Preparing for a two-week trip to Lisbon and Spain with my father.

In November, I am planning a two-week trip to Spain and Portugal with my father.

For the past few years, we have started taking annual trips abroad together, partly as a way for me to show my appreciation. My mother can only handle about two hours on a plane, so she stays home during our long-distance travels.

Our first trip was to Mont Saint-Michel in France, and our second was a tour of Hawaii. For this third trip, we are heading to Portugal and Spain with the goal of seeing Gaudi's Sagrada Familia.

From Lisbon to Barcelona this time

Our route for this trip is Lisbon → Granada → Madrid → Barcelona, entering through Portugal and traveling northward.

For the Sagrada Familia and the Alhambra, I booked optional tours through VELTRA because I wanted to hear explanations while touring rather than just looking at them on our own. For accommodations, I have booked apartments via Booking.com.

I plan to book other tickets (such as for museums) around September.

Preparing for the trip since January of this year

Although the trip is in November, I started preparing in January of this year.

I started looking early and was able to book Air France business class tickets for about 350,000 yen per person, even with a layover. It would have been a million yen if we had chosen a different day, so I am grateful to be a freelancer with a flexible schedule.

I usually use Kansai International Airport when traveling abroad, but this time we will depart from Kobe Airport via Incheon. It will take longer due to the extra connection, but I am looking forward to that as part of the experience.

The importance of having time apart when traveling with my father

My first trip alone with my father was to France. Since it was our first time, we faced quite a few challenges. Based on that experience, I am now very conscious of scheduling days where we don't spend time together. During last year's trip to Hawaii, my father went to a botanical garden while I went to an outlet mall, which helped ensure the burden didn't fall entirely on me.

Just because we are parent and child doesn't mean we have to be together from morning until night. We can each do what we enjoy and then meet up again. I think that kind of distance makes a two-week trip more comfortable for both of us.

About meals

Actually, when I was a university student, I visited Spain once to see a friend who was studying abroad. At that time, my stomach was upset by the heavy amount of olive oil used in Spanish cuisine.

To avoid the same thing happening this time, I plan to eat out only about once a day and cook for ourselves in the apartment the rest of the time. With the weak yen and my father's chronic condition limiting him to eating only about the amount of a child's meal at a time, I want to take our time enjoying local food through takeout or prepared dishes.

We stayed in a condominium during our last trip to Hawaii and did some simple cooking, so I will be bringing the items that were useful then.

What I am planning to bring so far is,

• Nishio Foods' alpha-rice onigiri

• Powdered hojicha tea

• Miso soup (for my father's breakfast)

• Soy sauce

• Ketchup

• Mayonnaise

• Salt and pepper

• Herb salt (goes well with celery)

• Nori seaweed (I want nori for rice balls)

• Tube-style pickled plum paste (plum is good for rice balls)

These are the items. I especially want to try eating Spanish omelets with ketchup, so I bought the kind used for bento boxes.

Herb salt was useful for eating celery, which is easily available abroad, so I'm bringing a small size sold at Daiso. Celery is easy to eat and perfect for dealing with a lack of vegetables while traveling.

Since both countries have a culture of eating rice, I plan to cook rice in a frying pan.

Items I plan to bring this time

In addition to my usual travel supplies, these are the things I am preparing for my trip to Spain and Portugal.

• Type C power adapter

• Conditioner

• Toothbrush

• Sanitizing wet wipes

• Electric kettle

• Dishwasher detergent

Depending on the accommodation, it seems that while body soap and shampoo might be provided, conditioner and toothbrushes are not, so we decided to bring our own.
I think we will receive slippers for using business class, so I plan to use those.

Even for two weeks, about three outfits are enough.

I plan to keep my luggage as compact as possible. I will use the smallest size carry-on case that fits in a 300-yen coin locker and an Afternoon Tea zero-gravity backpack.
Since there are many transits, I am mindful of keeping luggage to a minimum to prevent lost baggage, and also because Europe has many cobblestone streets and stairs.

Since I can do laundry at the apartment this time, I think about three outfits will be plenty.

I am still in the middle of preparations.

The departure is in November, so there is still a little more time.

Through my previous travels, such as my first trip with my father to France and our condo stay in Hawaii, I have gradually learned what makes things easier.

I am using that experience to prepare for this trip to Spain and Portugal.

For those who have been to Spain or Portugal,

“I’m glad I brought this!”
“I wish I had brought this...”

If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments.