I adopted this custom of 'navel-gazing' post voyage reflection from #3 who back in the day before career and family threw the weight of middle class life on her, would make such reflection posts a conclusion to her travel experiences. I thought it was a great idea and borrowed it. So let's dig in.
Travel Is Still Great...I Mean Really Great
This was the first 'real' trip this year. Our visit to Sweden in the Spring was thrown together at the last minute as we were dealing with Wife's recovery from her blood clot. Then I went and broke her foot! 😩 This trip started slowly. We were gingerly seeing what Wife could do without hurting her foot. Plus she was dealing with the accumulated weakness that comes from not having done exercise for a long period.
But by the time we got settled in El Campello, things started to change. From that point, it was like being back with a long-lost friend. When it was time to come home, I was definitely melancholy about going back regular life.
High Point of the Trip? Wife Bouncing Back
As I alluded to above, the major theme of this trip was of Wife's being able to return to herself. We started the trip with her needing wheelchair service on all our flights to get to Spain. In our first stop, Bilbao, she was extremely circumspect on what she did. But once we got to El Campello, she now had the ability to take long walks on a perfectly flat waterfront walkway. She added doing core body exercises. She got stronger and stronger.
We did more day trips. This led to her joy for photography bursting anew. By the end of the trip, we were doing walking up hill as we had done before all the medical issues.
El Campello, The One, At Least for Now
I mentioned in my first post upon returning to El Campello my concern that it would not live up to our last visit memory. But it has been every bit as good. I have written about all the various ways from the city itself, to the apartment that this situation suits us. As I also wrote, we were so confirmed that this is the place for us that we booked it again for 2026. It is such a new and different experience for us to have a place where we enjoy just being and want to come back to again.
It took a LOT of searching to find it. We're still looking for other places, in other parts of the world where we can
So, If You Are Going Back to the Same Place, Are You Still That 'Traveler' You So Arrogantly Wrote About In Your Last Post?
Well no, of course not. Call us 'retired' travelers. Yes RMG, we are now traveling to go somewhere specific. But we are still getting out and exploring our area in all kinds of ways from doing day trips, to digging into the background of the Moors and Christians Festival so trying to bring our traveler spirit to being in a single locale. Maybe think about it as exploring deep rather than broad.
Spain And Gastronomy
This trip was not anything to write about in terms of gastronomy hence why you saw so few posts. Part of this was due to our frequently being in 'tourist' situations when we were looking to ate out and getting 'tourist' mediocrity. But some of it is than a lot of Spanish restaurant cooking (at least at the level we are willing to pay) is fairly bland. Our discoveries of local places and enjoying menu del dia is still a high point. But the best part, gastronomically, of being in Spain, is the overall high quality of food you buy to cook yourself. Meat, Veg, Bread, Cheese, Condiments, Flavorings, almost everything I've bought to cook with has been great. Combined with the great kitchen we have and my love of cooking, it was far more enjoyable to make our own meals.
Is It Worth Saving Money If You Get Sick?
I suppose the simple answer is no one is going to opt willingly to get sick. But the real question is can I get the kind of savings I enjoyed on this trip and get routing that does not kill Wife and I. I think the answer is going to be yes. But we will find out with the 2026 version of the trip. I think we will because we have way more time to shop for our next year's airfare.
This year, I was booking the flight to Europe at the last minute due to the medical uncertainty of our being able travel. So I grabbed the deal despite knowing the returning flights were far from ideal. With more time for next year, I am counting on being able to patient and find the kinds of deals that will save as much without the bad flight connection component.
And this is important. When we looked at the total cost of this trip, it was only $1,500 more than our trip to Sweden. Except this trip was almost 7 weeks long compared to 3 weeks for Sweden. The bulk of that differential was the airfare. And here is why that is important. If I can get our cost for 7 weeks of travel to be the same as this year, we can afford to do our two trips a year without any money from my working! That would mean I would be able to completely retire.
What Does The Future Hold?
That is a huge question because of our age and health. I think Wife and I are pretty honest with ourselves that we may not have many trips left. So for the moment we are going to focus on the the two we have planned for 2026 and take trip by trip from there.
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