Sharing some of the strategies I’ve tried to keep in our lives after our trip.

Hi friends! How are you? How was the weekend? I hope that you had a great one! We celebrated my nana’s bday, the Pilot was home from a trip, I taught a barre class, and met up with a friend for brunch. We also got some monsoon rain, which is always a little treat.

For today’s post, I wanted to chat a bit about our trip, my perspective since we’ve been back, and some of the strategies I’ve tried to maintain. As you guys know, we LOVE to travel. I feel like it’s the most fufilling way for us to spend the money we’ve earned – on experiences – and it gives us a chance to be away from the hustle and bustle and enjoy time as a family (or as a couple). Travel always gives me perspective and helps me to remember what actually fuels my energy and joy… and what doesn’t. 

While we were in Spain, we were able to take our time and genuinely enjoy each day. I’ve really tried to keep some of the things that I loved so much about our trip (you know, besides the epic sights, culture and food…) and put them into a little list. It’s not really about “vacation mode” forever, but rather what the trip reminded me matters most.

strategies I want to keep after our trip

1. Walk as Much as Possible

We walked miles daily, not even trying, and movement felt natural and refreshing – not forced. While it’s a little more challenging here, I’m still trying to recreate this a bit at home with walks after dinner, walking during meetings, and walking Maisey when the rain has cooled things down a bit.

It’s funny because Tucson is NOT a walking-friendly city. Everything is far, it’s a million degrees, and if you’re outside walking, most people will assume your car broke down, unless you’re in a neighborhood or walking path. It’s definitely the peak of summer, so I’ve been using my lil walking pad throughout the day. In Spain, I’d EASILY hit 20k steps per day, and I have to be intentional to hit 10k here.

2. Cook From Scratch (and Choose Places That Do the Same)

If you’re planning a trip to Sevilla, I rounded up my top tips depending on whether you’re in town for a short trip, a longer stay, and some of the things I wish I’d known. 

Hi friends! I hope that you’re having a wonderful week so far! This is the last post in my travel series (we did a cruise to Spain, Italy and France + time in Barcelona and four weeks in Sevilla) and things will return to our regularly scheduled programming around here. You know, until I plan my next unhinged trip lol.

Today I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned about Sevilla: things to know, favorite restaurants/spots, and tips I had to learn the hard way. I’ve broken it up into two segments; the first is if you’re planning a shorter trip (a week or so) and for longer trips (3-4+ weeks).

Tips for traveling to Sevilla, Spain

Short trip:

Language:

If you’re traveling to Spain, I think it’s absolutely worth learning key phrases you’ll be using. This book is extremely helpful and I also recommend working with a tutor if possible. Josep is my current tutor and he is amazing! While I’ve found that quite a few people in Spain know English, many don’t. It’s worth knowing at least how to get where you want to go in a taxi, how to order food and drinks, ask for the bill, ask where the bathrooms are located, make polite conversation, etc.

Also worth noting that in Sevilla, they’ll use condensed versions of phrases, which is casual and fun:

– Por favor (please) = porfa (I didn’t personally use this one because it feels kind of cutesy but definitely heard it)

– Hasta luego (see you later) = a luego

– Buenos días (good morning) = buenas (but you can say buenas any time of day instead of hola for hello)

– Gracías (thank you) = gracía

Also expect to hear and u

Sharing a recap of our Sevilla adventures!

Hi friends! How are ya? I hope that you’re having a lovely day so far. We’re meeting up with some friends before I have some podcast interviews, and we’re looking forward to a low-key night here at home.

For today’s post, I wanted to share a recap of some of the adventures in Sevilla.

(Dress is here)

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Sharing a recap of our experience with the Barcelona gluten-free food tour.

Hi friends! How are you? I hope that you’re having a great week. We’re enjoying being back at home even though we’re definitely missing our Spain adventures. After 5 weeks in Europe, I definitely got used to that life 😉

Something we learned during our trip: how much we all LOVED Barcelona. It was our first time and since the Pilot wasn’t able to make it to the part of the trip – he was there for the last four days of our time there – we told him we just have to go back.

A major highlight: the gluten-free food tour, lead by Dvir Bar.

As you guys know, we’re major foodies and love checking out new foods and restaurants locally and when we travel. I’ve been strict gluten-free for two years now as part of my healing journey, and back in January, we learned that P had a severe gluten sensitivity. While I’ve been around the gluten-free block for a while, P is still learning.. and is sometimes (very understandably) disppointed when there isn’t a gluten-free option for her.

To brighten her Barcelona day, I did some research for gluten-free options, and discovered that Barcelona is a HAVEN for gluten-free food options and that they had popular gluten-free food tour. I signed us up instantly.

When the day arrived, P and I were pretty pumped about it. Liv was a good sport and excited to try some new foods.

Our guide, Dvir, was absolutely wonderful. He spoke English (our group of 11 people wer

Hi friends! Happy Friday! How are you? I hope that you’ve had an amazing week. I’m sorry for the crickets over here this week – I only managed to publish two posts because we were living up our last few days in Sevilla. One of the biggest gifts to myself during this long trip was that I pre-wrote 12 blog posts before we left. It gave me the chance to truly unplug and enjoy, and now we’re home and it’s back to the routine!

I’m pretty proud of myself because for almost the entire trip, I was solo parenting. The girls and I flew across the ocean to Barcelona, enjoyed some days before our cruise and after our cruise there, did the Disney cruise, flew down to Sevilla, spent 4+ weeks there, and the Pilot was able to join us for the past few days.

He was finishing up training since he headed back to the airlines, and while we were hopeful the timing would work out with the trip, I didn’t work out that way. Since he was going to be gone anyway, the girls and I went for it and I’m so so glad we did. They’re older now which makes things easier, but it was definitely a core memory girls’ trip! I still have some Spain posts on the way, including some of my tips, Airbnb recipes, how I travel with zero jet lag, Barcelona’s gluten-free food tour, and the food, so stay tuned for those!! If you have any questions for upcoming posts, please lmk!

In the meantime, I’m here in a hoodie from the copius air conditioning (bless it) and snuggling with Miasey. I’d love to hear what you’ve been up and what you have going on this weekend!

Some pics from our last week:

An incredible dinner at Petra. This spot wins for my favorite tortilla, and I tried a LOT of them while we were there 😉

Pollo Asado aka Chicken Man. We had pollo asado SO many times while we were in Sevilla, since it was right down the street from our Airbnb. They had chickens roasting and you just had to tell the guy how many you’d like, he’d get your chicken, cut it up and put it into a container, and drizzle with juice from the roasting dish. It was $11 and the BEST chicken. I’m going to miss it!

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