2019 In Review

I have a recurring New Years Resolution to see 2 new countries a year. Sure I want to see my host country, explore old favorites in detail, and take more day trips around my city. But I also want to remember why I love traveling and to challenge myself to start seeing new things rather […]

What’s next?

In our post about the government we mentioned that it was our last time ever applying for a visa in Spain. This comes after a very long summer of discussion, research and tough decisions. Part of the reason we were so quiet over the summer was because we spent probably 500+ hours researching graduate degrees, […]

True and Actual TIE Card Renewal Hell

Buckle up for the pinnacle of Immigration Office Stories. First there was TIE Card Hell where we couldn’t get started because there weren’t enough employees; couldn’t collect the card because the bus was on strike; and one of the cards wasn’t filled out correctly so we had to fight for a new one. Then there […]

Spain Sunday: Christopher Columbus

Saturday was “Hispanidad (Hispanic) Day” Dia de la Hispanidad. Aka the National Day of Spain AKA Day Christopher Columbus’s Arrival in Americas Day. That’s right, while Americans have Monday off for Columbus Day, Spain has no day off because they always celebrate it on October 12th. While America uses the second Monday in October Spain […]

Toledo (and some other places)

Before coming to Toledo we spent two nights in a place called Cercedilla, and three more in Madrid. And then after Toledo we went to a little place called Alcala de Henares to finish up our trip. Cercedilla, Madrid and Alcala de Henares were all interesting in their own ways, but none of them really […]

Segovia

If we had had a car, it would have taken just about 50 minutes to get to Segovia from Avila. But we didn’t have a car, so we had to rely on the train network. In some ways, it was nice to be on trains again. It felt kind of like the first time we […]

Ávila‎

Back in July I started planning a secret trip for Chris. Well, actually, I had tried to plan the entire Bilbao/Northern Trip as a surprise for Chris. I ended up chickening out and thinking “I’m not sure on a couple things, I’d better get some help.” So I spoiled all of my surprises just to […]

Summer Short Stories (2019)

I’m not even sure what we did this summer. The time blurs together and we were mostly just two sticky, hot lounge lizards trying to avoid the heat. Massive heat waves washed over Europe killing 1,400, although the island was mostly spared from the truly intense heat. However this year’s apartment doesn’t have air conditioning. […]

The Great Spanish Beer Taste Test

The perfect answer to a Spanish summer is a Spanish lager, but after nearly two years of living here, Kwe still aren’t sure which we prefer. There are so many brands and styles available that it’s difficult to keep track of what we’ve already tried and which we prefer. So mainly to help ourselves, and […]

Let’s go to France!

San Sebastian’s last gift to us was food poisoning. But only for Chris. He woke up and suffered the all the symptoms associated with food poisoning, but since we had a schedule to keep (checking out, and getting a bus to our next destination) he decided to push through. While K went out and got […]