Yep, as we speak, my mum is in the sleepy Spanish town of Loja, in Granada - halfway through a road trip from Alicante on the west coast of Spain, to the Algarve on Portugal's south coast.
I got a text from her this evening saying that they had stopped at a basic but comfortable hotel because they were knackered from driving all day; the next plan was to get some food in the restaurant and have a drink.
I smiled when I read it - it took me back to last summer, as those were exactly the sorts of updates I was sending back home from the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia. Less so Mongolia - it was more about "we've randomly stopped behind a bush and popped open the tent for the night" when we reached there.
Driving takes it out of you - more so than you'd realise before setting off on a long, multi-day journey. There was truly nothing better than seeing a hotel in the distance just as dusk was beginning to fall, getting a room and being able to relax, eat whatever indeterminate dish they had available in the restaurant, have a beer, and sleep in a decent bed for the night. I can imagine exactly how mum feels at the moment - especially as Loja seems to be a very pretty town and one that, no doubt, she would never have visited but for this slightly barmy adventure to surprise some friends who are on holiday in Portugal. Nothing beats just experiencing strange and unknown places by chance.
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