Allie in the South of Spain

17. Plan, plan, plan : My husband is really good at this and I am blessed to have him as a partner. Have an idea of what you will be doing, seeing, where you will be staying, how you will be moving about, what you will be eating, how much you can spend, etc. Try to figure out a timetable for your vacation (though you may not be able to stick to it perfectly which is definitely ok, you are on vacation in the end). If you have a rough idea of your schedule you will be able to plan meals easier. That means you won't end up starving somewhere and have to shell out a lot of money to ease your hunger by making an unplanned stop. If you plan you will be able to maximize your time (remember that time is money). You don't have to have every minute scheduled of course but planning ahead is always a good idea.

16.  Be realistic : Maybe this isn´t a time when you can go on vacation. Make the best of it and treat yourself to a relaxing weekend at home. Unplug the phone and internet and spend quality time with your spouse, partner, friends and/or family. If it isn't in your budget to travel, you shouldn't. It will be a fleeting escape since you will eventually have to return to reality (with bills and jobs and problems).

I am living in a country with royalty. Sometimes I forget that fact but then something reminds me like a special news report about the royal budget (paid for by the goverment and thus the people). Coming from America it is hard to believe that there are places with a King and Queen still kicking around but Spain is just such a place. In fact they also have princes, princesses, dukes, duchesses, the whole blue blooded nine yards. There is a big royal following here so pardon me if I offend you. Chalk it up to my being foreign (I just must not understand). Here in Spain I can appreciate that the current King did a lot to help the transition to democracy after the end of a long dictatorship. I understand that people have a lot of respect and admiration for him and his family. They are figureheads for the government and symbols of Spain itself as a nation. People love to follow their every move, know what they wore, who is involved in a scandal, who married who etc. (in the U.S. we ...

15. Share costs with other couples or families : The same principle of saving money that you use while carpooling functions here as well. If you can rent an entire house or an apartment rather than stay at a hotel and split the cost sometimes you can save some money (be sure to do your research). If you can drive together, even better. Maybe you could share the cost and work of preparing meals. Of course you would want to look for a group that has compatible travel plans and expectations but by splitting costs you will travel more frugally. Some of my most memorable trips as a child were done with neighbors and their children. We still talk about the awful, rock hard pancakes that were made during one camping trip with neighbors. Bonus: (if you have kids) you can share childcare or babysitting responsibilities as well. One couple or person could watch the kids one night and then you could trade off. That way everyone gets a chance to enjoy a relaxing ...

14. When in Rome, do as the Romans do: What do I mean by this? Well, look at and observe the locals when you are visiting somewhere new. Often times you will get clued in on cheap eats and places to shop. People who live in touristy areas have to live their normal lives and chances are they have the inside track on where you can get the most bang for your buck. Case in point: my husband and I traveled to Vienna a few years ago. It is a very expensive place to visit and though we were staying at a hostel, we found that just eating was going to cost an arm and a leg. After spending WAY too much at a McDonald´s in an attempt to save, we looked to the locals to see where they were eating. Many businessmen were going to a stand set up outside of their building and were buying yummy-looking sausages and sandwiches. We decided to give this vendor a try and were delightfully surprised. The prices were good and the food was too. If you look for places full of local people you tend to avoid...

13. Go on a mini-vacation: Instead of trying to plan and budget for a long trip, take a short one instead. Make it to somewhere that you really want to visit so that you can get a lot out of a weekend for example. Or plan a super relaxing vacation where you just get away from it all. Whatever you decide to do, the chances are that the less time you spend away, the less you will spend. Sometimes all it takes is a mini-vacation to give you a new perspective on life.

One of the wonderful things about living in Spain is the tiles. Carpet is almost unheard of but tiles are everywhere and are mostly beautiful. Our new apartment has marble tiles throughout the main living areas and bedrooms but the kitchen and bathrooms were done in light tan tiles. We knew from the very beginning that we would switch them out (since we have similar floors now in our rental and you can see every little thing on them. ANNOYING!). We had a bunch of different contractors come out to do estimates and finally decided on one. Then it was time to decide on the tiles we would use. There are a ton of different options and we knew that we wanted something that would be easy to take care of and keep clean. In the kitchen I wanted dark floors to contrast with the walls and the cabinets we will have installed soon. Here is the tile we decided on. It is dark brown and looks almost like wood (yep it is a tile).  In the bathrooms we wanted a sort of rustic look. We w...