A Vacation on Our RTW Trip

Zuki, Grandma, Yoda, Grandpa, and Kiko on a stroll in Monforte d'Alba, Italy.

We went on holiday.

No really, a proper vacation.  My parents flew out to meet us in Italy and we took a 2 week break from our family RTW trip and went on a true European vacation, visiting Italy, France and Spain.

I can hear your thoughts through the screen, "But you are on a year long vacation!"  Yes, I see your perspective, we on a long trip and we are not working,  but going away for a year is quite different then a typical vacation.  Although I love our Big Trip, I would never use the word holiday or vacation in describing our year long travels.

One of the views along our drive.

Our RTW trip isn't planned like a vacation. It really couldn't possibly be.  Can you imagine trying to secure accommodations, cars, and other logistics for a year long trip to 15+ countries?  No, we have nothing besides our main flights between distant countries or continents already booked.   Within a country everything is open.  Usually a few days before our departure from one area I start looking into a possible next destination.  Normally I hope we see or hear something along our travels to help steer us to our next stopping place.  Sometimes it just comes down to searching on the web and what is logistically possible.  It takes considerable time researching how we are getting from point A to B and where we will be staying.  In general we have giving up the idea, at least for now, of just showing up and finding a place like in our earlier travel days, pre-kids.  Yoda and Zuki don't particularly like walking around a new place, laden with their packs, searching for accommodations suitable for 4, within our budget.  Seeing as we enjoy settling into a place, normally staying a minimum of 4 nights, but regularly 5 to 10 nights, it is easier to find a "perfect" place on the web than on foot.  

But on vacation, much of the logistics are already pre-planed and that is exactly what my dad did for our two week road trip.  He found us great accommodations, arranged for a car which could fit all 6 of us, sketched out possible driving routes, and read up on the local foods and activities in the areas to which we traveled.  It was wonderful having a break from the responsibility of those sorts of arrangements for a short while.  

Our rental van in the foreground, as we go exploring.

Another glaring difference between a vacation and long term travel is often times budget.  When you just have a few days or weeks for a trip normally the price-per-day is a bit higher since it is quite possibly the singular trip of the year.  No need to count every penny spent, "We're on vacation."  Unfortunately, living day to day with a vacation mentality is a sure-fire way to run out of funds on a extended trip. On our year journey, we account for every Dollar, Euro, and Cordoba spent to ensure our savings lasts the 12 months as planned. (Check out the tabs under budget above for more info on how much we are actually spending.)  Even the kids occationally ask me if we are "on budget", wanting to confirm that we have enough dinero to actually make it all the way around the world.  So when my parents offered to treat us to for the entire two weeks we were beyond thankful.  

Without the need to plan or keep a budget and with my parents to help with the kids,  I went into full vacation mode. 

And what a sojourn it was.  We stayed in beautiful accommodations

The entry into our apartment in Monforte D'Alba.

The pool at our accommodations in Monforte D'Alba, Italy

Three generations on the balcony of our apartment.

Cardona Castle, a Parador Hotel, where we stayed for 3 nights.

Yoda loving living in a castle for a few nights.

 and ate over-the-top delicious food.  

Breakfast buffet in a beautiful setting at our apartments in Monforte d'Alba.

Zuki trying to look as fancy as her surroundings

Gluten-free cones and great sorbet.

Pallea, one of Zuki's favorite.

Eating in the Cardona Castle.

Yup, I was like a teenager on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, except I was old enough to appreciate.  But  unlike a carefree teenager, I had my own family along.  For my parents, traveling with the kids was interesting, I would maybe even go as far as to say "slightly shocking".  

It is not like they are unaccustomed to being with Yoda and Zuki for an extended time.   We usually spend a few weeks a year with my mom and dad, either at their home on the mainland or ours in Hawaii and we are all really close.  They are also very comfortable with international travel, which they do quite a fair bit of in their retirement.

Buddies

It was more the combination of the kids and the travel that was challenging at times.  

Traveling with kids is oh so different then traveling alone or as a couple.  We have adapted our travel style over the last 5 months, constantly making adjustment with the changing rhythms and situations, and seeing how things rarely remain the same as we move across the globe, we will continue to readjust. 

My mom and dad's visit in the middle of our year-of-travel made this time different than any other we had ever spent together and provided them a window into our current life as a nomadic family, which is rather impossible to truly grasp without actually experiencing it.    

Sometimes its the little things that end up being great illustrations of the reality of family long-term travel.   For instance, after walking through Grenoble, France for a couple of hours, as a break on a long car trip between Italy and southern France, we started settling back in the car ready to drive the remaining 2 hours, when Yoda called from the third row, "I need to pee."  Everyone laughed.  No, no, I reassured my parents, he was certainly not joking, sure we had just walked passed plenty of places to use the bathroom and even the restaurant we had left maybe 20 minutes prior would have been a good option but nope, he needed the toilet right when we settled back into the car.  And yes we were ok when him slyly peed on the car tire; He has gotten quite good at it. 

Walking with the kids is never a straight line.

And sometimes it is the big things, like when one or both kids just flat out refuses to do what the rest of us have agreed upon.  Kiko and I have come to grips with the fact that we are all on this trip together and we need to take the kids' wishes into account. It is a constant give and take.  We haven't gone traveling to drag the kids around and do only what we want (Although they have voiced a number of times that in fact is what they think); we need to find a healthy balance of down time, exploration, and learning that makes us all happy.  That is not always easy and maybe the biggest thing we are struggling with in Europe.  

Here is one thought....

We did all agree to go check out a salt mine that was recommend to us by the locals in Cardoba, Spain, which turned out to be fun and educational for the whole group.  

Exterior of the Cardona Salt Mine.

Excited to go in the salt mine.

That is salt hanging down and around.

Though the backbone of the trip was thoughtfully planned, some of the most memorable experiences were created more spontaneously.  

Perhaps my fondest memory of the two weeks together is of this unbelievable, full sensory overload, art exhibit we stubbled upon when my dad's GPS must have been set on "scenic" rather then "direct."  Carrieres de Lumieres's temporary exhibit "Klimt and Vienna", in Les Baux-de-Provence,  was just a few minute drive from out 2 night accommodations in France.  I had been feeling somewhat neglectful, not exposing the kids to very much formal art while in Europe.  When I saw the larger-than-life projections of Klimt's work I knew that this was one I needn't worry about holding  the kids' interest.  

My mom even declared, in the mist of it all,  "one of the best experiences of my life."  It was that good and certainly unforgettable.  My pictures can only capture a fraction of the experience of actually walking through the show.  There was the whole vastness of the limestone mine, where the pictures were projected on the walls and floors, along with the music that accompanied the moving art that just electrified all the senses at once.  It was spectacular.  

Another unforgettable memory was just a simple lunch in a little town in the middle of nowhere.  

The night before we had a tough evening.  We had been advised that the French, Michelin chief restaurant at the hotel at which we were staying was perfectly suitable for kids.  Well, turns out not suitable for our kids. 

The fancy, "kid-friendly" restaurant...

The restaurant was disturbingly silent even with the handful of table all occupied, everything seemed pristinely white, and the dinner dragged on for 3 hours.  It was torturous trying to make sure the kids behaved as seemed expected.   The kids comments like "I waited 2 hours for this" when the food finally did arrive and the repetative "I am going to die" made the time go oh-so slow.  The service was snooty and the quality of the food didn't justify it.  But of course I left feeling like somehow I had raised my American kids wrong.

But all those feelings vanished at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that we stumbled upon on our drive from Baux-de-Provence, France to Cardona, Spain.  

La Cave De Theo, a wonderful find

The food was 1/3 of the price and twice as good as the proceeding night and the waitress loved the kids.  Everyone was happy as we sat around sampling each others food, shrimp, mussels, steak and enjoying the totally local atmosphere.  Somehow the little place renewed my faith in my kids and the world, all that in one little restaurant, found by chance.   

And who could ever forget our makeshift picnic dinner overlooking the blood moon rising above the Cardona castle in Spain. 

Cardona Castle with the full moon rising

Holy, the setting was unreal and the kids loved the freedom of casually eating out of our temporary picnic-table/seat-of-the-car and and running around rather then sitting at a lengthy European dinner.  You couldn't imagine a more surreal backdrop; one in which it seems only a time machine could have transported you.

The trip with my parents in its entirety is now a priceless memory.  What a lucky opportunity to have been able to spend my dad's 70th birthday (the main catalyst for this vacation)  all together exploring Europe.  As you can imagine the departure from my parents was hard.  How would we go on without their company, ideas, and advice? 

But I had to snap out of my teenage-self  fast and get back to co-piloting this traveling tribe.  

It ended up to be great timing that we had arranged to stay a few days with our friends from RV Heraclitus, the ship of dreams, on which both Kiko and I sailed to wild places around the world in what sometimes seems like a previous life.  The ship is currently in dry dock in Spain.  

Lunch time at the dry dock with good friends.

Being surrounded by our fellow world-adventurers renewed our energy in our current "dream trip" and strengthened friendships that are dear to us. I hold so much respect for our friends as they continue to preserve the ship for the next generation.  The idea of one time joining the ship's adventures has been ignited in our kids' minds.  

Painting of RV Heraclitus, "the black ship that got away"

Somehow a little of the vacation-feeling lingered as we continued on to the south of Spain by plane, as amazingly flights were cheaper then the high speed train.   We based ourselves in a little apartment in Albayzin, Granada, where the labyrinth streets of the Morish old town create an exotic feeling.  

Peaceful plaza in white washed Granada

Beauty in Granada

A typical street in the Albayzin, Granada

Although we did venture out a few time as a family to experience tapa life, where you a free tapa comes with every drink ordered, and the wonderfully mystical streets, a great prelude to Morocco, our next country, both kids caught a cold and spent most of the 4 days resting in the apartment.  At first I struggled with them getting sick.  They didn't seem that sick, just a little stuffy nose, and we were "missing Granada," but after one failed attempt at bringing the sick kids out regardless I finally realized they really needed to just rest.  Luckily, the apartment had a outstanding view of the famous Alhambra. 

View of Alhambra from our apartment window.

It actually worked out magically well for me.  I had been reading about the Alhambra and had been gearing up the kids for the long day of walking that checking it out entailed.  But in my mind I questioned wether it would hold the kids interest, fearing it would it be another day that felt like we were dragging the kids.  So with the kids sick I stole away one morning and spent 1/2 a day exploring the exotic palace myself. (Thanks Kiko)

My favorite part, the water gardens

What a treat; I truly cherished the time I had to admire the buildings, appreciate the gardens, and  people watch.  When watching people I am inevitably drawn to the other families, attempting to see how other people accomplish this mighty job of parenthood.   I saw quite a few families with unhappy children.  I even saw one set of parents dragging, literally dragging, their child crying, which was quite a loud affirmation of what I had been thinking.   It was just too long and hot of a day for most kids.  I did see some neatly dressed, well behaved children walking slowly along with their parents but I think those were the children that the aforementioned French restaurant was referring to when they said "kid friendly".  They are a different type of child than ours, not better not worse, just different.  

Beautiful intricacies of the buildings.

The star shaped windows to let the light into the bath house.

The kids were feeling better in time for our departure from Granada.  We rented little car, and drove to Carboneras, Spain, right next to the wild, Cabo de Gata National Park, which I chose after reading its description in the Lonely Planet guide book.  

If you can find anyone old enough to remember the Costa del Sol before the bulldozers arrived they’d probably say it looked a bit like Cabo de Gata.  

Beautiful Playa de Mortes in Cabo de Gata.

The deal was sealed when we scored a last minute bargain on a beautiful four bedroom, beachfront house which exuded character, for $100/nt.  I booked it for the last 11 nights of our time in Europe; vacation continued.  This type of house is where childhood memories are made.  You could almost feel them; the past memories of others and those currently being made by Yoda and Zuki, filled the air.  

My favorite spot

Zuki on the upstairs lanai.

The house had toys for Yoda, an art desk for Zuki, the much missed sounds and smell of the sea, a garage full of beach supplies, and enough space for us to all spread out. It was just what we all needed.  With a spare bedroom we had enough space for my college roommate and her family to come visit from their home in Spain and spend some time with us.   

My good friend stayed a night with us.

 We explored the breathtaking National Park and the local market, ate good home cooked food, played family games, and enjoyed the freedom of having the beach just out front.  

Kiko rocked this homemade Pallea

Beach fun, reminiscent of Hawaii.

Zuki even found a Chameleon lurking about.

Family dinners in an unforgettable atmosphere.

I am writing this on our last night at the beach house.  We are about to enter Africa, a new continent for everyone except Kiko.  Although Morocoo has been one of my most anticipated countries on this trip, I am surprised by the anxiousness I feel.  I am glad I had my vacation to recharge my batteries as we venture once again into very unfamiliar territory.  

Our memories of the Mediterranean