Reflections on Spain #BEDM 20

Those 6 weeks in Spain were absolutely amazing, we’ve been incredibly lucky to be able to do such a thing and take a break from reality.

I can’t describe the time there in words – it hasn’t been a holiday and yet we haven’t worked solidly everyday.  We weren’t really living in Spain per se; we didn’t get involved in the community, tried to join a gym or to find friends there.

It wasn’t ‘real life’…but how does it differ from ‘real life’ at home?

Obviously the weather is a huge factor but the general pace of life is slower in Spain.  Shops aren’t open ALL the time – they are closed on a Sunday, some shut for a few hours at lunchtime and then open for a little longer in the evening.  People still go to the bakers, butchers and fruit & veg shop rather than hitting the supermarket.  Smaller towns and villages aren’t littered with loads of shops, just the basics you might need.  If you want to go clothes shopping, you have to go to one of the bigger towns.  It shows that we’ve become so accustomed to this immediate, want/need it now way of living back in the UK.

We talked about how can we change our life at home and I don’t think there’s many dramatic changes to be made.  We’re lucky that we work together and have 2 businesses that allows us to do things like the Spain Adventure, or to take the dogs for a long walk in the afternoon if the weather is good.  It’s allowed us to take some odd days off in the week to go to London or have afternoon tea treats.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t dislike our home – if we could change one thing it would be the location.  We don’t have a pub nearby to walk too or any decent eateries…everything is a car journey away meaning one of us has to drive (not that we’re huge drinkers anyway!)

We did discuss ‘living abroad’ which I’m sure is a subject that everyone has whilst they are away on holiday.  It was a topic of conversation whilst we were in Australia, particularly when we were sat eating Doyles fish and chips in Watson Bay one late morning.  The trouble with Australia is that it’s a 24 hour flight back home and it’s not a cheap trip either.

We’d really miss family and friends as well, no more random popping to Mum’s for a cups of tea at the weekend or going out for dinner with friends we’ve known for 20+ years.

We’ve been back 3 weeks now and it hasn’t taken long to get back into the old routine – back to the gym, hairdresser appointments, doctors, opticians etc.  We’re getting round to all our friends and family that we haven’t seen and filling them in on our adventures which now seem like a lifetime ago…

We’ve got lots to look forward to now we are home including Jimmy Carr and a Beyonce concert next month.  We’ve booked another trip away for later in the year and we’ll no doubt spend some time down in Devon at my Dad’s house.

We’ll try to keep up the slower pace of life but it really is difficult sometimes…as we are all too aware of!

COMMENT / LIKE / FOLLOW & SHARE!

 

3 Comments

Leave a Reply