There’s no Place like Home

After 11 countries and 59 different hotel rooms we’re on the first leg of our flight home (9 hours to New York and then another 6 hour flight to LA). Normally I sleep the whole plane ride but for some reason I can’t. I think it’s because I’m so excited to come home!! I can’t wait!! Don’t get me wrong – we’ve had a great time on our adventure but all good things must come to an end.

In a way I’m sad that it’s over because I’m just a softie and hate saying goodbye to anything/anyone…. but I’m really ready to get back to the real world. It’s weird to think that in a few hours we’ll be walking through the door of our LA apartment. I think the first thing I’ll do is lie on the couch and watch some good old American TV….followed by a good night’s sleep in our own bed. Oh and the best part – we get to wake up to watch Michigan Football….it doesn’t get better than that!!

But most importantly we both can’t wait to see all our friends and family very, very soon!! ☺

Back in Barcelona – It’s Like We Live Here!

We spent the last few days of our trip in Barcelona. This was our 4th stop here on this trip (although the 1st one was only at the airport). Crazy! It’s like we live here. We did all the normal things locals do – eat tapas, drink wine, do laundry, did nothing during siesta time….we even had visitors, our good friends Berni and Dan from Chicago!

Berni and Dan were celebrating their 2 year wedding anniversary and decided to come meet us…..Congratulations guys! We only spent a day with them but we did so much it felt like longer. Darsh was the best tour guide. Since our hotel (Barcelona Catedral Hotel) was literally right next to the Cathedral we took them there first and then walked around the Gothic Quarter and El Born. We stumbled upon a great find of a restaurant, Casa Delfin, which had a nice selection of tapas. After lunch, we went to the Sagrada Familia and then walked through L’Eixample so they could see Gaudi’s other masterpieces, La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. Finally, we ended the day with a stroll down La Rambla. We covered a lot of Barcelona ground in a few hours….we were all beat by the end! It was so good to see them – thanks for coming!!

Since we had already been to Barcelona we had lots of time to just chill and walk around the different neighborhoods while stopping whenever we felt like. We did make it to Casa Batllo, which was one of my favorites. It’s not at all like me – totally asymmetrical and wacky but so very cool. We couldn’t decide if it was more Dr. Seuss or Willy Wonka. We also finally made it to the Picasso Museum which did a really good job of telling Picasso’s life and how his style changed throughout the years….I also liked it because it was small.

By this point in the trip we were both pretty tired of tapas but we got a recommendation for Tapas 24 so we had to try it. I’m so glad we did. It was amazing! Really innovative tapas….and I’m amazed at the staff - it was packed but they were so on top of things! It was not the healthiest meal but totally worth it. Some of our other favorite restaurants the last few days were Les Quinze Nits (nice Placa Real location and great Menu of the day), Bun Bo (pretty health Vietnamese), and Udon (good Japanese).

Our last day we were hoping to do nothing but relax but somehow we ended up shopping for gifts all day. We really hadn’t shopped at all on the trip since we couldn’t carry much so it came down to the wire….and I really hate shopping! But we got it done and we ended the day with a fabulous meal at La Crema Canela. We randomly came across this place after doing our routine 1-hour search for a decent place to eat. I’m so glad we found it! It was so cute and non-touristy with great Mediterranean food and good wine. It was the perfect place to have our last dinner.

I really can’t believe we’re almost done. Wow! I’m so happy we ended the trip in Barcelona – It still is my favorite European city. Until next time! ☺

Gotta Get a Sweat On!

I know that I’m at a workout low when I choose a stationary bike over running outside by the beach (I love the beach but am soooo tired of running). Ugh! I’m not going to lie, working out (and being healthy in general) sucks when you’re on a long trip like this. I’ve been good….and I’ve been bad. I would say I’ve done some kind of workout 50% of the days on the trip….and probably made it to the gym about 25%. I think that’s pretty good considering it’s hard to keep up a routine when you’re on the road and most of the hotel gyms have been LAME. I will never appreciate Equinox more! ☺ When we haven’t had the luxury of a gym, we both do exercises (push-ups, sit-ups, band stuff) in the hotel room (this totally sucks) or I run outside (usually at ridiculously early times since it gets so hot). I guess that’s the price you pay for being neurotic about working out. ☺

Asia was much easier to be healthy. We walked a ton and the food was just better with a ton more healthy options. We both lost weight. Of course Darsh lost more despite the fact that his diet was made up of chocolate croissants, spring rolls, noodles/rice every meal, ice cream, and 4 beers a day (as opposed to my omelettes, papaya salads, occasional noodles/rice, fruit smoothies, and a couple drinks/twice week). In fact, Darsh was the most lean he’s ever been while I’ve lost all my muscle mass! Ugh Boys!! ☺

Europe on the other hand has been a nightmare! I have never eaten so many crappy salads with lame iceburg lettuce and processed meat. And I’ve stopped asking for dressing on the side because they often just don’t get it….so full fat it is! Not to mention no skim milk so full fat milk as well! Italy and parts of Spain (Basque region and Madrid) were the hardest….it’s been much better everywhere else. I just had to get used to eating more fat than normal....

While I generally try to be healthy, I do love “bad” foods….especially bad carbs so it makes it that much more difficult to refrain when there are so few options! I also like Happy Hour – who doesn’t when you’re on vacation? And of course you think of every reason in the book to be bad – “It’s my first night here” or “It’s my last night here”, or “Of course I need to have a crepe from France” or “Tiramisu from Italy”. Funny how your mind works to rationalize the bad stuff. ☺

When I was in Asia I thought I was going to come back in better shape. It was great. I was totally hardcore and all was good….and I still got to have fun! In Europe my goal changed to “Keeping the damage to a minimum”. Haha! That said, the weight I lost in Asia is back…and then some I’m sure. Yikes! But I’m ok with it. I’ll never go on a trip like this again – I can live it up for 4 ½ months of my life! There’s always plenty of time to reverse the damage when I get back….which will consist of a major detox/cleanse and hardcore daily workouts by the way.

I will say that despite the fact that I don't love running (at least for long distances), I was kept motivated by my iPod. I even rediscovered old favorites. Here’s the list that kept me going. Some are new, others are way old and cheesy but they got the job done. ☺

Let Me Think About It –Ida Corr/Fedde Le Grand
Waka Waka – Shakira
I Like It – Enrique Iglesias/Pitbull
Allez Ola Ole – Jesse Matador
Feel It – DJ Felli Fel/ T Pain/Sean Paul
Like A Prayer – Madhouse
Bhangra Fever – Midival Punditz
Tell Me – Diddy/Christina Aguilera
Lose Control – Missy Elliott/Ciara
Be My Lover – La Bouche
You Can Do It – Ice Cube
Aaja Nachle – Mychael Danna
Baby Got Back – Sir Mix A Lot
Escape (Spanish version) – Enrique Iglesias
Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls – Book of Love
Hoochie Mama – 2 Live Crew
Jai Ho – A.R. Rahman/Pussycat Dolls
Our Own Way - Klaas
Poker Face – Lady GaGa
Everytime We Touch (radio mix) – Cascada
It Takes Two – Rob Base/DJ E-Z Rock

Pit Stop in Valencia

Valencia was a perfect place to rest up from Ibiza. The Old Town is really small and walkable….and very cute! The only downside is the heat. I think it was some of the hottest temps we've ever experienced…I mean the slight breeze was even hot.

We stayed at the Melia Plaza, which was a great location but just ok hotel. We tried walking around during the day but it was so hot and most things were closed so we ended up just chilling in our room….too bad we didn’t have a pool! We did get to see the Cathedral, which has the Holy Grail on display. That was pretty cool. Darsh also walked to the City of the Arts and Sciences – which has a really modern, funky architectural style. I went shopping instead! ☺

It was kind of a bummer that many shops/restaurants were closed – I think it was more than just siesta which seemed to last all afternoon. I actually think a lot of stuff was closed for the month of August so the owners could go on holiday. We did however, have one of our best meals in a while at Matilda – very inventive, fresh Spanish food. We also liked Ichido for Asian food, which was a nice break from tapas.

Although it was short, Valencia was a nice pit stop before Barcelona….our last stop of the trip!!!!