Our trip is coming up and some readers had questions.
When did you buy the tickets, book airbnbs and car rental? I remember I booked everything within a week for fear of not securing good places or being a risk of receiving a manual transmission car. Mid November we bought the tickets, and once those were in place, we booked the airbnbs, paradores, and reserved our car.
Is T with you for the whole 18 days? No. My husband does not have the luxury of having summers off like me ;P so he will be there for the first seven days then will have to fly back to the US. We will continue without him and stay the whole length.
Why not just go back home with T? Initially, I was meeting a good friend with her daughter in Spain. But her plans changed so I will do the trip alone with the kids. I don’t want to go through canceling, changing, and possibly loosing money on cancellations/refund fees, etc. My friend and I will see each other in Poland, in August, sans kids.
What’s the itinerary like? Because we are traveling with a 3- and a 5-year old, we will not be moving around a lot. Rather, we have “bases” from where we can explore and take day trips. Our “bases” are:
- Armaçao de Pera (Portugal) 3 nights
- Sevilla (Spain) 4 nights
- Granada (Spain) 4 nights
- Córdoba (Spain) 4 nights
- Zafra (Spain) 2 nights
- Lisbon (airport hotel) – 1 night, leaving in the morning.
What specific things will you see? A few biggies and non-negotiables: Algarve coast, la plaza de España in Sevilla, Triana neighborhood in Sevilla, mozque-cathedral in Córdoba, and la Alhambra in Granada. Also, Zafra village.
Apart from that we will go with the flow. For example, I just saw on Google maps that there is a zoo next to Lagos, Portugal. So I added it to the “list.” If we get there – great, if not-no biggie. We will avoid touristy locations such as Málaga, Marbella, Estepona, and Fuengirola.
What about the kids? This trip is for us, and the kids are simply tagging along. We believe that the kids will enjoy what we enjoy. If they hate La Alhambra or care less about la mezquita de Córdoba, it honestly does not bother me.
I have no idea whether there will be any kid-friendly activities such as themed-parks or playgrounds. We don’t have anything booked of specific kid-nature. We will mainly do beaches, nature reserves, villages, plazas, and cafés. One, maybe two activities per day, tops.
What about food? I am sure we will eat out maybe once a day. But we will also hit local shops, and, thanks to kitchenettes, will make food at our bases.
Are you scared to be traveling alone after T leaves? Part of me is nervous, yes. Things can go wrong, but I have done it before, I believe in myself, and we have roadside assistance. Spain’s infrastructure is good. I need to stay positive.
After T goes back to the US, what will you be doing in the pockets of free time when the kids are playing or sleeping? Reading and blogging. I am bringing my laptop with me (I regretted not having it in Denmark).
Do you have a guidebook? No, I mainly use Google maps and word of mouth for places to visit. Example: our host in Armaçao de Pera already gave us many great ideas. We changed the road we will take to get from Lisbon to Algarve coast; instead of A2 highway, we will take to coastal route.
What are you bringing? Carry-ons only. If we forget something, we can go without or it can be bought at a local shop. Each kid has a small piece of luggage they are responsible for and they will have their clothing, snacks for the plane, a few toys, headphones and a tablet.
Do you have any other questions? I’m sure I’ll think of something and will go back and edit this post.
Mom of Children 