Two Saturdays ago we made our second attempt at a day trip to El Escorial. It was worth the wait. The morning weather was sunny and 70°F — perfect for a hike. And it was a festival weekend in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, which meant free entry into El Escorial and a $20 savings for us. After an hour bus ride into the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains outside of Madrid we arrived in the small

Madrid proudly boasts more trees per capita than any other capital in the world. Only Tokyo has more trees, and they have three times the population. This fact makes Madrid a great place for me since I love city parks. I love the contrast; being surrounded by large buildings and bustling life one minute and then being lost in the middle of lush green trees, grass and flowers the next minute. And the

Thankfully, we’ve had no catastrophes our first few weeks in Madrid — just our fair share of challenges: such as taking eight hours to open a bank account, getting our eleven large boxes to our apartment, and me repeatedly standing inside elevator doors waiting for them to open automatically. There is so much to do to get settled into a new country, from finding an apartment and moving in to getting

As I’m sure you all know, Kelly and I had the fortunate timing of moving to Madrid, Spain right as Spain was in the middle of its run to winning its first ever World Cup. And as you’d expect, I jumped right into the mix, cheering on Spain. I absolutely reveled in the experience. Wow, how much fun it was to watch the matches with the locals and partake in the cheering, singing and celebrating. We arrived in

As expected, our first couple weeks in Madrid have been a whirlwind. It’s inconceivable how much there is to do when you move to a new country. Sometimes I feel like I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Through all of the stressful challenges though, we have certainly taken the time to have fun and appreciate some of the good stuff Madrid has to offer.

As I write this I am sitting in Milan’s airport waiting to board our plane to Madrid. One flight down and one to go. I’m too tired to really know how I feel about leaving Split and making Madrid our new home. Right now I am just worried about making it on the plane with our slightly over-sized and overweight carry-ons without anyone stopping us to make us check them instead.