Every September, my mom and I tend to take a monthlong trip abroad. I’ve gotten quite good at living out of a carry-on suitcase for the month of jam-packed adventure. Last September we visited Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Montenegro. This past September, we visited Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco and Iceland. My dad joined us for the Iceland portion of the trip (and brought our warm clothes, because our suitcases consisted of snorkels, swimsuits and summer dresses).
3.5 countries, 13 hotels, 6 flights, 3 rental cars (the “.5” is Gibraltar ha…I mean, it is British, and we had to go through passport control to enter).
Per my usual packing, I only had one pair of wedges, one pair of flip flops and one pair of sneakers (and the cuuuute shoes I bought in Morocco ha). My go-to wedges for travel are Naot. They’re comfy and stylish, and they come in unique colors that seem to go with every look. For the sneakers, I went with Lacoste 70s vibes. And I found the perfect foldable backpack on Amazon, for our daytime outings. I basically packed a lot of black on this trip, and leaned into comfort over glam. I’ve learned that when you only have two nights in each hotel, less is more.
My mom and I actually visited Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco 13 years ago, but we went to mostly new areas this time, other than revisiting Nerja, Spain and Gibraltar. Highly recommend both! I don’t know why Marbella is so hyped up…the water is not pretty like Nerja, and it’s missing that small town vibe. The historic center is very cute, though. And Gibraltar was worth a second visit..I am in LOVE with those monkeys (apes)!!
Iceland was the perfect stop on the way back home, and Icelandair allows you to choose to add a stopover in Iceland at no additional airfare, and stay up to a week. Iceland far exceeded my expectations (although, it was challenging to go from $3 wine in Spain to $20 wine in Iceland). Iceland is definitely worth a trip all on its own. We spent about 6 days there, and saw waterfalls, geysers, lakes, beaches, hot springs, thermal baths, volcanos, craters, and the very cute city of Reykjavík. And there’s much more of the country that we did not explore.
My favorite parts of this marathon adventure were Nerja (Spain), Gibraltar, Valldemossa (Mallorca, Spain), Pollensa (Mallorca, Spain), and all of Iceland. Casablanca and Barcelona were really cool, too. Here’s a photo recap (in no particular order):
More travel content is on my IG page: juju_pants
.
.
.
Please follow & like us