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I’m a blog derelict and I love riding a Vespa

Sorrrrryyyy friends….I made a big to-do about this blog and am not very good at keeping it up so far.  I knew it was bad when my mom texted: "I saw the video of the dildo but nothing since and wanted to make sure I'm doing it right." You're doing it right, Mom. The dildo video was the last post. Now on to a new one! Phew.

In my defense, I was on an AMAZING Vespa tour through Spain for four days and we did not have much (aka zero) down-time. I discovered a tour company based in the U.K. that specializes in solo travel adventures for people in their 30's and 40's (they are called Flashpack). I have three trips planned with them and this was my first, so I was taking a risk not knowing what the experience would be like (btw, let me be clear Flashpack is not sponsoring this blog….but maybe they should?) Here's my first time on the Vespa:

Summary: I love riding a Vespa (I guess it's one of those brands that dominates, like Xerox and Kleenex? I digress.)  Our group of ten people (now friends) embarked on the journey with our fearless leader, Javier, and his hilarious sidekick, Nacho. We were in great hands! We started on the Vespas with some trepidation but soon were making our way through hairpin turns on narrow mountain roads (I swear!). I hate to toot my own horn but I thought we were the best Vespa riders ever. Later it was indicated that perhaps other groups have ridden faster, but why would you when you have such beautiful views?! We rode for miles with sunflowers everywhere:

We rode  ~ 50k a day (that's far!) and stayed at three beautiful and quaint towns, Tamajon, Sepulveda, and Pedraza. Each one had such unique and special qualities. We enjoyed a DELISH home-cooked Spanish meal the first night in Tamajon, we stayed at a castle (really) in Sepulveda, and Pedraza was especially amazing, as it's a medieval village with cobblestones everywhere and a view that looks fake. Here's the Sepulveda castle (note the real doorbell above the door, to the left):

All in all, I could not have asked for a better experience or better people to share it with (you know who you are). Today I arrived in Barcelona, and am soaking it in so far… more on that later. Please send along any Barcelona travel tips/recommendations, as this is my maiden voyage!

 

 

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Different strokes from different yolks!

Prepare yourselves…this video is a real thing.  I finally landed in Madrid today and swung by the gift shop.  This display next to the register caught my attention. At first I thought it was for candy eggs for kids. Not so much. People weren't lying about Spain being a progressive country!

P.S. I'm too tired to write more about the first day of my first 'Sometimes You Just Gotta' (SYJG) international trip (Yes, I'm in the early stages of recovery from speaking in acronyms for the past ten years). Bottom line is that I learned to ride a vespa and am looking forward to (albeit slightly nervous) about our 100km "slalom ride" over the mountains tomorrow.

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Tiny shopping cart

 

My sister, Tobi, gave me this birthday card last year. The inside says “No one travels through life quite like you.” I smiled every time I looked at it so I hung it in my office, directly behind my computer monitor.  I looked at it for almost a year before I gave the little kid a knowing nod and decided it was time to take my show on the road (my show just being me, not doing anything particularly exciting, and not even having a tiny shopping cart prop).

 

I’d been at my job for ten years when I quit last month. My colleagues, friends and family were almost overly understanding and everyone seems to want to “live vicariously” through a seemingly irresponsible person. This blog seems like the easiest and most efficient way to do this (and for my parents to know where I am) but if you’d rather just keep up through pictures, my Instagram handle is @Teha7

I realize that I’m extremely fortunate to be at a place in my life where I can do this. After 17 years of working, and it felt like a lot of working, I can just stop doing it for a period of time… and it can be okay (or at least so far it is- fingers crossed!). There are so many places I haven’t seen and I want to make a dent in that before re-entering the real world (btw, I was told I’m too young to be having a mid-life crisis so I’m going with that).

I’m writing this from the Charles de Gaulle airport- my first time in France! I’m only here for a few hours but I plan to come back at some point and see more than the Air France lounge (thanks to the Points Guy for telling me about credit cards that give access to lounges!) The free snacks are an amazing perk and I feel like an old lady on a cruise ship stashing away wasabi peas in a baggie for later). Also, I don’t know much French but I always thought it interesting that “Ca va” meant both “how are you” and “I’m fine” so I’m trying to drop that as much as I can, just for kicks.

So…welcome to my blog! I’ll try to be responsible enough to keep it up, but no guarantees. I guess the road less travelled doesn’t have many guarantees, but I’m hoping I stumble across at least one tiny shopping cart! It would come in handy to transport the wasabi peas.