For some reason I’ve always had this affinity with Barcelona. When I first started collecting soccer jerseys, FC Barca was my first. I love Meissi and hate Ronaldo…ok hate is strong word but Ill just make sure when I travel to Portugal soon to keep my mouth shut on that one.  I always thought Barcelona would be the first city I stayed in when taking my first trip to Spain. But my travels brought me to Madrid first. I had basically 4 full days to discover the city, eat some tapas and drink some great Spanish wine.

There are plenty of touristy things to do, museums, art galleries and others, and I needed to at least build up an appetite and keep my mind occupied from not wanting to walk-in to every freakin cafe to grab some cured ham. Plaza de Sol was my end location for today, hopefully I would make it there.  Interestingly, the plaza shared a similar wheel spoke design as Detroit with several streets leading to the plaza. The area is apparently the place to be for shopping and nightlife.  A perfect combo to drink away your guilty shopping spree.  Still jet lagged though, I got my caffeine fix every morning at Bendita Locura just the around the corner from where I was staying.  Admittedly, my spanish is embarrassing.  I took 2yrs in high school and you would think I remember a little more than I actually did…but hey that was 15yrs ago ; maybe I thought that I would actually try and go to Spain sooner, but I guess better late than never.  Acting like a tourist I’ve been using my dictionary to make an attempt to piece together phrases or even complete sentences/questions without sounding like a 3yr old.  But being from ‘Murica it seems like everyone would know some English.  At the cafe, ordering coffee was easy, but figuring out what I wanted for breakfast was a bit more difficult.  Desi, the barista at Bendita was great. She was super helpful and gave me a lot of information on where to go, what to see and most importantly what to eat. Originally from Bulgaria, she has been in Madrid for the past 12yrs.  So, continuing to not practice my Spanish I just visited Desi every morning to get my Cafe americano and spanish breakfast, basically just toasted baguette with tomato.

Well I guess that is assuming I will live to 99yrs of age – highly unlikely but there is always hope. Awhile back a good friend messaged me telling me to come to Andorra for snowboarding while on assignment for work ; sounds like a terrible assignment.  Since I didn’t snowboard even once last year, I was getting excited for the upcoming season.  This could possibly be a once in a lifetime invite to board the Pyrenees with a side weekend trip to Slovenia.  How could I honestly pass this up.!?Two days after the invite…ticket was bought and planning started

That was about 2 months ago and with a blink of an eye I’m one week out of my one month hiatus.  I usually start the planning process early, but this time I kind of let it sink in that I would be going to Europe for a month.  I knew straightaway that it would just be me on this trip so I didn’t fret.  Working backwards I started making a playlist.  I was going to need some inspiration walking the streets of Madrid and some heart-pounding edm for the downhill adrenaline rushes in the Pyrenees.

Awhile back I got hooked on theclymb.com (still am) and occasionally they would offer lonely planet guides at half-off prices.  So I began and travel library making sure that whichever guide I decided to purchase I would make a promise to myself that I would visit that country.  Needless to say it was surprise to me that I would be diving into any of these books earlier than I had planned.  I had almost two weeks prior to meeting my friend Rachel and heading to the mountains, so I had to decide where I was going to be and what to do.  Furthermore, the decision where to be over New Years however, was tricky.  Paris or Madrid? Etouffe or tapas? Spanish wine or French wine? ; all good questions that didn’t make my decision any easier.  Ultimately, I decided to remain in Spain.  For some reason the thought “France is for lovers” kept popping up in my head.  Probably didn’t want to be that guy taking selfies in front of the Eiffel tower.  Staying in Spain would also allow me to make my way over to Portugal and stay in Lisbon for a few days.

The only questionable portion of my trip was to head over to Slovenia for a weekend just to snowboard. The only flight I could find that fit in my itinerary was $650. Will I ever come back to Slovenia…to snowboard nonetheless. Im definitely someone who lives by that “never say never” mentality but I felt that I had enough to keep my occupied in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. I guess I can only see how it will play out….

Current Itinerary:

12/27- 1/1  –  Madrid, Spain

1/1 – 1/3  –  Salamanca, Spain

1/3 – 1/5 – Porto, Portugal

1/5 – 1/9 – Lisbon, Portugal

1/9 – 1/12 – Andorra

1/13 – 1/17 – Barcelona, Spain

1/17 – 1/19 – Slovenia

1/20 – 1/24  – Casablanca and Marrakech, Morocco

1/25 –  Barcelona, Spain to Amsterdam, Netherlands

1/26 – Detroit