I’m sure you have heard the phrase before “When you live on Mallorca you come to a point where you really get the urge leave the island for some time.” Island sickness, holiday urge or other purposes to leave it does not matter, even a small trip to one of the neighbour islands to get some new air in their lungs, can be enough. I have even heard Mallorcans saying the same. Every now and then you need to get off the island. Funny, as we do live in paradise we are living a dream life in one of the best places in the world and the reasons for wanting to leave can be many.
Nordics love to travel and have always done so. At the age of 14 my parents had taken me 14 times for holiday to the same hotel in Gran Canarias. Boring you might think, but for me who was brought up in a small village with 200 inhabitants in the Swedish countryside, it was like coming home every time. This year the Canary Islands are already starting to fill up again with cold people from the north. Everyone needs sun and quality time away from home.
Like so many others I have been sitting at home the past 18 months without leaving the island. I have followed the confused questions from people trying to do the right and not wrong thing when they travel. In my opinion the most challenging part of travelling this year, is where to find the correct information on what is necessary. What app to download, if is it enough with a QR code and how to get the travel passport. Do you need a test to travel was the most common question on the online forums the past 6 months and no wonder? Only a couple of month ago a low-cost airline took off to Copenhagen, leaving 14 people on the ground in Palma airport as the rules and regulations had changed overnight and the needed tests was nowhere to be made before the flight took off. To be honest for my first post pandemic trip I was scared. I realised everything could go wrong.
Two weeks ago, it was finally time for my first international group to travel to Marbella and I knew I had to be there. I was delighted and a little bit nervous. The project I was taking part in was a big one, postponed 3 time during the pandemic and with people flying in from 5 different countries. Some of the members had never travelled before and the expectations were high.
The morning of the flight I prepared double, extra boarding card just in case, extra QR code and a double printed car rental paper to avoid problems. My partner dropped me off in the airport and the first challenge was my mask at check in – “Lady you are not allowed with that kind of mask you have to have a surgical one otherwise you don’t fly,” the check in staff said. I was prepared for that one and showed her the 10 extra masks I had in my hand luggage and was allowed in. The airport smelled like before and actually looked like before the pandemic. It was really busy and that made me very happy. The flight was over in 55 minutes and seeing a new horizon after 18 months in Mallorca felt good.
Marbella was warmer than Mallorca and the group enjoyed their days in the sun, just like expected they soaked up all the sunrays they could and had a very good time. Only the last night the BBQ got a little chilly. The trip was a success and to celebrate, I booked myself and my kids a trip to Madrid for the “Puente” (mini holiday break) in December. Slowly I feel life coming back to me as it was before and it feels really good.