I spend a lot of time commuting between my two Spanish homes - a property on the Costa del Sol and a property on the Costa Blanca. Although it´s a gruelling 5 hour drive, the cheapest way to make the journey is by car.

However, it´s sometimes nice to catch the plane. After all, until recently Iberia, Spain´s national airline, operated a direct one-hour flight between Malaga and Alicante airports, ideal for what I needed. This arrangement allowed me to check-in late, relax on the plane, and catch up with phone calls and paperwork without having to concentrate on the road in front!
Continue reading »

Would you ever consider traveling to Spain by train?

Not in a million years?

I’ve done it twice with a baby in tow and you would be surprised how easy and comfortable it is.

The first time we traveled my little girl was four months old and British Airways refused to let her fly to Valencia, so we traveled out of necessity. But we enjoyed train travel so much that we traveled to Malaga in the same way, when we actually made the move to our new property in Spain.
Continue reading »

In Britain it’s not unusual for Christmas to start at the end of the summer holidays. I remember going into an Oxford Street store a couple of years ago, looking for any last remaining summer sale bargains and being amazed to find a Christmas Shop!

In Spain, Christmas items begin to appear in the shops towards the end of October/beginning of November, and the real countdown to Christmas doesn’t really start until the beginning of Advent, 1^st December.

Christmas decorations are put up and suddenly Nativity scenes appear everywhere, not just in households and churches but often in the town square, shop windows and even in restaurants! In many villages and small towns in Spain the Nativity will be re-enacted by the locals (often using live animals!) in the last few days before Christmas. Sometimes the local children will go carol singing and be rewarded with some money or sweets.

Continue reading »