europe – the solo mama project

Spain: Year 2!

August 29, 2026 thesolomamaproject

We flew back to Spain on August 25, on the same flight itinerary that we took one year before.

Iberia, leaving at 4:55pm out of O’Hare, arriving Madrid at 8:20am, leaving Madrid at 11:35am, arriving Sevilla at 12:50.

Last year, we embarked knowing very little about what awaited us on the other side.

This year, we were coming home!

I watched my kids walk through every step of the same journey—only this time leading the way.

In O’Hare, they were like, “Look! It’s the same gate as last year!”

Stepping on the airplane, we gave each other a knowing look when we heard the soothing Spanish guitar background music.

Last fall, Evan created a Spotify playlist of Spanish guitar.

Chloe knew to expect her kids’ meal chocolate cake with a smiley face.

After lots of sad goodbyes with our loved ones in Michigan and Oak Park, we had moments of, “Mama, why do we have to go back to Spain…”

But when the engine did that big revving right before takeoff, all three of us looked at each other with excited eyes.

We remembered.

In Madrid-Barajas airport, we walked the same path, ate at the same café (which I now realized was Santagloria and super familiar from all over Sevilla), and we marveled at how every bite of food is somehow better.

“I missed you,” I murmured to my café con leche.

The parallels diverged when our flight to Sevilla was cancelled minutes before boarding.

The airline provided a 6+-hour bus ride that left a few hours later.

My world travelers took it in stride and we rather enjoyed the trip (which came with internet, power for charging devices, and space for us to curl up and sleep on our own seats). (Yes, I have applied for compensation and hope we can put some euros toward our next trip!)

I didn’t capture the prettiest view but it was a pleasant drive

Pulling into Sevilla and arriving at our own sweet home felt like a miracle compared to last year when we only had suitcases and no place to live.

We right away ran into neighbors and my Spanish didn’t fail me after 6 weeks of English!

I had thought we witnessed the blooming of the bougainvillea at our front gate before leaving in early July, but it apparently kept growing and blooming all summer long.

I asked the driver to drop us off at las flores.

We slept 14 hours upon arrival.

Then we started wanting to intentionally create traditions based on what we did last year, so we walked to Las Setas for boba.

Another miracle: it’s only around 80 degrees F! (I’ve been dreading the 100+ heat, which is due to return soon…)

I always knew one year wouldn’t be enough, and I was right.

The view of the patio outside our front door

PS! Thanks for reading and I can’t believe I didn’t post since April! I’m sure I’ll document some of it later (Semana Santa, sister’s family visit, Feria, moving to a new apartment, parents’ visit, end-of-the-year school performances, Evan’s 4-day fin-de-curso trip, lots of friends/camps/pool time in the weeks before we left, then our Chicago/Oak Park/Glen Arbor trip over the past 6 weeks). Anyway, my intention is to post more this year because I love writing and sharing this experience and I appreciate that you care to read this far! xoxo!

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We finally did touristy stuff!

April 7, 2026 thesolomamaproject

Our spring break week was amazing.

First, we had visitors from Oak Park (the Powers-Taylor family), with kids the same ages as mine. We’d done literally zero tourism in Sevilla and, with them, we did it all!

Highlights:

We went inside the cathedral– it was incredible. The largest Gothic cathedral in the world!

We climbed the Giralda, the tower built in the 1100s, but the photos aren’t great because of the screens over the windows.

We also visited the Real Alcazar, originally built in the 10th century, totally exceeded my expectations, can’t wait to spend time in there solo (aka without kids begging for stuff from the gift shop):

Places we went where photos weren’t allowed: the caves of Araceda (La Gruta de Maravillas) and a killer flamenco dinner show that was totally captivating.

We got ice cream like every five minutes.

Meanwhile, Semana Santa was taking over the streets of Sevilla, both day and night. The tall pointy hats are difficult for Americans as they look just like KKK but have nothing to do with it (they are capirotes, have to do with penance, and point to heaven):

It was beautiful but mostly I was trying to dodge around processions. And it’s not like there are just a few! They are happening all day, every day (and night), throughout the centro and beyond, all week long.

I wish I’d taken a screen shot of the ayuntamiento (city hall) app that shows all the processions happening hour by hour. It looks like it can’t be true, like a massive, slow motion traffic jam, (but it true).

At the end of the week, my kids and I rented a car and drove to Aracena, about an hour and fifteen minutes from Sevilla, where we’d just toured the cave and castle earlier in the week, to stay at a nice hotel, swim in the pool, and go on some incredible hikes where we met (and nearly adopted) donkeys, goats, horses, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats!

The highlight was hiking from Arecena to Linares de la Sierra, stopping for lunch, and hiking back. Proud of my kids for doing 6+ miles with whining only, oddly enough, at the beginning.

Not AI, no filter, not a stock photo or a dream

Hope you had a great spring break if you do that kinda thing! xo

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Things I didn’t have to worry about before living in Spain

February 16, 2026 thesolomamaproject

The other day, I was biking around the city and thought to myself, “I’ve never had to avoid oranges on my bike before.”

It made me think about all the funny little ways my life is different here and maybe “lil problems” is a way to organize them.

In many ways, daily life is easier in Spain. But in the following ways, it’s kind of annoying, lol

1. Avoiding smashed oranges on the street

According to a recent New York Times article 36 Hours in Seville, Spain, this city has 40,000 orange trees. They are literally everywhere, including lining our street and also outside our window.

Early in our time here, Chloe decided to pull an orange off one of the trees on our street and sample it—she said it was bitter and gross. But they smell wonderful, like regular sweet oranges, and the trees are really pretty and distinctive. A symbol of the city (you can buy orange perfume, wine, and other orange-themed gifts).

Recently, the oranges started dropping. I don’t know if this is the usual or if more dropped due to months of rainstorms, but the streets resemble my the streets of my hometown in Michigan on the day after Halloween.

This morning, I tried to avoid a pile of oranges on my bike and managed to explode TWO of them.

2. Doing laundry without a dryer

No one here has a dryer. I assume this is because much of the year is beautiful, hot, sunny weather and it’s easy to dry your clothes on a line or a drying rack.

The past 2 months have not been beautiful or hot or sunny. It’s been raining constantly. Any local will tell you, “No es normal.”

So, what’s a dryer-less Sevillano to do?

I tried drying clothes inside the house on a drying rack and it could take up to 3 days, at which point everything was stinky. So I started reading up on tricks like running the spin cycle twice.

Now that the forecast is sunny again (phew), lots of people are trying to hang their clothes in rather windy weather (check out my friend Sophie trying to hang her laundry on the roof in Sevilla).

Once I actually get up to the roof (2 flights up), I enjoy hanging the laundry. Reminds me of helping my grandma in New England in the summertime. A meditative task.

3. Coffee cups that are WAY too small

Americans are known for our giant coffees. At home, I had a mug that I used daily and it was big. I had just one cup in the morning, but it represented kind of a lot. Who knows how many ounces, but a lot. Let’s say as big as a “large coffee.”

Here, the cups are teeny. Smaller than is reasonable. Smaller than I want them to be, because the coffee is freaking delicious:

Sometimes I want to order four of them but I’ve never seen anyone order more than one. Maybe they do when I’m not looking.

So I have coffee before I go out for coffee. 🙂 My fave home coffee mug was the biggest I could find at Ikea, still smaller than the one I loved at home.

Before we came to Spain, I was doing my coffee with oat milk from Costco. Although there is oat milk here, I never found any with sugar, which turns out is what I liked about oat milk. So I weaned myself off of that and now, 6 months later, I’m drinking coffee with milk and no sugar and loving it again.

More important than the cups is the company. 🙂

4. A dependency on the weather

When you don’t have a car and live much of your life outside, a lot depends on the weather.

We’ve had some hilarious walks to school where we’re holding our umbrellas in front of us like a shield, just trying to not let it turn inside out in the whipping wind.

All the rain resulted in canceled basketball, canceled after-school activities, and there was even a rain day at school (akin to a snow day) when it was determined that there were flooding risks and falling branches, so everyone should stay home.

We got caught in a rainstorm on our bikes without even jackets and just had to power through!

I always think of this:

Paris Street, Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebot. At the Art Institute of Chicago

As we advance toward summer, the heat will be the next big factor: no one is outdoors when the sun is at its highest point in the summertime.

This one isn’t a problem as much as just a different way of planning. I love all the outside time.

Despite these daily struggles (har har), we’re loving life here 🙂

Till next time xoxoxo