Weekend Coffee Share: WE are NOT road trip people

…definitely NOT! In April, my sister moved to Denia in Spain, so I had the not-so-bright idea that we would visit her for a few days to catch up, check out her apartment and explore her new surroundings. AND, instead of flying, we would drive the 900km (approximately) – about 10 hours of driving time each way, excluding breaks.

When you’re sitting at your desk in the comfort zone of your home environment, it sounds easy-peasy. Right? There would be no luggage restrictions, no being squished into a germy aeroplane, no immigration or passport control hassle, no queues et al. You are in your own bubble.

ChatGPT and Waze helped plan the best route. My ChatGPT (which seems to have developed quite a sense of humour) helped me find hotels en route and compared options on parking, accessibility features like lifts, on-site restaurants, location, price, etc. It even warned me that there was a fiesta starting on the night we arrived at one of our stopovers, so there could be potential traffic delays, parking problems and noise. Needless to say, forewarned is forearmed, and we chose another stopover location

Finally, the car packed to the point of bursting and Mr P had to remind me it was not the Tardis; we set off at 9am sharp on Tuesday 15th September. It was a long, tedious trek on the motorway through boring scenery, punctuated only by numerous pit stops for coffee, food and toilet breaks. The hotels were nice, but as we are not road trip people by nature, once we arrived we were in no mood to go out and explore, so we hunkered down for a much-needed siesta before finding the bar and restaurant.

We finally arrived at my sister’s on day three in Denia at around 14.00 Spanish time.

We loved Denia. You know when a place feels right, and you immediately feel at home? That’s how we felt about Denia. Plenty of bars, restaurants, proper shops and a local beach all within easy walking distance, so the place felt contained.

We stayed with my sister and husband for five nights, as you feel you are imposing if you stay longer.

We loved this square in which people gathered to socialise.

The only thing I didn’t like was that most of the restaurants we encountered did not open until 8.00 to 8.30 which was really far to late for us to eat. And eat and drink we certainly did to the point of bursting! Now 4kg heavier than when we left, I am now back on the diet treadmill before the extra kgs get too comfortable.

Our homeward journey was broken by two nights in Almeria and another night in a hotel just outside Seville before arriving home on the 25th, physically and mentally exhausted. We did not like Almeria, as it was just too big and as different from Granada and Denia as apples are to oranges.

In hindsight, after driving all that way, we should have checked into a hotel after our planned vacation in Denia with my sister and stayed another week, as we now need another holiday to rest. Hats off to anyone who spends their vacation on the road.

Do you enjoy travelling?