We booked the tickets. ALL of them! As in five flights, four airbnbs, one hostel, and one rental car. We will buy train tickets when we arrive, but the rest is set. Unless something else unforeseen happens, we are leaving for Europe on December 9th with a plan to return next June. And it will be beautiful! The place we originally had in Spain was a lovely family home in Granada that would have worked well for our family to settle for a year, but after our visas were repeatedly denied, our new plan limited us to only be in each country for three months at a time. When we started looking at new places, via airbnb, we found places that fit our price range, and are also a little dreamier than the first plan.
SPAIN: December through March.
The first home is less than an hour train ride to Barcelona, on the edge of the mediterranean, in a small town with a huge castle. Although it will be December, too cold for beach time, we will still enjoy the beauty of our “beach home”, explore the castle, and use some time to take in the touristy finds of Barcelona and the surrounding areas.
I dubbed the next place our “farm home”, though it could easily hold the title “paradise”. An hour south of Granada, set in the side of the Sierra Navada mountains, this farm home boasts 500 year old olive trees, as well as groves of oranges, lemons, avocados, nuts and other fruit. The views look spectacular and we will enjoy the seclusion after months of time with people.
ENGLAND: March through June.
After using up our 90-day stay in Europe, we will head to England, where we can stay for up to six months without a visa. Here we will stay in a small cottage in the quaint little town of Ludlow, close to Wales, in Shropshire (which is just fun to say). This town also boasts a beautiful castle right on the Teme river and seems like a pretty place to explore the area.
I know that everything looks better in pictures, and that nothing is ever as easy as it seems, but I’m looking forward to continuing the adventure that we have already started, and enjoying the views along the way!
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