Sunday, July 6, 2008

España 2008 . . .

Got my tickets and I'm on my way!



Many, many thanks to Slow Traveler and fellow blogger friend, Maria, for taking time out of her 4th of July holiday to send me e-mail alerts on some great airfares on Kayak. You're awesome!

Another cool thing . . . . Maria and her husband is also planning a trip to Spain in the fall. Their last visit was in 1981 and this will be a return trip for them. Isn't that nice! We plan to share and exchange travel information with each other during the planning stages. Like they say, two heads are always better than one! In fact, there is a chance that our paths may even cross somewhere in Spain. And if it does, that would be really cool!

By the way if you want to read a really cute story, have a look at another Slow Traveler and Blogger friend, AnnieNC's blog entry HERE. This is like the 3rd time that I have gone back to read this entry. I think all the Slow Travel pet stories I've been reading is really tempting me to get a cute little kitten too!

Although a little late, this month's photo of the month is a close-up of a sunflower or in Italian "girasoli." It reminded me of reading Slow Traveler, Girasoli's blog. She's been traveling in Italy to towns such as Camolgi, Portofino and Acqui Terme. It's been pretty cool following her blog and a couple of other Slow Travelers.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Whoo Hoo . . . I'm heading to Spain in only 4 months!

17 comments:

  1. Oh hooray! I'm thrilled for you! It's going to be a lot of fun to plan and do research for this trip and then share the information we both find. First thing on the agenda is to read Doru's trip report. I'll be taking notes ...

    I love Annie's latest blog post about her kitty. Really sweet story. I've been also following Susan’s adventures. She's having a great time and I love reading about the interesting places she's visiting.

    Beautiful sunflower photo! Have a great week!

    María

    ps. the serving dish in today's entry is from Spain ;-)

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  2. Hi Maria, no wonder I liked that serving dish. :)

    I loved Doru's trip report to Spain! Enjoy reading it and have fun with your research.

    Thanks for your comments and have a great week also!

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  3. How exciting! And it will be so cool if you can meet up with Maria I over there in Spain! Love the sunflower too.

    If you decide to get a kitten, I highly recommend the book "Cats for Dummies." Cats are very easy to take care of, but it still helps to have a good book about them.

    They are the perfect pet for someone who works long days because cats are very independent and self-sufficient. As long as they have food, water, and litter, it's fine to leave them for long days. I've even left LuLu over night before, and she was fine.

    One thing the book says is that it might be better to adopt TWO kittens (a brother and a sister, for example) so that they grow up together, will be bonded, and will always have company when you are gone. I feel so much better about leaving LuLu now that she has wild thing Maria to hang out with!

    Hope you had a great holiday. Have a great week!

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  4. I sent my comments last night before going to bed after an exhausting weekend, and before falling asleep I remembered that I forgot to comment on your Spain slide show. I loved it! It shows how excited you are about this trip. And the music is just perfect. Great job!

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  5. Hi Annie, thanks for your comments. Also, thanks for all your wonderful tips. I'll definitely have to check out that book. I agree that cats are very independent and would probably make a perfect pet for someone like me. In fact, I could very well end up being the needy one . . . missing my kitten(s) while away at work. :)

    I agree that it would be nice to have two kittens to keep each other company so I think that book makes sense. It would be fun to have two personalites like you have in Lulu and little Maria. I bet Maria keeps Lulu entertained while you are away at work. I'm going to give this some serious thought and make a decision when I return from my Spain trip. I just only recently started thinking about it after reading your little Maria stories. So cute!

    I had a fun weekend. Hope you had a great holiday too! Have a great week!

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  6. Trekcapri, I love your video! How did you do that?

    I'm excited for you -- you've got your tickets, you've made your video, and now the planning! I'm looking forward to hearing more about your travel plans.

    Oh, and I love the sunflower!

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  7. Hi Maria, don't worry about not remembering to make a comment about my slideshow. You definitely had a very busy weekend plus you even baked.

    I still can't believe that I did that video. You're right, I am very excited to be going on this trip to Spain. And when I am excited, I can get a bit over the top! :) I'm glad you enjoyed it and the music. The selection was actually inspired by a YouTube video I found on Madrid that I thought was very good.

    BTW, were your ears burning today. My sister called me and we started talking about your family trip because she read my blog and saw the photos of your son standing by the stage and enjoying the Flamenco show. She said it was so cute and really enjoyed reading about your story.

    Have a great week!

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  8. Hi Sandra, thanks for your comments. I used a program called Vegas Movie Studio to make the video, but there are other programs out there that can do the same. I also used another program to import the graphics since I only had but one photo of Spain.

    I was just telling Maria that I can get a bit over the top when I am excited! :) I mean I couldn't just say that I got my tickets I had to do a whole production! It was fun though and I just love that song!

    And yes, now that I have my tickets and my video out of the way :), I can now begin the next stage of my trip planning. I will gladly keep everyone updated.

    Thanks again for your comments and have a great week!

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  9. Kathy,

    Just read your Spain update and I agree with you about the Arfe and the reviews on the apt. and the agency. I'm going to send an inquiry for the Arfe 3.It's the only apartment that I saw that has what looks like a balcony and it's on the first floor.

    Like you, I like the location, central but not in the middle of the hustle of the city and the fact that it's a real neighborhood with stores frequented by the locals. Nearby there's a famous churreria which I know my husband will want to visit every day.

    Thank your sister for me for her kind words. I showed my son your blog and he enjoyed his visit and reading about your trip.

    Happy Wednesday!

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  10. Hi Maria, thanks so much for your comments. I finally figured out how to publish comments to my blog on my iphone. Yay! But for some reason I couldn't post my own comments on my blog so had to wait until I got home.

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  11. Oh that video is way cool!! If I wasn't such a techno-slug, I'd try to do one myself (slug as in too lazy, not that my brain is too slow to figure it out...although that could certainly be true also!)

    And yes, two kittens are definitely the best idea. Although if you lose one, it can be very sad. Winston drifted around the house crying for weeks after his sister was hit by a car. Strange that a cat should show signs of something so like grief.

    I have some catching up to do on my blog reading! I've gotten way behind somehow.

    How did you get your blog list on the side to show recent posts? (Maybe you could email me the "how to"?) I notice Leslie has the same thing on kaleidescope and I love it.

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  12. Hi again Maria . . I accidently hit the publish comment button before I was finished with my comments. What a coincidence, I also noticed the churreria in the photos. Did you notice how really crowded it was (with locals). It must mean that they are really good! The neighborhood around Arfe seems pretty lively with lots of places to hang out in! Whoo hoo!

    Apt. 3 looks pretty awesome. I hope that they have it available for you. I just think it's so great that you & your husband are returning to Spain again! It would be so cool if our paths will be able to cross over there!

    Tonight I'm working on my Madrid hotel and then will work my way down my list. I usually detest the logistics part of the trip planning but I kind of enjoy it now.

    I e-mailed my sister your comments as soon as I recieved them. She will appreciate reading them.

    Hope your planning is going well. I want to get everything done by early next week so I can start reading up on the fabulous sights that I'll be seeing! So much fun!

    Have a nice evening Maria and we'll keep in touch.

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  13. Hi Anne, thanks so much for your comments! Sometimes I get such a kick out of creating Videos, but it is time consuming so I have to really be inspired before I take the time to do them! :)

    I'm sorry about the loss of your other kitten. I'm glad that Winston now has a new companion. From the photos you had posted on your blog, he seems like such a loving cat!

    Here's the link that I used to set my Blog list: http://buzz.blogger.com/2008/06/show-off-your-favorite-blogs-with-blog.html

    - First I signed onto E-blogger.
    - Went to the Dashboard
    - Clicked on Layout (if you don't have a layout then there are instructions provided on the video to show you how to upgrade and add the layout feature).My blog had a layout so I didn't have to do any extra steps.
    - I then clicked on Add Element
    - Select Blog List
    - Then I select Add Bloglist
    - Name your Bloglist
    - Click on Add blog
    - A window will open for you to add the URL for the blog.
    - I open another window and click on a blog that I want to add (which in my case are 99% Slow Traveler Blogs!)
    - Then I copy the address or HTML of that Blog in to the empty space in my Add Blog window. Apparently all blogs have these RSS feeds.
    - The title of the blog you added will automatically be added.
    - Once you have pasted your blogs URL, save it.

    So I have one for my Favorite Blogs and one for my Spain Trip. You can literally have as many as you want.

    It is a huge time saver for me because I can see all the new entries. I forgot to mention that you can choose to have little snippets of that blogs entry also appear on your Bloglist. Very cool stuff!

    Before Blogger added this feature I couldn't figure out how to do that RSS feed thing on my own and would have to constantly click on all your blogs to see if you all posted a new entry. Sometimes I would forget. Now this is much easier. It helps me to keep track of all my favorite bloggers. I still read the other fabulous blogs on ST, but certain blogs I absolutely can't miss a single word or photo on!

    I think Leslie's blog is very cool!

    I'm not sure if your Slow Travel Blog Layout is the same as the Blogger Layout. At one point I was considering switching over to Slow Travel after I already started this blog, but it looked pretty much the same so I just left it. So maybe the layout options to add the Bloglist element is also the same.

    I hope this helps Anne. Have fun catching up. Have a nice evening!

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  14. http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/index/index.html#spain

    Hey Kathy, while looking for church info, I found this website which has a lot of great info about Spain...nice photos and very informative! Thought it might help you when you get to the next stage of trip planning.

    Have a great weekend! Annie

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  15. Hi Annie, Wow! That's an awesome link. I just looked at it and I love it!

    I can't wait to see the Cathedral in Sevilla, the Plaza Mayor in Madrid and the Alcazar in Toledo. The link has some great photos too. Thank you so much for sharing the link with me. I'll go post it on my Spain page! Whoo Hoo!

    You have a a great weekend too! :)

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  16. Thanks for the notes on the blog list. I'll see if it's possible on ST blogs.

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  17. Hi Anne, you're very welcome!

    I have one little correction on my directions . . . .

    I originally wrote, "Then I copy the address or HTML of that Blog in to the empty space in my Add Blog window. Apparently all blogs have these RSS feeds." . . . . I should have said to copy the URL of that Blog into the empty space in the Add Blog Window.

    I'm sort of learning as I go along as well and I can get the technical terms mixed up sometimes.

    Thanks Anne!

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It's me Trekcapri (aka Kathy). Thanks so much for visiting and leaving a comment.