You can call me crazy
And you're probably right if you do, lol. This is a post about how I try to plan my 2 day trip to Madrid with just me and my 8 year old daughter. When you read this post, the trip is already over btw because I'd never share this type of information upfront because I don't think that's smart with the emotional baggage I carry from the past. I don't think it's smart in general btw, but of course there are exceptions when you are in a group etc, or have a house sitter at home without being identified online, but in my case, it's a first time travel (read: flight) with just my daughter and not her father joining us.
Trying to make it memorable
He has had several business trips himself with us staying behind but not the other way around. As it's initially a trip where we are flying to Madrid for her passport to be renewed, I didn't want this trip to be this expensive and not also be fun and memorable. So this mom who can be a bit OCD in her planning (knowing yourself is a good thing, right?) has been browsing on the Madrid maps to see what options we have.
Explaining the title
My title is purely meant to be funny and in no way meant to be offending to annoying besides having self-spot.
I have no such label as I don't wish to be labelled by a doctor but I can safely say that I know myself well enough (and my boyfriend confirmed it several times by now) that the OCD goes without saying, not in a bad way but it's there, for sure! The ADHD mind, it's crystal clear to the both of us that it can be a blessing or a curse and it usually becomes a curse when my boyfriend (who actually has a label ADHD) thinks I take it too far and should stop ping ponging from A to B and then to H to go back to B and repeat.
Blessing for the trip
Yes, you read that right, the "officially labelled" ADHD-er is the one thinking I am way too ADHD for him to cope with sometimes, lol. The irony.. I understand it though, It drives me nuts from time to time but let's just deal with it, as that's all we can do. I think it can also be a blessing and this trip planning well, it's a good example. I always prefer being prepared and at least know some stuff upfront rather than arriving overly tired/in pain from sitting in a chair hurting my back and then standing on a huge airport not knowing what to do first. It eases my mind to have some things sorted before departure.
The world is my oyster!
All these (sometimes) a bit annoying traits, especially because I can now do whatever the heck I want without having to discuss it with another adults! Woohoo, the world is my oyster these two days! My daughter will love anything I plan or do with her anyway so she's easily satisfied and certainly not bothered by me carrying around travel itineraries or plans made upfront.
Her dad would be though, he's more a fan of seeing how it goes, while I like to prepare for what's coming and set a budget as well. I love the spontaneous ideas to go somewhere on a free Sunday sometimes too, but not when I fly to the other side of the country for just 2 days and I want to make the most out of it.. Officially it's just 1,5 days but seeing that we arrive in the morning and leave in the evening, it will surely feel like two days..
Finding cool restaurants and such
Above is a homemade salad from me, as I clearly have not visited any restaurants in Madrid yet at this point. For weeks, I've been browsing maps to click on restaurants and Googling the recommended places. I found a few of them that stood out due to their ambience and/or the food offered. One of them is called Honest Greens.
Green, you see, but this comes from my own fridge: parsley
Seriously though, the restaurant chain Honest Greens has pictures that make me drool (well, almost) and I'm looking forward to visiting one of their locations even though it's not too convenient to get there so I've already seen on maps, but we'll see if I can make it happen. For several days I've come back to check their menu (with amazing pictures) and thought about what I will eat there, I hope we can make it there at some point.
Overboard
My boyfriend keeps telling me I'm overdoing it and I will regret planning everything and just need to go with the flow. In terms of restaurant planning, he's definitely right, I've only made reservations in one place as I know my daughter will love it, and to be sure, I made one early and later afternoon to see how the day goes.
Locker
The only thing I'm really happy with planning ahead was getting a locker in the city with a big discount for two days so if I want to, I can drop the trolley in there and shop the first day or I could leave stuff in there afterwards until next day pick up etc. I've never used such a service but knowing upfront that I don't have to carry that trolley around with me until I can enter the hotel all day the first day gives peace of mind.
Tourist travel passes
And while I'd love to take a taxi everywhere, I know that will be way too costly considering the distances from the airport to the hotel and embassy etc, so I will buy tourist passes so that I can freely use the metro, bus and train within the zone.
Anyway, this was part one of my travel prepping, more soon...
Are you a true travel planner? Or will you just go with the flow and see how things go at that moment?
Let me know in the comments if you want to share..
Header image created with Canva Pro
The other pictures are my own..