My Spanish Adventure

As previously alluded to, Vera and I are popping down to the Costa Brava region of Spain for the next ten days to take part in the TBEX travel bloggers conference, which is being held in the rather charming Catalan town of Girona.

I thought I’d give you a sneak peek of the itinerary we’ve got lined up, which will be helping us fill the pages of the blog with pretty photos and magnificent words for some weeks to come. I’m also giving some shouts outs to some of the companies who are helping us on our way! Here we go:

• We’re heading down to Girona on the 20th September, by car, thanks to the kind folks at Argus Car Hire, who sorted us out with our car hire in France in the form of a rather jolly Chevy. Vera has already named him Schnevy. I assume this is a German thing. Argus also do budget car hire in Spain, but we’ll be bringing Schevy back with us. In fact, we may have to pry him from Vera’s fingers, she seems fairly attached already.
• When we get to Girona, we’ll be checking in to our city centre apartment which has been provided by Wimdu>  for four nights. So I don’t have to sleep in a van after all. Sorry Fleurie.
• On the first night in Girona, there’s going to be a massive party in a castle, hosted by the Costa Brava Girona tourism board folks, with food provided by restaurant El Celler de Can Roca. I don’t really know what that means, but apparently foodie bloggers are already exploding at the thought of the world’s second best restaurant feeding us all. Ok, so I’m salivating a tiny bit.
• Then there are two days of actual conference. I can’t really remember the last conference I attended, and this is certainly the first one I’ve ever actually looked forward to. Although I am slightly worried that my previous corporate life has created an in-built phobia of PowerPoint. Time will tell if that is survivable. (The eagle-eyed amongst you will see that I am easing myself back into the whole thing with a nice bullet pointed list, the rules of which I am breaking my writing far too much in each bullet point. My career advisor would have been proud.)
• Providing the book end to each day of conference there’s going to be more partying. There’s a beach party planned for the first night of conference, and a party in a cathedral garden for the closing night. What could go wrong?
• The day after the conference, we’re hopping on a Costa Brava tour up into the Pyrenees for a day to experience the Nuria valley. Think big mountains, and me taking pictures of them breathlessly. If you’ve been here for a while, you’ll already know I’m a fan of the odd mountain, so this should be fun.
• Then, and this is the bit we’re probably most excited about, we’re thrilled to be taking part in a three day press trip across the Spanish countryside by bike, where, amongst other things, we’re going to be learning how to do pottery (we’ve watched the requisite scene from Ghost in preparation), and taking a balloon ride. A balloon ride! I’m packing extra digital film already.
• Finally, all of the above is clearly going to be terribly exhausting. Thankfully, the lovely people at Naturaki are providing Vera and I with a villa all to ourselves to unwind for four days on the Costa Brava coastline, as well as some activities in the local area to keep us occupied if we unwind too much. The villa comes with everything you’d expect, as well as some things you might not (indoor LED lit pool anyone?), and looks to be a fabulous way to finish off our trip, as well as provide the location for my “Men of travel blogging” calendar shoot (don’t ask, yet), before we head back up to France.

Well, as you can see, it’s a busy few days ahead. But don’t worry – I’m going to be snapping away like crazy, and filling you in on all the adventures right here! You can also keep up by following the site’s Facebook Page, and for more real time updates you can find me on Instagram, where my username is Lozula. Let’s go!