The Beautiful Island of Palma de Mallorca

By the time April rolls around, we have been sitting in nearly 7 months of cold and gray. I sometimes forget what the sky looks like. Which means a trip to the beach is necessary the moment I think the sun could be out somewhere giving warmth. This time, that plan was the Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca.

Let’s see how the week progresses, shall we?

Monday

Blown over bike. Continuing, emphasizing, and exemplifying the theme of cold and windy that is my life.

Tuesday

Bah. Ok, fine, Paris, you’re beautiful. You’re worth it.

Wednesday

Riding through pink – signs of spring make me happy. But still no warmth or sun yet.

Thursday

It actually started raining on us as we were waiting to go up the stairs onto the plane. As if I weren’t ready enough to escape the cold and gray. Adios Paris!

…and hola to my new dot location.

Friday

The great thing about traveling by yourself is you end up in situations that you would normally never sign up for.

For example, spending your whole vacation with someone you just met, in a toy car. You hardly want to drive to a coffee shop with someone you don’t know, let alone decide to spend your vacation with them in Mallorca in a 3 square foot space. But Greg turned out to be a great travel buddy.

Greg is an Australian living in Liverpool who, like me, wanted to escape the incessant cold and rain with a weekend beach trip. He walked into the cafe where I was having morning cafe con leche with maps spread out in front of me, trying to decide what to do on a beach vacation when it’s supposed to be cloudy all day. We recognized each other from the hostel the night before, so he sat down. After chatting for a while, we decided to go in together on a car rental and explore the island. And it was great.

Route planning, with a view.

I sea you.

How many people does it take to find the engine of a Smart Car? It took a good 30 minutes of searching like this for these professionals to find how to access the engine. Notice the searching of every corner, alongside reading the car manual. Turns out there was no oil in it at all.

And we’re back.

The island’s rugged terrain and dramatic cliffs are beautiful.

Saturday

On Saturday, we stopped at a prehistoric sight where they served us absurdly large and delicious sandwiches for lunch. As in, possibly the definitive best sandwich of my life. That ham, that manchego, that olive oil, those tomatoes.