We’re now a little more than two weeks into our ’round-the-world trip, and our today’s road trip from Llanes to Salamanca gave us a little time for some in-car reflection.
Our favorite memories so far:
Derek: A perfect day spent in San Sebastian walking along La Concha beach, taking the funicular to Monte Igueldo, a mountaintop amusement park, and then returning to one of the best steaks of my life at Bar Nestor.
Shanna: Watching my dear friend Amanda’s infant son roll over for the first time at a vineyard outside Saint-Emilion.
Harper: Building an Elsa fort in the swimming pool house (the house we rented in Llanes).
Walker: The orange plane. (Note: We haven’t seen an orange plane on this trip as far as any of the rest of us remembers.)
What we’re most glad we packed:
Derek: The double stroller.
Shanna: The cable lock for the double stroller. (Note: It’s not that the stroller is more likely to get stolen here, it’s that our quality of life would decline so much more if it did.)
Harper: Buttercup (her beloved stuffed horse), and Buttercup is glad she brought me on the trip.
Walker: My suitcase.
What we packed and haven’t used at all:
Derek: Most of my clothes.
Shanna: My running tights.
Harper: My rain boots, because I wear my cowgirl boots every day.
Walker: His underwear, because he refuses to potty train on this trip.
What we miss most about home (besides family and friends):
Derek: Childcare. (Said tongue-in-cheek. Kind of.)
Shanna: A dryer. For some reason, none of our rental houses have had them. The Spanish and French apparently don’t share the American obsession with fluffy towels and clean clothes ready on demand and in any weather.
Harper: My bed. And also peanut butter. And Moosey Elliott (her stuffed moose); I don’t know where she is right now.
Walker: My baseball bat.
What we’re looking forward to the most in the upcoming weeks:
Derek: Being with my family. And Thai food.
Shanna: Bhutan! And playing with the kids on Thai beaches.
Harper: The swimming pools in Thailand. And going home.
Walker: Hippy-hop gummies (bunny-shaped fruit snacks, largely used as bribes for good behavior on airplanes).
Harper and Walker demonstrate industrial-sized, sugar-coated longing outside a bakery in Salamanca, Spain.
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