Sid's Travels

This latest, and last, blog could be in vain as I haven't written in so long that I'm sure any "die-hard" readers will have long given up by now but I thought I'd mention that I am now back home in Canada to a tune of very mixed feelings. Actually, I don't think it's quite hit me yet so I'm sort of in this wierdly relaxed state and a little lost. But, not to worry! Planning for the next trip....

My last weeks in Europe were wonderful (and kind of stressful due to being sick) and were spent in Sevilla, Gibraltar, and then Europe. The think I'm most proud about at the end of this very cool journey is that fact that I flew four times in the span of three months without sedation. I'll have to post pictures of the runway in Gibraltar where we took off to go to London. This runway also substitutes for the road that links Spain, the border, and Gibraltar so if you see a plane coming, you have to run across before they close it off. There is also a clear sign that states not to throw garbage on the runway to avoid crashes because, and I quote, "it could be you in the plane!" How's that for a nervous flyer?!

I loved London...spent three great days there. Saw Woody Harrelson in a play. Very cool....well, he was. The play, not so great but a good experience. Exciting city and can't wait to visit again someday.

To close my last blog, I'll end with what I brought back with me. The best lessons in my mind anyway. Relax more, visit friends more, eat more, enjoy life more.

The end.

Hola! Can't stop saying hola yet....

Well, I'm in London, unfortunately the last leg of my trip. The past few weeks have been great and slightly challenging due to a virus. Things did not work out according to any of our travel plans meaning we ended up in Sevilla for a quick stopover again and then Gibraltar. Didn't quite make it to Morocco (holidays, timing, sick...yada, yada) and so spent our New Year with a very tame hybrid crowd in the kind of British, Spanish, Moroccan Gibraltar (The Rock). Strange experience....I am now in London and loving it, though desperately missing Spain. I feel such a fondess for the country and our experiences there.

Time running out!

Take care and sorry for short entry!

Shiloh

Hola! It's now Boxing Day (well, not here but that's just how I will always view December 26th) and we just finished our Christmas day with our Canadian friends. It was great! Silly and relaxing and definitely not anything like Christmas at home (though we all got our phone calls in to Canada!). We started out with a brunch of pizza, next, a Christmas carol sing-along and a shot of some Spanish alcohol for our sweet receptionist at our hotel who had complained earlier that it didn't feel like Christmas (she loved it and we all got kisses - the boys were in heaven), later, a trip to the famous Mirador San Nicholas (an amazing lookout....the whole Bill Clinton thing I think I mentioned earlier in a blog entry), and then a "homemade" dinner on the -1 floor of our hotel (the basement), which the hotel has graciously designed for clients to cook their own food and hang out in. We had a few canned seafood dishes, olives, toast with cheese and tomates and what the boys so charmingly called, "ass in a glass", referring to our awful, cheap white wine that could only be drunk if mixed with orange juice (OJ courtesy of the hotel). We tried to learn a card game after dinner but a case of delirium (tired and happy) took over and I was unable to play due to uncontrollable laughing. Do you ever get that? I couldn't stop if you paid me and it was interfering with the game so I had to give up. I think the giggling problem was a residual effect from a quite hilarious sight we had seen earlier at the lookout involving two dogs (one male, one female....you get the rest) and an unsuspecting owner clueless to the doubled-over spectators taking pictures and videos of her dogs. I felt like a 10 year old boy because again, I could not stop laughing. It just set the tone for the rest of the evening I guess. We did take a few moments to step inside an old church and marvel at its architecture -it looked like it has seen better days but was somehow still standing. Overall, a perfect Christmas in another country.

I have finally added some photos - have a lot more but there's a quota. Hope you enjoy!

Merry Christmas to all! It´s 1:30pm on Christmas Eve here in Granada. Strange to not being going through the favourite routines back home. We have treated ourselves to a nice hotel (still pretty cheap as it´s the down season) and are enjoying real heat (i.e. not water heat which makes the room damp) and T.V. It´s all Spanish channels but we are enjoying it nevertheless.

Our friends have very much enjoyed Granada....all enjoy the small city feel and of course, the stunning buildings and tourist sites. I´m guessing that between all of us we have 300+ pictures of the Alhambra alone (a conservative guess??). The Sierra Nevada mountains are open for business and the view of the snow-capped mountains is beautiful.

Feeling slightly melancholy about leaving this country. We´ve been asked whether or not we worked here. The answer is no. Hence, the coming home early. We did look at some options here but we were never truly inspired by the amount of money to be made tutoring (some, like our sister do well once a clientele is built up) and being the off season, there just wasn´t a lot. Making enough for bills back home and here didn´t seem feasible. And, let´s face it, travelling just got in the way (i.e. fun)

So, a Merry Christmas to all!