Spain got on my list of countries to visit when a couple of friends suggested we do a contiki Spanish Spree in July 2014, they ended up bailing on me so I decided to reroute my deposit for contiki’s China Adventure tour instead. I can be a bit random like that.

Fast forward to August 2015, the month of destination weddings . Two couple of friends decided to pick Barcelona and Costa Rica as the destination for their weddings with one week in between. Seriously. I figured I’d take that opportunity to see a bit of Spain, spend 1 week in Santiago – Chile, then hop to Costa Rica for the other wedding. I always wanted to visit Tambor in Costa Rica, so this is a nice opportunity to do that. Read more here to learn how you can get to Tambor.

Also, during my vacation, my favorite cousin gave birth to a couple of girls, so I edited my itinerary and hopped off to Dallas, USA to see my little munchkins before heading back to Lagos. A lot of hopping for 1+ month I tell ya.

Tip:  to anyone interested in going to Spain, I would suggest going solo all the way. It is less constricting and more fun going solo (if not, go with a very compatible travel buddy!) No offense to my friends, but while in Sevilla, a newly acquainted group of us explored the city together and decided to travel around Spain together. Sadly, I had to meet my friends in Madrid, so I had to bounce out. Facebook made the decision difficult to swallow because I kept seeing several picture posts of them in different cities together. I had a good time with my friends nonetheless, but I was eyeing the other group sha. Lol

Hello Spain

I flew one way from Lagos to Spain, using Royal Air Maroc (cheap and uncomfortable) then flew out of Spain with Air France – Delta and raked in some good miles towards Gold medallion.

Over all Spain was epic, there were more good times than bad times. I fell in love with Sevilla, danced to some Nigerian music at a predominantly Caucasian club in Madrid, got on a boat party in Ibiza, ate some divine food in San Sebastian, drank a lot of wine through the country but mostly in la Rioja region, and I got to meet some good people along the way. Good times.

See below for the Optional Activities spreadsheet I sent my friends – we ended up switching things up a bit, but this gives you a rough idea of what we were up to

Off to Chile!

Hopped on Air France – Delta to Chile without checking out the weather forecast, and I’m still laughing at myself for that foolish move. It was still winter! I did a bit of walking around Santiago’s city center and met a couple of Americans to kick it with. I also got some snow action when I went up the Andes, Valle Nevado ski resort, where I learned how to ski – a first for me!

If was just a bit more prepared for the weather, I would have traveled more around Chile within that week, but I still had a pretty good time in Santiago. I also stayed at an apartment that was somewhat central, about 15 minutes walk to everything.

Time for Costa Rica!

Got on a Delta plane again and hopped off to Atlanta for my layover before Costa Rica. My lucky self got flagged by security at the airport because my travel pattern was just darn random and looked sketchy. Lol! I was a bit irritated when the whole thing ended up taking 1 hour for extra security check, but having an upgrade to Business class (medallion baby) got me over it quickly. I also left the airport for 1 hour to see my sister and her kids in Atlanta – I had 4 hours layover time to kill.

The airport at Liberia, Costa Rica is pretty small and basic. Everything pretty much shuts down after 2pm, so you have to be sharp. If you do not have a pre-arranged transportation means to your hotel, then you have to haggle like a market person. Someone took pity on my haggling skills and allowed me to pay $20 for transportation to the hotel, some folks paid $70, so yay me! Folks, do not do what I did…pre-arrange through the hotel abeg.

I stayed at The Westin Golf Resort & Spa, Playa Conchal, an all inclusive resort. It was a bit on the pricey side for a 1 week stay, but it was the resort picked by the couple, so I had to close my eyes at the cost. The resort’s price included snorkeling, kayaking, and paddle board gear, so I definitely made sure to use them almost everyday…had to make sure that money was well spent ya know?

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There are a lot of pictures from this epic trip, so I will be posting separately for each city 😀

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