Derailed by a Road Scholar Tour

26 days...

How many times do we think we have all our ducks in a row and then our plans derail?
My rental house was secured, my passport up to date and I just needed to research plane tickets.
Of course, I knew that paying for my amazing adventure was going to cost money, so I was determined to break up the costs a little at a time, so when I flew away on March 11 the budget still allowed for some extras.  So far, so good.

It was like telling myself that today, I'm going to scrub the patio floor and then..."Oh, I see a book."
Derailing a little is one thing and I do it often.  But this time, I saw an advertisement for "Winter in Southern Spain: The Sun Coast."  My friend, Karen, traveled to Cuba on a Road Scholar Tour and her experiences weren't perfect, but I thought..."Oh, it's in Spain and look!  It's just a two weeks before I'd planned to travel there anyway..."

I read the advertisement and my heartbeat sped up.  The tour was in Estepona and I had friends through the Hawaiian Spaniards Facebook site from Estepona... When I continued down the column, my heartbeat got louder... it would take me to Gibraltar, Ronda and Jerez.  Impulsively, I clicked YES and I was off and running, quite excited with my decision even though I'd need a bed to sleep in for 13 days BEFORE I could get my rental house key on April 1st.

Very lucky for me, I had met a wonderful lady in Spain during my 2012 visit named Lyn M.  She and her husband bought the round house that my father built in Los Nuñez many years ago before he died.  I was delighted to walk through the house and enjoy their company with my brother, Steven, who knew them from his time in Spain on previous trips.  Since then, Lyn's dear husband passed away and so did mine.  So, hence the trip.  I am giddy to say I will be living with her for about eight (8) days after my tour and before I take off for two other villages. (I will talk about that in a future post)  I LOVE HAVING FRIENDS!

Back to my dilemma --- With the help of Marcos G. in Malaga, another friend through Hawaiian Spaniards, I learned if I stayed past 90 days in Spain I would need an Extended-Stay Visa.  Okay, I thought.  Let's do this.  Ah, not so fast.  Expensive, complicated, impossible.

I contacted my landlady, whose house I was renting in Callahonda.  Could I change my rental from April 1 - May 31, dropping one entire month?  She was charming and agreed.  So, I still had my Spanish homebase.  Whew.
Now, I needed a plane ticket, but first I had to build my itinerary for living in Spain for three months.

Next post:  Creating my itinerary and connecting with Spaniards and Ex-Patriots in Spain.