If you can believe it, we are only one month away from leaving on our trip. Mike and I are headed to Spain as our first destination. Most of you are probably saying, “big deal, it’s only Spain”, and I feel a little lame saying were outta here, but that we are going to Spain. It’s not exactly “exotic”, nor is it really difficult to get to…or is it?? I’ve been traveling for the last 18 years either to visit friends or for work related travel… but in all that time, I’d never made it back to Spain. You see, I was there when I was 16. Maybe I was 17. Either way, I loved it!
It was the first time I’d been out of the country, except when I went to Korea with my parents when I was 9– that was fun…using “out-houses” and being served eel sashimi that was still beating in front of me. Growing up in the midwest, I’d never seen anything like it, and I thought it was gross and I cried. Back to Spain…I was 16 (or 17), and Spanish was my foreign language in high school. My brother took French. For his class trip the year before mine, he was fortunate enough to go to France, Italy and England. I was a little jealous of him since his class went to three countries, and I only got to go to Spain.
What I didn’t know before the trip was that I would end up having a great time, getting into lots of trouble that even today I still remember with a little smile on my face! We hit Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Toledo and this little town in Costa del Sol called Nerja. Ah, Nerja. Our teacher, Mrs. Coulter was foolish enough to believe that good grades meant good girls. Thankfully we had Jeanine, a twenty something dropout who liked to drink and smoke as one of our chaperones, and who aided and abedded us by looking the other way as we snuck out.
Honestly, it was harmless but back then it felt daring, and one of our classmates, Leonardo didn’t like it one bit! We met several Spaniards, I think their names were Paco and Javier, there was a third who’s name I can’t remember except we called him Stephan even though I think his real name was Steve. My friends and I all made a pact that we would not return to the States and that we would live out our lives in Nerja, but the next day we flew home. Back then in Spain, I ate a lot of pan y mantequilla (bread and butter), not understanding all the amazing foods that Spain has to offer.
This time around I plan to eat everything…not like Andrew Zimmerman who really eats everything, but I am interested in a food adventure. Although it’ll be hard to discover something the Travel Channel or Food TV network hasn’t already exposed to the world, my objective is to be adventurous; looking for unique foods and new culinary experiences to challenge my taste buds (and Mike’s!).
two words: PIG BAR!
so jealous.