Just four days after returning from Paris, I set off for Madrid to meet up with my family for a 9-day trip through Madrid, Sevilla, Cádiz, Granada, and the rest of southern Spain. Ironically, I was able to do the vacation while only asking for 2 days off work, teaching the Monday-Tuesday in the middle of the trip.
The trip was important in my travel development, if not quite the same familial fun as provided by former gems of family vacations like Maine, San Francisco, and Destin, Florida. I learned some valuable lessons about patience and flexibility, expectations of time requirements, and the importance of off-sight days. In addition, I made serious headways in my Grand Finale Tour planning process, receiving three Europe guides and securing a money belt, sleeping bag, and the ever important snail-shell: the backpack. Sadly, it will likely be the last large-scale nuclear family vacation the Browns take; any future ones will likely include other members (Becka) and/or consist of more manageable destinations and iteneraries.
Destination:Spain turned out to be quite a rocky trip, especially for my dad. Accustomed to being in control and critical to the family's fortunes, my dad found himself in a foreign land where he could not speak and at the wrong end of fortune's beating stick too many times. He probably knew the trip wouldn't be ideal when he sat next to a 300-lb shower-protestor in the middle seat on the back row of the 9-hour transatlantic to Germany. Between the pickpocket attempt in Madrid and the plane crash at Seville's airport the day his before return home, getting lost on confusing Spanish roads and trying to see too much probably didn't help the general anxiety level. It was really no surprise that when asked if he was tired yesterday, he responded 'Yes, I'm exhausted. I think the stress is getting to me.' The vacation, obviously, did not do its job.
Despite the difficulties, we managed to see a number of important things, including the world's oldest restaurant (Madrid), largest Gothic cathedral (Sevilla), first European city (Cádiz), and last stronghold of the Moors in Spain (Granada). And I did get to spend some meaningful time with my brother while we slept in the same rooms, something I hadn't been able to do in a while. Turns out he's doing pretty well in school now and is actually excited to get back to work and keep up his straight A's. Sweet.
I, albeit sad to see my family go, am ready to get back into routines, go to the gym, plan my last two trips to Lisbon/Dublin and The Finale, and practice some Spanish. I have effectively been traveling or planning trips for over a month now, and although I am welcoming the 2-week break, I am also emboldened by my new knowledge of how to travel and am looking forward to subsequent journeys.
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