Hey folks!

Just a quick update – last month I spent two weeks in Spain, courtesy of their Board of Tourism. The trip was research for an article about Spanish Language Schools, focusing on the Andalucia and Valencia regions.

It was an awesome trip — I had a great time revisiting some of the places I had been to on my first great adventure, so many years ago. It was something like seven years ago that I took my first shaky steps onto Spanish soil, weighted down with an over-stuffed backpack full of raw nerves and dreams. It was my first time traveling alone in a country where I didn’t speak the language.  Almost immediately, i found myself lost and alone, with no place to stay, no one to call, and no idea what to do. of course, I sat, smoked a cigarette, regained my composure, and eventually worked everything out.

This trip, 7 years later was much different — no cigarettes, for one, i’d quit that habit over a year ago — but also I wasn’t a backpacker this time around.  Instead, I was a jaded travel writer with a guide, a driver, an endless itinerary of 5 star hotels and restaurants, and a tinge of a been-there-done-that attitude. Still, I had a blast on the trip, connected with some great writers and other folks, and I left with a reinvigorated sense of wanderlust.

The urge to get back on the road is strong. overwhelmingly so. And I’ll talk more about that later.

For now, enjoy this article, written for my old faithful client, and longtime supporter of my nomadic ways, Student Traveler Magazine —  Learning and Living: Studyinig at a Language School in Spain by Justin Jones

Special thanks to The Spanish Board of Tourism, FEDELE, my fellow travel journalists, and the Annas! ;)