141: We Took the Kids to Europe Instead of Summer Camp. Part 1 of 5: Barcelona

Welcome Back And Trip Premise

Jessica 0:00

Welcome to the Sugar Daddy Podcast, where we help you build a clear financial plan so you can feel confident and in control of your money. If you are an OG, welcome back. So glad to have you. And if you're new here, we're so glad that you chose today to listen to our podcast. This is going to be a special little mini series. We just got back from a month, almost a month in Europe. And we're going to tell you all about it. And we're going to tell you a little bit about how much we spent. We went to four different countries across four weeks as a family of four. So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Sugar Teddy Podcast, yo. Learn how to make them pockets grow. Financial freedoms where we go. Smart investments, money flow.

Brandon 0:45

Hey babe. What are we talking about today?

Jessica 0:48

Welcome back. We're back. That's what we're talking about. Um, honestly, how does it feel to be back?

Brandon 0:56

I mean, pros and cons. We had a, you know, we had a great trip and I enjoyed, you know, our trip. However, you know, I am a creature of routine. Yeah. And I do like some aspects of being back in my normal routine, of course.

Jessica 1:11

Yeah. And I'm kind of, I mean, obviously it was vacation and it wasn't normal life, but we did kind of go with the idea of like, what would it be like to live in Europe? Because it is something that we are considering. So we scoped out four different countries. We wanted to, you know, get the vibes, see how the kids feel about it. And it was really honestly the perfect timing because I left my job in early March. Um, I ended up signing with a new company before we left. So that was reassuring. And then we just got to frolic through Europe, which was amazing. And I mean, I've been working since I was like a wee little baby.

Brandon 1:51

A baby?

Jessica 1:52

Yeah. I mean, it feels like that. I mean, I literally started like babysitting when I was 11 years old.

Brandon 1:56

Which is weird.

Jessica 1:58

I know, and could you imagine an 11-year-old watching our kids? No, I would never let 11-year-old. And they were newborns.

Brandon 2:03

I would never let an 11-year-old watch.

Jessica 2:05

No, it was crazy. It was different times, you know, it was a different time. But all that to say, like, if you are an elder millennial like we are, if you are a firstborn daughter, if you are, if you are in those categories, like you're tired. We are tired. And so it was amazing to honestly take a three-month break, a little sabbatical. And, you know, even when I started speaking to my now manager and I said, Hey, I have this trip planned. Um, you know, I could work these hours or those hours. And she was like, What do you want to? And I was like, Well, no, but I wasn't gonna assume that I could start a month later. And she was like, Why don't you just start a month later? So it all worked out. The stars aligned, and we did four weeks in Europe and I didn't have to work, and it was amazing. Yes. So we're gonna get into we're we didn't listen. This was a this was a trip for us. This was a vacation. We did not detail every single dollar we spent. So we're gonna give you like the bulk of what we spent on accommodations, um, what we spent at Disney, that kind of thing. Um, but we're gonna break it down for you.

Brandon 3:10

Yeah, we were more or less like as far as like flights, accommodations and stuff like that. We were looking for, you know, keeping within a certain budget. But like once we actually arrived there, kind of like some of the day-to-day spending, we weren't like nickel and diming.

Jessica 3:22

No, no, no. And that's not how we typically, because if you guys have been here for long enough, you know I would rather not do something than to do it with restriction. So, you know, we'll we'll get into it. But we're gonna do this in a little bit of a series, and uh, we're gonna break down kind of country by country. So that way, I mean, hopefully you listen to all of it and it's interesting to the whole thing is interesting to you. But in case you're like, oh, I really wanted to do Paris Disney, you know, you can go to the Paris Disney episode and and figure out, you know, what part is for you. So let's get into our first stop.

Using Points To Reach Europe

Brandon 3:59

Barcelona, Spain.

Jessica 4:01

Barcelona. Okay, so we flew from Raleigh directly. No, that's a lie. We flew from Raleigh to Boston, Boston to Barcelona. So we had one layover. Um I will say we booked these flights with Miles. The reason we booked Barcelona, not because I didn't have an interest, but honestly, the whole premise of this, the way it started, and if you haven't listened to that episode, go back and listen to it. But the reason this whole thing started was like we didn't want to pay for five or six weeks of summer camp.

Brandon 4:35

Because I was like, We're like, oh, does it make sense to like the amount that we would spend, maybe add a little bit more on top of that and have all get a trip and like you know, kind of trip of a lifetime and let the kids see the world and all the things.

Jessica 4:47

And so that's kind of how this whole thing started is well, we don't want to pay for summer camp because that's a lot of money. So we wanted to get to Europe as inexpensively as possible. And so if again, if you're new here, we do a lot of points and miles travel. Um, and so I was looking for ways to get into Europe for the least amount of points possible. And about nine months ago, I guess 10 months at this point, I found the flights to Barcelona for 30,000 points a person, which we just booked one way because obviously we ended up doing multiple countries. So 30,000 points a person felt like a steal, was a steal. I booked it and I was like, by the way, we're going to Barcelona. So Barcelona was our first stop. Um, I had never been to Barcelona, Brandon had never been, and it was lovely. We absolutely loved it.

Brandon 5:41

Yeah, we had a great time.

Jessica 5:42

And the kids loved it. Like even after everything, I was like, okay, like which one was your favorite? And unprompted, and like, you know, without recalling all the things we did, Barcelona consistently was their favorite.

Brandon 5:55

Yeah.

Jessica 5:56

So I don't know. It was really, it was really great. So we flew into Barcelona and we had an Airbnb in most places. Our Airbnb for Barcelona was a three-bedroom, two-bath. It had a kitchen, it had a little dining area, um, was on, I think, the fifth floor, had an elevator, had air conditioning.

Brandon 6:18

Like all of them had air, all of our Airbnbs and air conditioning.

Jessica 6:20

There were certain things. I was like, we have to have air conditioning, we have to have Wi-Fi, and we wanted a washer. Um, and so all of our Airbnbs had those things. And this was really great. Brandon's mom ended up coming with us um on the entirety of the trip. And so she had her own room in in Barcelona. The kids had single beds in one room. And what we did most days, uh, you know, we or most places we went is we bought at least breakfast items. So we would have, you know, fruit, snacks, we would have bottled water, um, yogurt, things like that, so that we could wake up and get our day started before like heading out for the day. So we did grocery shop and we did want a kitchen in all of our locations.

Brandon 7:06

And I would say with that, like in Barcelona, the groceries felt less expensive. I felt like we were definitely getting more bang for our buck.

Jessica 7:14

I agree. I agree. Um, and when we went and bought groceries, a lot of things we we bought because yes, we know that we like Greek yogurt. These are the fruits that we like, but we also part of being on these trips is like exploring. And so we did buy snacks that we've never seen before. And we did try foods that we maybe haven't tried before. And so, you know, sometimes it was a hit, sometimes it was a miss, but I think that's part of the experience. And we did not limit ourselves in what we spent at the grocery store.

Brandon 7:42

Yeah. And the reality too is that like if we were home and not on this trip, we would be spending money at the grocery store anyways. Exactly. So that was kind of like, you know, an apples to apples in a sense, as far as from the spending standpoint. But I definitely noticed immediately, like the first time we went out and bought groceries, I was like, looking at things like, for example, just looking like things that like people might buy here, like fruit, or even just like for example, like a bag of Doritos might pay four or five dollars in the US, and then there you're paying like maybe two euros, which is less than three dollars here. So there was definitely noticeable differences in stuff being less expensive there.

Jessica 8:15

Yes. There was, yeah, every time we went shopping, those are the things that really stood out to us. Cause I mean, a bag of Doritos here, yeah, is easily five or six dollars at this point. And and then we would flip it around and look at the ingredients list. And the ingredients list was a third of the length of what we find here, which, you know, if if you've been paying any attention, you know that Europe has already banned half the stuff that we still allow in the US. Um, and so those were things that were really interesting to us, not only the prices, but also the ingredients list, especially of the products that we have here.

Brandon 8:51

Yeah, that was a recurring theme with all the countries that we went to, as far as like, you know, for myself that does a decent job of watching what I eat on a regular basis. And also I've noticed as I've gotten older, I tend to be a little bit more sensitive to certain types of foods. Where, you know, for example, like I don't eat a ton of bread and car, I don't eat a ton of bread here in the US.

Jessica 9:09

No.

Brandon 9:10

Because it just does not agree with my system. But over there, I had no issues zero issues. Whereas, like, you know, I eat like a a piece of bread here and I feel bloated as like I ate the entire loaf, none of that was occurring over there. And it just goes to show like the stuff that they're putting in their food is so much better than what we put in our food here.

Jessica 9:29

Well, and that's one of the reasons that we are considering moving is just basic health, right? Like here, if you're buying organic, you're working out, you have a gym membership, you're doing all the things, it's gonna get you maybe 70% of the way there of just regular living in Europe without having to like monitor every ingredient and everything that you're putting in your body. And I I just am in general, like I have some chronic things and I have inflammation. And the day that we got back, you ate just you know, a regular Chick-fil-A. Well, obviously, that's terrible. And then you had like a granola bar.

Brandon 10:07

I think it was the Chick-fil-A.

Jessica 10:08

The Chick-fil-A just well, after a month of like not having that kind of thing.

Brandon 10:12

Yeah, like I immediately felt the difference in like uh like as someone who works out on a regular basis, this entire trip we were there for like price twenty-six, twenty-seven days. I worked out once the entire time I was there.

Jessica 10:25

But we were walking like 17,000 steps a day.

Brandon 10:27

I mean, we probably average through the three six miles a day to the uh four countries, you know, 14, 15,000 steps a day on average. And I only worked out once, and I was not tracking what I was eating at all, like as far as making sure that like you know, I'm limiting my calories, none of that. I didn't do any of that that I normally do here.

Jessica 10:46

We were drinking like Aperol spritzes and having beers in Germany and like gelato every day.

Brandon 10:52

And when I came back, I was a half a pound lighter.

Jessica 10:55

Yeah.

Brandon 10:55

So like I didn't do any of the stuff that I do here as far as working out or, you know, quote unquote eating healthier. And I lost a little bit of weight being there.

Jessica 11:04

It just goes to show you that and that was in just 20-something days.

Brandon 11:07

Yeah.

Jessica 11:07

So yeah. So that that is one of the considerations of just basic living, I do think gets you automatically to a healthier state. And then, you know, the fact that you can walk everywhere. We use public transit. We didn't rent a car at all on our trip. We wanted to be integrated in community. We wanted to to show the kids that how other people live in other places. And honestly, the public transit was so easy to navigate. It was very affordable. Um, it was very reliable. And I would say all of the countries we went to. And I'm glad that we did that.

Brandon 11:41

So You know me, I hate to drive. If I don't if I don't have to drive ever again in my life,

Barcelona Airbnb Strategy And Costs

Brandon 11:46

I would be fine.

Jessica 11:46

Well, and we did a ton of walking. So our Airbnb in Barcelona, I have it written down, was $2,446. In total, all of the Airbnbs across the four countries was $7,950. Um, we ended up splitting part of that with Brandon's mom. So she paid her share. So we basically cut it into a third. So our portion across all four Airbnbs was $5,300. Um, Barcelona was $2,446. And I thought it was good value. We were 20 minutes walking distance from Sagrada Familia. Uh, we were, you know, five minutes from the bus station, five minutes from the subway.

Brandon 12:26

We probably tell them what Sagrada Familia is, in case they don't know.

Jessica 12:28

Sagrada Familia is one of the churches in the world. And it's beautiful. It um is by Anthony Gaudi. So if you've ever heard of Gaudi being really big in Barcelona, um, he was an architect that has created lots of buildings um and parks and things like that. And Pope Leo actually came to Barcelona like two days after we got there. We did Sagrada Familia the day we arrived. That was not part of the plan. Of course, we were tired, the kids were exhausted.

Brandon 13:02

It was hard to get tickets.

Jessica 13:03

That was one time we'd get to it was super hard to get tickets. And I had been stalking them, and finally, when the website opened, that was the only day available. It worked out, it's fine. I think at the end of the day, like our daughter, especially after traveling, was so exhausted. She didn't fully enjoy the experience. But I think looking back, she was like, wow, it was really beautiful.

Brandon 13:22

And the thing is, too, is like we're not, you know, religious people, but like the church itself is just beautiful. I highly recommend anyone that goes to Barcelona doing that tour.

Jessica 13:31

Yes. It is, I mean, you walk up, and I remember our son vividly being like, whoa, I didn't know it was going to be this big. Because I told him it's one of the largest churches in the world. But that what does that mean to a six-year-old? What does that mean to somebody who hasn't seen cathedrals all over the world? You know? So it was really, it was really gorgeous. Um, we ended up going up to one of the towers. We did the Nativity Tower, and then we walked down. Um, not my favorite part. My legs were like shaking at the end because it's like, you know, you're going down this curvy, windy stairwell.

Brandon 14:04

The stairs like an old castle, this little tiny winding that made for larger people at all. Yeah.

Jessica 14:11

Well, and like the steps are not necessarily like the same size, the same width, the same height, distance.

Brandon 14:15

Like so I just kept thinking like the people who like frequented this, like how tiny they had to have been. Because like I was basically the I was basically the the width of the entire like thing.

Jessica 14:27

It was it was it was beautiful. I'm glad that we did it. Highly recommend. And our Airbnb was only 20 minutes away. Um, we also did the Manjuk. I'm sure I'm messing that up, but we did the cable car tour. So it's a another castle in the area. We did not go into the castle, but uh we kind of walked around the grounds. The area is really nice. You kind of get a uh you can see over the coast. It's actually very close to where all of the cruise ships, like the port where the cruise ships come in. Um, and then we had a really nice lunch overlooking one of their public pools. So I would recommend the cable car. It was not super expensive, and the kids really enjoyed it. Yeah. Um, they really liked being able to just see from up high. We also went to Parkway, which is spelled G-U-E-L-L. So park ghoul is what it looks like, but apparently the pronunciation is parkway, and that's another gouty uh you know designed designed park. It is absolutely gorgeous. Highly recommend. I mean, you could have walked around there all day.

Brandon 15:33

Yeah.

Jessica 15:33

It was very hot. Yes. Go in the morning.

Brandon 15:36

Well, we happened to be um this trip, we were expecting, you know, completely different temperatures than what we got. We ended up going during record uh heat highs.

Jessica 15:44

Yes. Yeah, we packed for like because when we left, it was supposed to be like brisk in the morning, warmer temperatures during the day, and then back to brisk in the evening, which we were so excited about, especially leaving North Carolina in the summer. And no, that's not what we got. We got parts of our trip hotter and hottest.

Food Labels Walking And Feeling Healthier

Brandon 16:05

Yeah, parts of our trip it was like a hundred degrees outside.

Jessica 16:07

Oh my gosh. It was it was pretty brutal. It was pretty brutal. Um, and the difference there is, of course, like, yes, our Airbnbs had air conditioning, but like you can be sitting in a restaurant that has no AC and no ceiling fan.

Brandon 16:19

Yeah, that's what I said to Jess. I was like, what is wrong with your people? Like they don't have air conditioning. Okay, but do they not believe in airflow either?

Jessica 16:26

Yeah, like no ceiling fans, and then I will say, you know, real air conditioning, I definitely missed. And then also just like big cups of ice and coffee. Like I wanted a big coffee, like a big ice.

Brandon 16:39

Yeah, I think the biggest coffee we got was like maybe like I don't know, 10 ounces at most. I don't know. Probably not even probably like eight.

Jessica 16:45

Yeah. And you're just like, great, I need six of these. So there are obviously some cultural differences that you just have to adjust to. But out of all the things.

Brandon 16:54

I was fine with it after like, you know, after like a after a few days, I was like, oh, okay, I'm fine.

Jessica 16:58

I missed my ice. I mean, we had ice cubes in the um in the Airbnb.

Brandon 17:02

The amount of coffee I'd probably drink is excessive.

Jessica 17:04

Yeah, we are excessive coffee drinkers. So, but you know, you have to adjust. It's it's okay. Um, so Parquay, absolutely recommend. Very, very stunning. Go in the morning, bring your water bottles, bring your fan. Um, but really just to see what Anthony Gowdy envisioned and brought to life is really miraculous, it feels like. I mean, there's these structures that are carved out of stone, and they're the tile work and the botanical and tropical plants are just absolutely beautiful.

Brandon 17:35

And what was the other uh place that we went to that he designed that the La Predreira Casamila? Yes.

Jessica 17:45

We did not learn Spanish.

Brandon 17:46

I'm a museum nerd in the sense that for almost a lot of things, I might not be interested in them, but I'm interested in the history of them. And so, like, you know, uh finding out more information about him and how from a mathematical standpoint, with the architecture, how he created things, was really cool.

Jessica 18:01

Yes, there's a lot of just really cool design. Um, so La Pre Predrera, Predrera Casamila is if you've ever seen, it's like a wavy house. Yeah. It kind of looks, it was like inspired by the elements. So a lot of inspiration from water and air and uh the woods and things like that. And so you can see that in the design inside and outside, but it's like a wavy house on the outside. And it was really beautiful on the inside. It had these courtyards.

Brandon 18:34

So it was like a large, like a condo, like essentially. Yes. That's you know, apartment, not an apartment complex, a condo complex.

Jessica 18:40

Yeah, it was it was really beautiful. Um, so definitely would recommend that as well. Then we did like a sunset sail on the water and then kind of played on the beach for a little bit afterwards, which was really lovely.

Brandon 18:54

Now, the water at that time was not what we're used to. It's not warm. It's not warm, but the beach was beautiful.

Jessica 19:00

Yes, it was beautiful. And it didn't get dark until like almost 10 o'clock every night.

Brandon 19:05

Yes. That through that that throws you off when you're used to it getting dark at a certain time, and then like you look at your your watch and like, oh my god, it's 9 30.

Jessica 19:12

And you're like, Oh, we should be in bed. No wonder we're tired. But like, listen, things would start getting popping at nine. Like that whole siesta culture is real. It is real. So, like, you know, we typically would eat dinner at 5 30, 6 o'clock, you know, because again, we have our routine, the kids need to go to us and pick up until like 8 39. Listen, if you were going to a restaurant at seven, you would have the restaurant to yourself.

Brandon 19:34

Yeah.

Jessica 19:34

You know, if that was if they were open. But then when you were leaving at nine o'clock at night, that's when it was popping. So absolutely, like they do late dinners. It felt very um like it felt like there was community all around you.

Brandon 19:50

Because you were always seeing people.

Jessica 19:51

You were always seeing people, and like that's big in Europe, I think, too.

Brandon 19:54

But I mean you also in large cities, in the city.

Jessica 19:58

Yeah. But you know that cafe culture that's big in Europe. I mean, huge in in France and in Paris, obviously, but it was also in in Barcelona, and I really liked it. We also spent an afternoon shopping um after we did the La Pedrera Casamila at uh Las Ramblas, which is like the famous kind of strip of high-end stores and shopping and restaurants, and that was really nice as well. It's like tree-lined streets and beautiful houses with shopping underneath and just really beautiful. Like I could live in Barcelona.

Brandon 20:33

I like also a call out about like, you know, getting tickets for the various things that we had to get tickets for to go see. It is very affordable in comparison to what I think when you're in the US trying to see different sites and getting tickets. Yes. It's very like they seem like they are, I think they very consciously make it affordable for people to see because on purpose. Like it's very conscious.

Jessica 20:53

It's very they want you to be a part of it. They want the community to be there. Everything that we booked felt very reasonable, especially for what we got. Yeah. You know, for the experience and how beautiful everything was. It was very, very affordable. Um, most of these places had like audio guides. We didn't do them everywhere, um, but we did, we did do them like at the um at the La Predrera Casamila, which you have to listen in order to really understand what's going on. Um, there's a whole rooftop experience with different stone structures and things that was again very beautiful. And you want to learn about how that design came to be and what it represents. And um, I think that was very helpful.

Gaudi Sights Beach Nights And Heat

Jessica 21:41

The other thing that we ended up doing a little last minute was we went to the FC Barcelona museum and stadium.

Brandon 21:50

We didn't do a stadium tour, but we did do the Yeah, because the stadium tour, another uh this is the one part that was expensive. The stadium tour was significantly more per person to just go in and look. And I was like, I I don't think it's worth it.

Jessica 22:02

Yeah. It was like what ninety bucks a person.

Brandon 22:03

It would have been I think it would have been like an additional eighty euros. So it was all so nine Yeah. So if and I'm like, just to look?

Jessica 22:10

Well, and I even said I was like, well, if you and Roman want to go do that, like go do that. But I that wasn't for me and our daughter, and I don't think your mom would have cared. So that would have not been money well spent. But we just didn't do it. I think the museum in and of itself was very well done.

Brandon 22:25

Yeah, and just like obviously, you know, and if you you're new to the podcast, I grew up playing soccer. It's my favorite sport. And then our son starting to get into us, so it was a little surprise. We didn't tell him until we were gonna ready to go, you know, until we showed up, basically. So that was a little surprise for him. But like just to be able to see the difference in how that sport is viewed abroad as compared to here uh in the US, like was something I wanted him to experience because I was able to experience that as a young age, traveling overseas to uh play soccer.

Jessica 22:55

Yeah. And that one was a little bit more expensive than some of the other things that we did. Um That's why I like the most expensive one. But I think it was very well done. And if you are a soccer or a sports fan, I think it's worth going.

Brandon 23:07

Yeah, especially, you know, because uh for those who don't know, uh Messi spent a good portion of his career at FC Barcelona, so they have a whole thing to, you know, dedicated to him going there and seeing all the trophies and stuff like that. So that was really cool.

Jessica 23:19

Yeah. No, I think overall Barcelona was beautiful. The people were really nice. We d obviously do not speak Spanish yet. It is on my my kind of no, I don't want to call it a to-do list. It's on my bucket list of things that I would like to do.

Brandon 23:36

Um I would only do it probably if we move.

Jessica 23:39

If we move. I think so. One one call out is that in Barcelona, there's a dialect or language called Catalan, which is what they actually speak. So I'm not saying that if you speak Spanish, you won't be able to communicate because people learn Catalan, like as they're as part of their schooling. Um, but as non-Spanish speakers, we got around just fine.

Belonging Community And Moving Abroad

Brandon 24:02

Yeah. And one thing, like one of the reasons that we are looking at, you know, potentially moving abroad is there's just certain things in the US that we don't agree with the trajectory of where they're going. And one thing that I liked when I was in Barcelona and also just the other countries as well, when you're there, they assume you live there.

Jessica 24:19

Oh yeah.

Brandon 24:19

They would assume that we are they assume that we are bur that we are residents of Spain. They come up to us and start speaking in Spanish. You know, no question of like, do you belong here? Nothing of that nature. And that was in every country. Whatever country we were in, you know, even like, you know, in in um uh the Netherlands, where it's you know, more predominantly I mean more predominantly white, I would say like in the Netherlands.

Jessica 24:41

Yeah, yeah. Um, well we went to Amsterdam, which is pretty melting pot-ish.

Brandon 24:47

But like you they assume you speak the language. So like I like that aspect of them assuming that we quote unquote already belong.

Jessica 24:54

Right. Yeah, that is nice. Yes. I think too, one of those You feel safer. Yeah, you do. I think there I think part of what I really liked too is you would just be walking around and we would find a park and we would just let the kids play, or there was one place right behind our Airbnb where you could have lunch and there was a park, so the kids played on the playground while we had lunch. And I just it just felt like you could walk around the corner and have your needs met. And you didn't need a car, you didn't have to sit in traffic. Like I just really liked that. And that, and if anybody wants any of the Airbnb links that we uh stayed in, let us know.

Brandon 25:35

Yeah, they were all great and the hosts were great.

Jessica 25:37

We would stay there again. The hosts were great, super responsive, nice and clean, great areas. But I think too, especially in Barcelona, we had two grocery stores right across the street. We had a bakery across the street. We had, I mean, we literally had exactly what we needed within, you know, 30 steps outside of our front door. And I just thought that was so nice.

Brandon 25:58

Yeah, because like the one time that I worked out was when we were in Barcelona because there were gyms that were, you know, just really close. And I remember like the one day I went up, I got up early in the morning, went to the gym on my walk to the gym on my way back, walk and grab some, you know, some pastries and coffee for us. And I was like, I could do this.

Jessica 26:15

I could do this.

Brandon 26:16

Like I literally like had a mobile where I'm like, I could do this where this is be my regular routine.

Jessica 26:20

Yeah. I just I just thought it was great. And the kids loved it. And I will say, when we got back, um, we were my son and I, our son and I and I were walking the dog, and it's like he had this realization and he was like, nobody's outside. And it it just felt lonely. Like we live in a neighborhood, there's hundreds of houses, and there are literally days where you don't see a soul.

Brandon 26:44

I think that's part of the problem.

Jessica 26:46

Like most people No wonder people are lonely. Yeah.

Brandon 26:48

By nature, we're not meant to be by ourselves. So I think when you are, you know, forced to be in common areas with people that are different from you, you start to understand each other more, and it just overall has a more a positive outcome.

Jessica 27:01

Yeah. Well, you just you feel like you're instantly part of a community.

Brandon 27:04

Yeah.

Jessica 27:05

Even if it's like, I don't know this person next to me, but like seeing people is impactful.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Yeah.

Jessica 27:11

You know? So yeah, I definitely had a lot of those moments where I'm like, man, like after dinner, you could just like walk and get a gelato, or just I don't know, and not being beholden to a car, not being beholden to like just all the things that we have here is I just think is something that we're really thinking about right now.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

Yeah.

Jessica 27:35

You know? So did you have a favorite part in Barcelona? Like something that we did, like what was your favorite if you had to name something? I mean FC Barcelona.

Brandon 27:45

You know what? Okay. Okay. I mean, because like I said, like you like you don't see it on that caliber here in the US. So like the you know, the last time that I went to a stadium that would be anywhere near those was when I was in high school. You know, I was I was fortunate that when I was in high school, went to the Netherlands, was able to go see IAxxis Stadium and stuff like that. And also when I was in high school, I got to see Old Trafford where Manchester United plays and stuff like that. But like just being able to see that, I I I enjoy those things. And you know, a part of me is also like, you know, oh, you know, our son's really getting into soccer. Yeah, would love to get him into the youth program over there because it is significantly better. Yeah, I have a little, you know, bias there.

Jessica 28:21

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're the wheels are definitely turning and you know, talking about community, obviously, like we have a great community of friends here that we cherish and we value.

Brandon 28:33

But we're also so spread apart.

Jessica 28:34

We're so spread apart. And then even then, you think about how often do we see each other? Yeah. You know, and we have friends that love to travel. So in my head, I'm like, we'd probably see them the same amount.

Brandon 28:44

Be like, you know, we would have a guest room, like, just come to Barcelona and Mighty technically might see more because like when we see them now, like, oh, we see if we see them maybe two or three times a year, we see them for a day or a few hours. Yeah, yeah. That's where if they came to visit us, they'd probably be there for like a week.

Jessica 28:59

Right, right. I don't know. I it's you know, you don't want to this is not us saying, like, oh, if we move to Europe, everything would be better. Like, I think that it would be hard and there would be adjustments. And yes, we would everything our community. But in my head, I'm like, we can always come back. And for our children, the transition would be easiest when they're younger. Then learning another language would be easiest when they're younger. And so those are just things that we're considering.

Brandon 29:24

I also think there is something so important in getting outside of your little bubble, especially in the United States. I think you I think it's very easy to tell an adult that you come across that has not experienced other cultures.

Jessica 29:37

Yeah. And I think that's one of our like core values as a family is we want our kids to know that there's a great big world out there and that they are not the center of the universe, and that other people's ideas and way of living matter. And it just helps you understand from an early age that things are different in different places.

Brandon 30:02

Yeah, you're more open-minded, you're more accepting of something that's different from your normal.

Jessica 30:07

Yeah, it changes your brain. It totally, it just totally changes how you operate as a person. And the more we can do that for our kids, I think the better. Yes. Yeah. All right. So we left from Barcelona and we went to Paris. So we are going to tell you all about Paris in our next episode. Stay tuned. Don't forget, Benjamin Franklin said, an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You just got paid. Until next time.

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Jessica 30:45

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