Tapas, A Laundromat, Two Secrets to Life... and a Wonderful Week in Seville
This isn't your typical travel blog.
As I write this, I’m still on my month-long trip in Europe.
The time has gone by in a flash and I’m in that final trip mode where I feel Real World Abbey waiting in the wings, glaring at Euro Travel Abbey. I know she’s ready to pounce the minute I land in Chicago, and her welcome home gift is a to-do list that’s mile long. But for now, I’m putting her on ignore.
✌️out, RWA, you can’t come for me yet.
If you followed my trail, you’d see it go from my home to Chicago ➡️ Lisbon ➡️ Cascais ➡️the Algarve ➡️ Lisbon ➡️Seville ➡️ Madrid ➡️ San Lorenzo de Escorial (on a historical train trip!)➡️ Madrid ➡️ Chicago ➡️ 🏡.
And while that whirlwind tour has left me with a TON of content to share, I want to first share some inspirational exchanges I had. Because TBH, while the places and experiences on the trip were amazing, it’s the conversations with people from around the world that I’ll remember the most.
And I want to share two convos that might be life changing.
LESSON ONE: Kindness, bonding, and the secret to staying young… all from a visit to a laundromat.
While you’d never guess it from my 14,000 pound suitcase, I needed to do laundry while in Sevilla, and since the hotel charged 11 euro per item, I thought a laundromat would be a bit more economical.
Did you know laundromats are hotspots for meeting fellow travelers?
It’s true. On my first trip to the laundromat (because yes, I went twice), I met a cool graphic artist from Minnesota who schooled me in washers and dryers in Spain. We chatted about the ups and downs of freelancing, and I later joined he and his wife for dinner. Fun!
On the second trip, I joined four people - a couple from Chile and a father-son duo from Florida. While I talked to the father of the duo, the son was talking with the man from Chile… even though he didn’t speak Spanish and the Chilean man (Benjamin) didn’t speak English. They were using Apple’s new airpods that provide live translation, which is great for basic communication and also for creating beautiful moments… like the one I witnessed.
As it turned out, Benjamin was a retired fire fighter, and the young man from Florida is currently a fire fighter. What ensued was the loveliest of lovely exchanges I’ve ever witnessed. They were clearly meant to meet that night, and if you didn’t know better, you’d think they’d known each other for years. Using his airpods, the Florida firefighter and Benjamin were in a deep firefighter discussion.
When the Florida firefighter’s laundry was done, the two embraced, and I heard Benjamin giving his new firefighter friend fatherly/mentorly advice and telling him, “I can tell you’re a good person, just continue being good, follow your heart and intuition, and you’ll be successful.” 💔
They were both beaming, and the connection is something I’ll never forget.
After the Florida firefighter left, Benjamin and his wife and I were left in the laundromat, so I asked them where they’d traveled, thinking maybe this was their second or third city on a small tour.
Oh, no, not a small tour. Benjamin’s wife proceeded to tell me they’d been traveling for over a month and visited (I swear) about 15 different places - from Chile to Italy to Portugal to Spain- and everywhere in between. I was exhausted just listening to them. In the midst of it, Benjamin told me they were 78 and 76 years old.
I asked them if a trip like this was tiring and if they did this type of travel often. Benjamin’s wife told me, “We’re not tired. We love travel - it’s mandatory. And we will keep traveling. Because if we keep traveling… we keep traveling. We don’t believe in stopping.”
BAM. She nailed it.
The secret to continuing to travel (or run, workout, paint, hike, golf… whatever) is quite simple…
KEEP DOING IT.
And therefore, you won’t stop.
Fueled with this wisdom, I returned to my hotel and got ready to head out for tapas.
Now, selecting a place for tapas isn’t easy in Seville because there endless options. It’s a tapas paradise, but you have to know how to navigate the scene so you end up at a place that works for you.
As a solo traveler, I’ve developed a system for choosing a spot.
My criteria: healthy options mixed with delightful croquetas and good 🍷, not too touristy, and most importantly… a good vibe.
(A bad vibe overpowers good food and wine, and causes me to keep searching.)
I only dine in places where the energy feels good.
If a place passes the vibe check, I’ll eat there. If not, I keep going.
Because great energy leads to cool encounters and conversations.
As luck would have it, my vibe radar was spot on that night.
I sat near two couples… a mother-daughter duo from Ireland, and a husband-wife from Florida. Soon after I ordered my food, we all started to talking - about Seville, where we came from, families, and life in general.
(It was actually pretty amazing how quickly we fell into conversation.)
Since we were all travelers, of course we talked about travel and the importance of it. I told the Irish woman (Gabrielle) that my husband and I had plans to travel a lot for upcoming business ventures. That we were combining work with travel, because frankly… we didn’t want to wait years and years to see the world. We found a way to do both now.
Gabrielle put down her wine and said:
You should travel. You should travel now and do all the things you want to do now, because here’s the deal….
(I bet you’re thinking she told me “because life is short” right?)
No.
Instead, Gabrielle said:
You’ll be dead long enough. DO IT NOW.
You’ll be dead long enough.
As it turns out, Gabrielle’s sister had big plans to travel - with Gabrielle, and in general. She talked often of traveling “as soon as she retired.”
However, Gabrielle’s sister developed ALS, and unfortunately passed, and never had the chance to travel the way she said she would.
After this happened, Gabrielle was determined to do all the things now, and take advantage of every moment, remembering that “we’ll be dead long enough…”
When you think about life in terms of “you’ll be dead long enough” (maybe the truest thing I’ve heard) it sure does make sense to live each moment to the fullest.
I’ve summarized the takeaways below and let you think about this advice for a bit.
And now, leaving you with a few links for productivity, fun, and wellness.
First, a sharing a quick rundown of the planes/trains/automobiles recs I’ve gathered on my journey.
Iberia Airlines’ direct flight from Chicago to Madrid. (Or, take advantage of Iberia’s “stop over in Madrid” program and spend a few nights in Madrid before you head to your next destination.)
Renfe or Iryo Trains for train travel in Spain. I’ve traveled on both, and both offer fast trains from Madrid to major cities. (A great way to base yourself in Madrid and zip over to Valencia for the day, for example.) I took Renfe from Seville to Madrid, and it was fast and absolutely lovely - clean, spacious for working or relaxing, and equipped with a cafeteria car.
Visacar for car rentals in Portugal. Excellent customer service, easy pick up and return, and reasonably priced. (Note: while not required, it’s recommended to get an International Driver’s License. This was easy to do before our trip.)
Public transportation in major European cities. So easy, affordable, and safe.
My own two 👣… which leads to my #1 rec to bring and wear comfortable shoes!
WORK
Is the latest work trend actually old news?
TRAVEL
An idea: don’t follow your itinerary to the letter. Go rogue every now and then.
There’s habit stacking and then there’s travel stacking, as in covering multiple cities in one trip. Here are some practical ways to do that.
FOOD
A slew of recipes from Inside Outside with Jessica Murnane, including
