatia or somewhere but she spoke Spanish, French, and English very fluently and I'm sure other languages as well. All rental cars are manual transmission here. I hate it. I don't drive and Cory has to get used to driving the car which means choking off a lot to begin with. No one will ever convince me to get a manual transmission car. Every time I even ride in one I hate it. Maybe Cory is not the best at driving a stick and that's why I hate it but they scare me. There were several times he was in reverse instead of first or something and we jerked and cut off. He said he didn't like driving a six speed versus a five. We took our GPS with us and it was handy. The roads in Spain were good though. Every time we leave and come back here we wonder why the heck driving has to suck so much here. When we went to a couple of old beach towns we ended up driving down these tiny little lanes that our car barely fit between the buildings. I thought surely we shouldn't be there but then we saw signs and other cars and knew it was ok. I guess that's how they were built ages ago and you have to be able to get back there.

Our first two nights we stayed at Barcelona Golf and Spa near Montserrat. It is a bit dated but nice and a beautiful View. The kids liked the pool. The girl at the front desk was nice and wasn't bothered at all when the kids played in the rotating door and it stopped working. She acted like it is just what kids do, we will fix it, no problem. We had three rooms. Mine and Cory's connected to Avery and Tristan's but Lidia and Aiden had the next room to themselves and they thought that was cool and I think they stayed up too late. Luckily the rooms were not expensive. We all enjoyed Montserrat. It is beautiful up there. While hiking around we came up to where they used to live in the side of the mountain and the kids were all excited saying it was just like the Native American homes in the mountain walls in southern Utah. There were basins carved out of the rock full of water and one of them was full of tadpoles. The kids and Cory watched all the tadpoles for a while and looked for ones with legs and stuff. It was a lot of walking and Lidia's shoes were rubbing her foot making it hurt so Cory carried her on his back as we hiked down the mountain a ways and it was steep. I wondered if my knees would hold up. He was very sore after that and I bought Lidia some little ankle socks to wear with her sandals and she was fine after that.

Our place near the beach was a nice apartment. The owners were so very nice. He spoke English well but she didn't much but was still so nice. I always worry when renting a private property because you don't know what you'll get. The day aft we arrived there I did a load of laundry and the washer didn't work well. The clothes were soaking wet even when I did an extra spin cycle and there was still water in the drum and some had leaked into the floor. I called and they came by that evening and the next day they came back and installed a new one. I wasn't even there. We came back from the beach and there was a brand new washer and it worked great. They had a rack outside to dry the clothes on and with the weather there it worked great. I liked that we were on the ground floor with a good size terrace and by a grassy area with trees and the pool right around the corner and we were able to park on the street right outside the gate. One thing we did find everywhere we stayed is that they do not give you any written information. You have to ask about everything. Pool hours, food service, parking, maps, area info, tourist info, any services, check out time... You know all the things usually found in the info folder in a hotel room? Nonexistent. No folder. We had to ask or figure it out ourselves. Luckily I had my phone and the Internet through it. The room didn't have wifi. I was able to pull up maps and find my way around and the local supermarkets and all. We ate out one night and it was like 85 euros, the rest of the time we ate at our apartment. We spent some time at the beach and pool everyday. We got some sun but not burned. We used the sunblock. Cory and Aiden loved swimming around in the sea with their goggles on looking at fish and stuff. There isn't as much to see like in Hawaii but the water is so clear and nice. There were some places where rubbish seemed to wash up or more seaweed type stuff came loose from the rocks and washed up but overall it's the clearest sea water we have seen. I think the rocks help keep the water more clear than sand. When we were at a rocky beach here in England the water was very clear too. Avery spotted a crab at our first beach outing and Cory was able to scoop it up between waves and get it on shore for all to have a good look before putting it back. Some kids caught a cuddle fish in the same area the next day. They hide in the rocky sand so you don't see them usually but this one was eating a crab so they scooped up both. It was fun to see but I felt sorry for the cuddle fish. I'm pretty sure they put it back after a while though. Those kids could speak English and played with our kids a bit. It was fun for the kids to meet others that can speak English. The kids staying at the apartment near us didn't speak much English. I think they were Russian or something. The one kid that tried said his name was Vlad. Lidia recognized the Spanish word for shower when a kid was telling them to shower before they got in the pool. I was very glad that no one at our apartment pool was topless. There was one topless lady by the pool at the first hotel. I had not noticed her but Cory Lidia and Aiden did. At the beach most people cover up but I'd say about ten percent are topless and not just sunbathing, up in the water and walking on the beach topless. I don't like it. When we went to the beach nearest our apartment a couple of times there were full on naked people there and so we left. Cory was acting like it was no big deal but it grossed me out and I was offended by it. Call me a prude but I don't want to see other people naked. Eww. The kids are grossed out by it too. We avoided it when possible. Public pools and beaches really gross me out if I think about it so I try not to think too much. I was totally grossed out when Avery and Tristan found a condom on the beach and picked it up and threw it out of their way like any old piece of rubbish. I hope someone was just playing with it like a water balloon and not using it for it's intended purpose. We didn't go to any of the tourist trap rip off places like water parks, zoos, aquariums etc. They were small and very expensive and if you are a local they give you huge discounts. Seriously every place like that was over 20 euros a person for tourists but some places like the water park are free to local kids when school is out. We didn't go all the way to Spain to do that sort of thing anyway. The kids are always drawn to these sorts of places but the ones in America are bigger and better and cost less so that is not what we are doing here.

The aparthotel we stayed at in Barcelona was fine but I'm not sure I would recommend it. It depends on what the other options are. I booked it because it was inexpensive and a hotel which means it has staff 24/7 which I like and it is near a metro station. It is a bit away from the tourist areas though. It is in a residential area and has a small shopping mall nearby as well as the hospital and metro. It's near the end of the metro line though so it was like twelve stops to get into the heart of the city. The hotel itself is ok, nothing fancy. Our room had very scuffed up walls, needed a new paint job badly. I'm wondering if they gave me this room because I have four kids or if all of the rooms were this way. The halls and lobby didn't look like that. It had a full kitchen but we ate while on the go everyday. I did like how all Spanish kitchens seem to have the dishes on a rack in the cabinet above the sink and there is no bottom to the cabinet so they can dry and if they drip it is just down into the sink. I also loved the built in shades all places had. They are like metal security blinds that come down over the window and doors that you raise and lower with a strap inside. You can shut them completely and black out your place our shut them just enough that there is a tiny crack between each slot or leave them up some to let more light in. they really help keep it cool inside and let you sleep as long as you like. They also had toilets that flushed properly. England needs to fix their plumbing! There was also a roof top pool but we were not there for that either. The elevator was so tiny and someone got stuck in one so I refused to get back in there. We were on the fourth floor and just used the stairs. We paid to park the car downstairs the whole time. We each bought a ten trip metro pass for 9.80 and used it over the three days. It worked out perfectly. The metro was busy but not crazy crowded like Hong Kong. The neighborhood was fine I guess but you always get a few areas that look less than nice. There are a lot of abandoned looking places in Spain since the economy has been bad there.

Barcelona is a very pretty city. I could walk the streets for days just enjoying the old buildings and little shops but of course this is not as fun to Cory and the kids but they enjoyed all of the nice parks and waterfront and neat architecture. Cory likes trying the food. We are not as adventurous as he is in this area. He and Aiden ate most of the seafood we tried. Cory and Tristan liked the ham from the ham bar more than the rest of us. It is very salty and it is sliced very thin and kind of dry, not the watery ham like cold cuts. We all enjoyed the churros and hot chocolate which we had while watching the magic fountain show. The hot chocolate is much thicker but we liked it. While we were there Barcelona was hosting the world diving competition. We saw a sign where you could go meet Michael Phelps but we had missed it and we wouldn't have paid for that anyway. We were able to watch some high dives into the harbor though. That was cool. There were tons of tourists in the city but it is kind of nice to feel like you are not the only stranger in town and you get excited when you meet other Americans. We met a family from Nebraska in Guell Park. We took their picture and they took ours. It's so obvious when you meet other Americans, all you have to do is hear them talk and you know they are American. Since I'm constantly telling my kids to come on or not to do something or be nice or whatever, I'm constantly proclaiming to everyone where I'm from. Hee hee. Everyone appreciated the tiny bit of Spanish we knew but were very able and helpful in English. The French are not like that. I think they pretend not to know English sometimes.

I'm sure those of you who read this blog have seen all of my pictures on Facebook but I will post some on here when I get the chance. I have found Facebook a great way to have a back up of all my pictures so that's why I have started just putting them all on there. Right now I need to tidy up this house and get Lidia and Aiden ready for youth camp which starts tomorrow morning. It's just two nights but they have to get packed and take sleeping bags and cots. And Lidia needs secret sister gifts. Tristan has his testing on Friday and Aiden is going to the dentist next week and we have to get ready for our road trip to Scotland coming up in a few days.

Aiden turned 14 on Sunday! We were busy sight seeing but the magic fountain show was a cool way to end his day and he did buy some snack cakes he liked called phoskitos or something that we ate along the way and I sang to him that morning but it wasn't a usual birthday celebration and I know he was not too thrilled about it but when we got home I let him order some things he has been wanting. I told him to do it before we left but he couldn't make up his mind quickly enough. Maybe they will announce it in church this Sunday and interview him to be a teacher. We will be away the next two Sundays. Maybe we can go to church in Scotland. I didn't take any church clothes to Spain anyway but when I looked it up there were not any wards anywhere near us except when we were in Barcelona and none of those were in English.

We are on bad summer sleeping schedules, staying up late and sleeping in. We never get out till noon. We had to get up at 3 am and leave by 4 to drive to the Girona airport. We got there and returned the car at 5:30 for a 7:30 flight. We just had carry ons and had our boarding passes printed out so we went straight to security and they said we had to do a visa check downstairs first. There was a huge line and we waited in it and then they told us that it was just for checking bags and we needed to go over to the little window to have our visas checked. The little window had no line. We had waited for nothing! Luckily we still had plenty of time and were able to get through security and eat breakfast before our gate was announced but I was stressed. Then when we got back I called the place where we left our car to send the shuttle to get us. We had not checked bags so we were ready to go. Except I forgot about passport checks on arrival and since we are non EU we had to fill out paperwork and have our finger prints checked and be questioned. I couldn't believe it. When we drive in and out they just see our passports and wave us on since its all travel within the EU. Airports are so dumb. So when we got out to the pick up the shuttle,guy had been there waiting for five or ten minutes. You are supposed to be ready to go when they get there. Luckily they were not rude about it. I was a wreck since I had not slept at all the night before and just a little on the flight. Cory drove us home and we all took naps. I was confused what day it was when I woke up and of course was up late last night and slept in today. Travel can be so stressful. I like to look back at my pictures because that's probably when I enjoy those moments the most, after the stress is gone.