It's all Greek to me

I would say our first travels outside Spain were a big success - whew! It was 10 full days of travel, and Eric and I were both a little apprehensive about how it would go with Coco...in the end, we all had a lot of fun, and Eric took some beautiful pictures (as usual!) and we added a few to the Photo Album page.

We started with a drive to Málaga airport (perfectly timed to coincide with taking Eric's buddy Joey to catch a flight after his visit to Granada) and 2 flights to get to Crete, with a 2 hr layover in Germany. Of course, trying to save some money, I had booked the legs on 2 different low-cost carriers, and they don't transfer bags for you. So we needed every minute of that layover to get the suitcase and stroller collected from baggage claim, get back to check-in and drop them off, get through security again, take a potty break, and get to our gate. Between the hassle of that and the cost to check bags on each leg of a journey, I think I'll try to be a little more choosy about flights in the future...even if it means spending some extra money up front. Anyway, we made it to Crete, figured out how to ride the bus from the airport into town, and made our way to our hotel. It felt great to get settled in, and we had a lovely dinner right across the street on the water where we could admire all the lights on the hills up and down the coast. Maybe we should've been spending a little less time staring at the scenery and paid a bit more attention to what Coco was doing, because she decided to take a shot of ouzo...thinking it was water in a cup that was just the right size for her! Needless to say, she wasn't a fan and it ended up sprayed all over me and my plate :(

The next couple days were for exploring Crete - Palace of Knossos was a huge site that you could walk around and get a feel for the Minoan civilization that was there 4000 years ago, Heraklion Archaeological Museum gave more insights to what life would've been like there, and a drive from the north side of the island down to the southwest side to enjoy Matala beach. The beach was lovely, but the drive was a little hilly and curvy and unfortunately Coco's carsickness surfaced. Either that, or maybe she was still feeling the effects of the ouzo from 2 nights before?!

From Crete we took a ferry up to Santorini, about 1.5 hr ride that was thankfully pretty smooth. Colette and I did spend most of the trip right next to the window trying to keep our eyes on the horizon...decided that we'd need to find some motion-sickness meds for future travels :) Santorini was gorgeous, as you would expect, and we spent every dinner in a picturesque spot staring at the setting sun. But I really was not a fan of how touristy and crowded the main town (Fira) was during the day when cruise ships were inundating the island with people. Tried to avoid that by doing a boat trip out to the volcano/hot springs and renting an ATV and driving around the island, which was an excellent experience since we could get off the beaten path a bit. Felt a little like Hawaii and a little like Spain on the rest of the island.

Next was a quick flight up to Athens followed by a long bus ride into town...I think we actually may have spent longer on the bus than on the plane. Our hotel was right next to the Cathedral of Athens and beyond that it wasn't too far to the Acropolis. By this point, I think we were starting to take the amazing vistas for granted. Besides all the beautiful landscapes/seascapes, one of the most memorable things about our time in Greece will be how everyone was gaga over Coco (and I'm assuming other little kids in general, but especially Coco!). At our hotels, at restaurants, at random shops along the road, at ancient ruins, everywhere! It usually takes her a little while to warm up to new people, so most folks didn't get too much response from her, but they sure tried :) Saw a "train-bus" in Athens that was similar to ours in Granada, so of course Coco insisted that we ride that. We were also able to hit the Acropolis and museum, Nat'l Archaeological Museum, Ancient and Roman Agoras, Mt Lycabettus, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Central Market, as well as stroll through the Plaka, Monastiraki and Anafiotika districts of Athens. The gyro in the pita was by far the most-consumed item of the trip, over a dozen in Athens alone, I'm sure! Also got to sample lots of the local beer - Mythos, Alfa and FIX, along with some micro-breweries like Volkan.

Looking back, it would've been a very different trip without a small child along...I'm sure we would've gotten to see more of the museums and nightlife, and less of Peppa Pig, but I don't think we would've gotten the same level of interaction with local people if we were just another middle-aged tourist couple. It also forces a bit more downtime and makes you get more selective about which things you really want to see. At first that made me feel limited, but it sort of drove the need to research places ahead of time, which really helped us get the most out of our time there and experience each site a bit more deeply I think.

The next trip is just a few days away, and hopefully it will go just as smoothly. This will be the only time that we're traveling with other people (my sister Lauren and her hubby Ryan, yay!!) so that will be extra fun. There will be many hours in the car (where's that Dramamine?) but this time our 3 flights are all direct so hopefully the airports will be less stressful. We'll also be staying in a few AirBnB apartments for the first time, as opposed to just mid-budget hotels. Looking forward to the extra space that will afford, and not needing to sit in the dark hotel room quietly in the evenings after Coco falls asleep :)

Things I miss, and don't

Now that we've been living outside the US for awhile, I thought it would be interesting to put together a list of things I miss from home, things I thought I would miss but don't, and things I don't miss at all! Of course, friends and family are on the top of the list, that kinda goes without saying :)

HOW I MISS YOU
- Land O'Lakes Spreadable Butter with Olive Oil and Sea Salt...standard toast toppings here include olive oil and tomatoes, which are fine, but I really grew to love yummy butter over the past year at LOL
- Giant washing machine, and a dryer...I'm not a fan of doing laundry in general, so spending 3x as long doing it is pretty lame
- Dishwasher...basically the same deal as laundry, except worse since you get ants if you let the dishes sit in the sink
- Primrose School of West Plymouth...we knew this was gonna be on the list, Coco loved it there and had such great friends and teachers, school here just isn't the same
- My purple Kate Spade bag...so adorable, but just not practical for traveling :(
- Peanut butter...had no idea this would make the list, but it's a staple in our world and grocery stores here don't know what it is
- Functional door knobs...they're just decorative on front doors here, you can't get into the flat without a key even when the door isn't locked (luckily we haven't gotten 'locked' out yet, but odds are that blog post is coming)

HMM, I DON'T ACTUALLY MISS YOU
- Our 2 big automatic-transmission cars...you just kinda get used to having 1, it being smaller, and driving stick shift (during the first couple weeks, these would've definitely been in the "miss" category!)
- TV...besides GoT (which we watch on the laptop weekly) there was really nothing that good on anyway, and not paying $181 to Comcast every month is an extra special bonus
- Separate bathrooms...for the first time in our marriage, Eric and I are sharing, and it hasn't been as dreadful as I feared it would be
- Yard...let's be honest, I never really went in the yard, I just liked having the space
- Target...it feels blasphemous to even be typing this, and I never thought I could enjoy life without Target, but these days I have time to go to 3 different stores to buy lotion and a book shelf and cookies (plus I can only carry one bag home at a time without sweating all over myself)

THANK GOD YOU'RE GONE
- Commute to work...construction pushed me over the edge
- Mediocre bread...I didn't even realize what joy was absent from my life until I had the pan de pueblo from the store down the hill
- Mosquitos...window screens don't even exist here (and good thing, since laundry hanging would be tougher with a screen in the way)
- Political/election stuff...when we come back in November, just let me know who won (as long as you don't say Trump)

Hola de España

This past weekend, we decided to road trip to Sevilla in southern Spain for Father’s Day & Kate's birthday. She studied there during college, and she thought Colette and I would enjoy it as much as she did - and she was right. 

Sevilla is absolutely beautiful and enchanting. If you are thinking about visiting Andalusía, put Sevilla on the top of the list, as it is quintessential Spain. It is really everything you could want in a regional European capital, great sights (Cathedral, Alcazar, grand plazas, and a quaint old town center), great food (tapas and cerveza anyone?) and a great transportation system to get around (trams and grand boulevards).

We stayed just outside of the city center, but that was to ensure we had a hotel with a pool for Colette. She loves her pools! But, being outside of the center was easy, as we simply jumped on the tram and were in the city in a few minutes and off exploring. 

We started by visiting the Cathedral, and we were not disappointed. Supposedly it is one of the largest (if not the largest in volume) cathedrals in the world. The space is overwhelming, which is what they were looking for I guess. We then were able to hike up the Giralda (bell tower) and take in the views over the entire city! Colette was so inspired she insisted that she take pictures at every window the whole way up. She is persistent... :) After a quick dip in the hotel pool, we attended a flamenco show, followed by a late dinner on the main street where we people-watched and kept an eye on the Euro Cup games on a TV near the bar. 

The next day we decided to go see Kate's old stomping grounds in Triana, visit a local park for Colette, and then visit the Plaza de España. The plaza is huge, and was built to impress for the World's Fair in the 1920's. After a quick stroll, Colette wanted to ride a horse-drawn carriage around the city. A little touristy, but Colette loved it. She even got to ride up in front with the driver. Another pool afternoon followed by a Moroccan dinner in a highly rated restaurant in the old quarter made for a pretty nice Father's Day!

We woke up on Kate's birthday morning and quickly headed into the city to beat the rush for the Alcazar, an ancient palace/fort/garden in the heart of the city. I can definitely say it rivals the Alhambra for wow factor. Very intricate carvings, paintings, tile work, and architecture make for a surreal experience. We kept imagining how cool it would have been to be there when the "final" palace opened hundreds of years ago, presumably to a party. 

After a nice lunch, we headed back to Granada for a few days before we are hosting guests again. This time, my buddy Joe!

Finances and big decisions

Over the past couple months, the most frequent questions Eric and I have received basically center around two main themes: a) how did you decide to pick up your life and move to Spain, and b) how are you affording to do this? Wanted to take a few minutes to try and address them in a blog post, maybe we can encourage someone out there who's considering taking a sabbatical! The answer to the first includes a lot of different considerations, so in some ways it was something we thought about for a long time, but in other ways it was sort of a snap decision. The answer to the second question is less complicated...I have a strong tendency towards budgeting and saving and planning out how each dollar we have is going to get spent, and Eric grudgingly tolerates my craziness :)

Several years back, at an annual 'check in' with our financial advisor, he posed a question to us that maybe got this whole ball rolling. We were putting money into our "rainy day" savings account each month, so he asked what the plan was for that money, what we were saving for...and we didn't really have a good answer. Well, I suppose it would be more accurate to say we didn't have an answer that we both agreed upon - Eric could've spent it all on a few climbing trips without too much trouble at all!

Fast forward to the more recent past, and a somewhat regular topic of conversation for the two us was the idea of working abroad. We'd both studied abroad, both love traveling, and watched a lot of House Hunters International, so we thought it was basically a perfect fit for us! Europe was our first (and really only) choice for location because of the proximity of so many places that we wanted to visit together. The main challenge was that neither of us worked for companies that had opportunities in Europe :( This was a major bummer since we both enjoyed great jobs at excellent companies. It started to dawn on us that the dream of working abroad would mean both of us quitting, and I think once that really sunk in, the seeds for the sabbatical were starting to grow. If we were both going to quit our jobs, why should we get new ones right away that would inhibit our ability to travel as a family and experience all the things that made living in Europe so appealing? The window of time in which we could really do lots of travel (before Colette started school) wasn't going to be open forever.

In addition, some health issues in the family reminded us you can't always count on traveling and seeing the world in your later years. What good would all that "rainy day" savings do us if we kept putting off fun ways to spend it?! After a bit of research, we learned that Spain offered a visa that grants temporary residency without permission to work in Spain if you prove you can support yourself off savings and that you're not a criminal. That seemed ideal since we aren't criminals and didn't want to work, we both spoke a little Spanish, we wanted Colette to get exposure to a foreign language, the cost of living (outside of Madrid/Barcelona) is moderate compared to the rest of Europe, and the weather in southern Spain is pretty nice :) Also, there were at least two other families who had done the same thing and written really informative blogs about the logistics of getting the visa - we had a little bit of a roadmap to follow.

For the first time since our arrival, I'm also sitting down to go over our budget and see how closely we're adhering to the plan. I think it might be ugly, since we've been booking tons of travel for the upcoming months, plus there are some "start up" costs I didn't account for (deposit on car lease, rental agency fee for the apt, etc). Overall, I was anticipating we'd spend ~$7700 per month for everything from travel to groceries to health insurance to our PO Box back home. Nearly 40% of that is earmarked for Travel, which is the biggest category by far. Will be interesting to see if we have to start staying in the tent instead of in hotels to stay on budget there...

Another big chunk is the Rent/Utilities/Parking category coming in at $1350. We could've cut that in half by going with a place outside the centro, but thankfully Eric held firm that a great location was worth the money since city life is really what we're trying to experience. Instead, we are being more frugal in other ways...parking spot across the river means a 15-min walk to the car, but we don't drive every day; haven't gotten cable; only run the A/C when needed, since electricity is really expensive here.

Groceries/Eating Out is budgeted at ~$1100, and I'm very curious to see where we come in there...so tempting to grab a couple beers and tapas when you're walking by a cute cafe and everyone else is doing it! Automotive (car lease, insurance, gas) is expected to be $850/mo and I'm on the fence about whether or not it makes sense to keep the car once we start traveling by air/train more. By cutting out that cost (plus $100+ for parking each month) we'd be able to rent a car the few times a month when we want to road-trip from Granada and probably still come out ahead. The other half of Team Swanson feels otherwise...stay tuned to see how that plays out!

A boring category called Expenses Back Home takes $800 for things like life insurance, disability insurance, funding Coco's 529 account, the PO Box and storage unit, and Eric's Verizon plan (it was the only way we could easily keep his US number, need to remain accessible to Tom's care providers). Sure we could cut some of that, but we are still trying to be pseudo-responsible adults here :) Last but not least, things like Daycare ($330/mo here, which is less than what a week at home cost) and Health Insurance ($160/mo for what I think is a decent plan with low copy's that includes dental, another thing that's way cheaper here vs the US) and Stuff ($250/mo for clothes, souvenirs, gifts, etc).

Overall, it feels like it should be pretty manageable to maintain that level of spending, but the proof will be in the receipts. As the past decade has been, it will probably continue to be a balancing act between Eric encouraging me to spend money on making memories and me trying to rein in the spending so we don't run out of money :)

First visitors!

Lots happening lately, hopefully I can remember most of it as I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and write while Coco is "napping" (these days, that means throwing a fit in her room since I made her stop watching Peppa Pig on the iPad).

We had friends staying with us for the past week, which was excellent! Got down to the beach for a day--it was 100 degrees in Granada, so perfect timing to head down to the coast where it was 15 degrees cooler. Chose Burriana beach in Nerja and it was lovely, actually a sandy beach on the Mediterranean which isn't super common, and the water was pretty calm (and a tad chilly!).

We also made the first trip to the Alhambra and got to get a taste of it. We didn't realize the need to buy tickets very far in advance, but as soon as Rawlings' travel plans were firm Eric scoured all the possible options and managed to find some for one of the last time slots of their final full day here...of course it was 100 degrees and the place is at the top of the biggest hill around and you can't go through it with strollers, so we were a bit sweaty by the time we wrapped up :) Got to tour the Nasrid Palaces, which were built throughout the 1300's, but we'll have to wait until next time to see the Alcazaba (original military fortress built before the palaces), the Palace of Charles V (built in the 1500's post-Crusades) and the Generalife (the architect's gardens).

In addition to helping with baby Aiden, the highlight to Coco's week was probably the day we rode the "train bus" (hop-on/hop-off tour with audio guide) since she's been fascinated by it for the past month and has to stop and wave EVERY time one passes us on the street (20+ times a week at minimum). Once we'd hopped on, she wasn't too keen about the idea of hopping off, so we just rode it around for a couple hours enjoying our prime seating in the big handicapped space in the caboose. While we had probably walked along most of the same streets during our explorations, it was really neat to view it all from a different vantage point...so much of the time walking around is spent looking down at the uneven cobblestone sidewalk directly in front of you to avoid tripping or stepping in dog poo!

I think the rest of our days were filled with wandering and relaxing and the great Spanish pastime of drinking cerveza while snacking on tapas. Coco continued to be a very adventurous eater...I did my best not to let her know my stomach was turning while she savored the sardine tails and prawn eyeballs. We got down to the market, hit up the wine bar recommended by both Rick Steves and Anthony Bourdain, saw the big cathedral, and got to tour a gorgeous little church called the Basilica San Juan de Dios (probably the most gold-covered, intricately decorated church you could imagine). All in all, an excellent week--not to mention the chance to hang out with some dear friends and have conversations in English :)

The flat seems very quiet now, Eric is back in the US for a few days to see his dad and take care of some business. Coco will go back to school on Monday for a normal full week, which will actually be her first I think. Overall, that is the one area where we are having a tough time. She just hasn't warmed up to it yet :( She still cries every morning at drop-off and tells us she wants to go back to her old school in Minnesota. While the foreign language exposure was something Eric and I were both very eager for her to experience, I'm starting to feel like this may just be too much. It's difficult to really know how she spends her days, since she doesn't provide much detail and the teachers don't speak much English...of course, I imagine the worst and Eric tries to convince me she wasn't sitting alone in the corner chewing on her blanket for 6 hours and mumbling to herself. I've half-considered trying to find a different school, but it seems like we'd just be starting over at square one with her getting accustomed to a new place and new people who still don't speak her language. We'll re-evaluate after the next 2 weeks...starting then the travel schedule kicks into high gear and she'd only be at school 1-2 days/wk until early August anyway.

Besides that, we've been really enjoying the location we're in (so glad the flat has A/C as we get through this early heat wave!) and it feels like such an accomplishment to have most of our travels planned out. Getting all our flights, trains, ferries and hotels booked felt like a full-time job for a while there. We also took a leap and booked flights to come back to Europe following our MN/WI visit this Thanksgiving. Not exactly sure where we'll want to be then, or what we might have on the list for work options at that point, but we're thinking we might not be done exploring :)

No longer homeless!

Well, we managed to achieve our goal of finding a place to live within our first two weeks here in Granada – thank goodness! Despite sending out several dozen inquiries and requests, we only got three responses from owners who were willing to consider a lease with a 6-month term (apparently a year is the expected minimum around here). The first place we looked as was not in our ideal neighborhood and was pretty run-down, and I was surprised at how much they were asking for rent. We told the agent we’d think about it, and I was starting to feel like we might have to take it since we were getting desperate. Then we got a response from the second agent, so we went out to look at the next place. This one was WAY outside our target neighborhood, since I apparently read the listing wrong and got Plaza Nueva and Parque Nueva mixed up…putting us ~45 minute walk away from the lively area where we wanted to be. The upside was a great price that included parking, a pool and a play area in the complex for Coco. Tempting, but not really what we wanted.

Our final response came from another agent saying that the place we’d inquired about was no longer available, but he had something else with 3 bedrooms in our target neighborhood that was a little over our budget (at least, I was pretty sure that’s what he was saying on the phone!). We set up a showing, and thank goodness it was great. Very spacious living/dining room with 2 balconies overlooking the plaza, our bedroom and Coco’s bedroom also have balconies overlooking the plaza (which can be a little noisy when we’re trying to fall asleep and everyone else is down there having dinner), guest bedroom and kitchen are downstairs facing the interior courtyard and I’m slowly getting used to the process of hanging laundry out there to dry on the lines. If Eric writes a blog post one day saying I fell out the window and splattered a few stories down, it’s probably legit.

There was some minor confusion about what the address of the flat actually was, which caused a bit of a headache since we realized that AFTER we’d gotten some residency card paperwork stamped (oops!). We’re still working on getting TV/internet/phone set up, and getting the electric and water bills in our name (perhaps not possible until we get our Spanish bank account?) but we’re feeling MUCH better about things now that we have a home again :)

The other big thing that we were able to do was find a school for Colette. It’s a 10-15 minute walk from us and has ~20 kids age 3 and under. She has only gone 1 day so far since everything in Granada has been shut down for the big feria of Corpus Christi this week. Let’s just say it didn’t go very smoothly :( She was pretty scared for us to leave her in this weird place with lots of loud kids who spoke a different language and wanted to inspect her, especially after being with Mom & Dad 24/7 for the prior 2 weeks. Fingers crossed that it will get better when we try again on Monday!

Weather here has been a BIG improvement over the chilly rain of the first days – it’s been non-stop sun with high’s in the 80’s. We took a quick 1-night road trip over to Córdoba last weekend to see their thousand-year-old mosque/cathedral…Eric and I thought it was pretty amazing, Coco just wanted to go back to the hotel pool. Tomorrow we’re going to head into the Alpujarra region of the Sierra Nevada, known for its picturesque ‘white towns’ in the hills, and explore there for a few days. Again, I’m guessing Colette will find the hotel pool to be the biggest draw :)

We’ve got a few visitors booked now for June and July, so really looking forward to seeing one of Eric’s buddies (who’s tacking a few days onto a work trip) and my sister/brother-in-law who are meeting us in Barcelona before we all pop over to Croatia and Italy. It’s probably going to sound a little bit ridiculous, but Eric and I haven’t been able to find the time to lay out our 2-month train journey that we have slated for August/September…hopefully we can get that planned in the next few days so we can start getting reservations booked before the trains are all filled up!