Sharing some questions that I received about our Spain trip!
Hi friends! Happy Monday! How was the weekend? We spent some time in Aulani, which was an absolute DREAM. P and I are huge fans of lazy rivers, and we pretty much love Disney anything.
For today’s post, I’m sharing one last Spain recap. I’m sorry I’ve dragged this out so much, but I’ve had a lot to say! I can already tell you that we’ll definitely back and I’m scheming to see how much time we’ll be able to spend out there. The Pilot will be retired from the Air Force in January (!) so that opens up a lot of options. Fitnessista in Sevilla has a nice ring to it, just sayin.
Here are the questions you sent in on IG!
Spain Q&A post
Any issues with language barriers? I’d love to visit but nervous about it!
So my family speaks Spanish, and I minored in Spanish, so I understand it pretty much perfectly. However, I don’t have a ton of experience or confidence speaking Spanish. Growing up, I’d always respond to family members in English, and in college, we spent so much time studying Spanish (reading novels, analyzing poems, writing essays) but very little time actually practicing. Getting more comfortable speaking Spanish has been a huge goal of mine, so I started taking weekly Itaki private lessons in January. It’s made a huge difference and I don’t freeze up like I used to!
It was pretty amazing to get to practice in Spain, and I also found that they’re extremely patient and I think they appreciate the fact that you’re trying to speak their language.
If you don’t speak Spanish but would like to, I highly recommend Italki. You can also download this audiobook for phrases to know while traveling.
What made you pick Sevilla to visit over other cities in Spain?
We have good friends there, so that was the main focus of our trip! They have lived in Sevilla for the past year and absolutely love it, and we knew we wanted to make a visit (and also give P the chance to see her best buddy in the whole world). Next time, we’d absolutely love to see Madrid, Barcelona, and head over the Portugal.
How/why you picked the area you went to and how the food was?? I’m half Spanish
We stayed close to our friends in Alfalfa Plaza. It was a great location, close to tons of restaurants, cafes, and shopping.
Hotels, areas you explored, modes of transportation, safety.
We ended up staying in a VBRO since we were going to be there for a longer time period (about 10 days). It was so nice to have a small kitchen with a fridge, living room area, and laundry. For transportation we walked almost everywhere. We love seeing new cities on foot, so this was ideal for everyone.
We rented a car for Cádiz, and took the bus a handful of times to get from one side of town to the other.
As far as safety and cleanliness go, Sevilla BLEW ME AWAY. It’s honestly the first time in my life that I didn’t have to feel like a helicopter parent. It was very normal for the kids to walk down the street to buy something at a store and then walk back. I didn’t have to be afraid of them going to the restroom at restaurants by themselves. We also had quite a few meals on patios while all of the kids played at a nearby playground. It felt like a gift to give the kids, because even though we’re fortunate to live in a safe area of Tucson, the rest of the city does not feel the same way.
What did you notice about the food and portion sizes?
The food was different than I was expecting, but we obviously loved it. (You can check out a food recap here!) There was more fried food that I thought there would be and vegetables were on the rare side 😉 At the same time, the food still felt light and fresh. The tapas portions were also bigger than I was expecting. In the states, tapas are like two bites. In Sevilla, they’re absolutely sharing size.
I also want to mention here that we ate like KINGS (just like in Italy and Greece) and #1: the food didn’t make me sick or lethargic and #2: it was so incredibly inexpensive. Our fanciest dinner (4 adults at Mariatrifulca with two bottles of nice wine and multiple courses) was 200 euro. In the states, it would have easily been $600+. I also got groceries one night (charcueterie board stuff, two packs of chicken, snacks, beer, wine) and it was 40 euros. At Whole Foods, it would have been at least $200. Our food cost in the states are out of control, and sadly much poorer quality than they have access to in other countries.
How did you plan your trips? Do you use certain websites? Travel agent/advisor?
For this particular trip, I asked my friend Sam for recs and she gave us a ton of amazing ideas. Usually I like to plan one *thing* each day, whether it’s some type of excursion or sightseeing event, or a special meal. I don’t like to overload our agenda so that it really feels like a vacation with lots of relaxing time or open space for impromptu shopping and exploring.
We had so much time just chilling and drinking coffee (or cruzcampo, or albariño) while the kids played at a nearby park.
I use travel agents for certain trips (I highly recommend Laura– she booked Aulani for us!), and for others that are more “go with the flow,” I like to plan myself.
So tell me, friends: what’s on your travel list right now? Anywhere you’d like to visit this year?
xoxo
Gina