I can't believe it's getting late already! I basically spent all day lazing around. Well, a lot of it budgeting and other organizational stuff on the computer, but it felt like a lazy day.
We got in yesterday evening from our trip. The flight home and getting through customs is always terrible, but it wasn't any worse than usual.
The trip itself was fabulous. Probably the best we've ever taken as a family. Lots of traveling, but worth it for all the experiences. We flew into Heathrow and had to drive about 4 hours to Exeter to spend a week with NT's family. We had a little outing or two every day, visiting different towns.
Here's a rocky beach at Dawlish Warren:
Babbacombe Model Village (a vast miniature world, this is just one small part):
The pier at Paignton, which had arcade games and other fun stuff:
Exeter itself was lovely:
We also visited a sandy beach, an otter sanctuary and butterfly farm and an archaeological museum. We mostly cooked at home (NT's parents had rented us a lovely 4-bedroom house) and brought picnic things out, but we did eat at a couple places.
After about a week, we left the kids with NT's dad and stepmom and drove about 3 hours to Oxford to our friends' house. That night they had people over so we could see some of the people we know there.
The next morning we left for Barcelona (me, NT, AS, our two best friends and the girlfriend of one of them); we took a bus to Gatwick airport, then a plane to Barcelona, then bought a 4-day pass for the trains and subways and found our way to our AirBNB, a nice 3-bedroom condo.
It was incredible there. For one thing, it was sunny and in the 80s (England had mostly been in the 60s and drizzly). For another, the place was just so beautiful. Everywhere had ornate iron railings:
There were tons of little alleyway-type streets that no car could go down, and tapas bars about every 5 feet, it felt like! The tapas was amazing. There were also a number of vegan restaurants; although none of them blew me away, it was nice to have so many options.
There were living statues in some areas that just blew me away:
We were close to the beach as well:
We got out to Parc Guell, a weird and wonderful park featuring architectural touches by Gaudi:
It was high on a hill so we got great views of the city from there.
And basically we spent hours sitting at various outdoor cafes having chilled wine and snacks. 
Everything was so amazing. The only drawback of the city really was that it could really stink of sewage in places. But you'd keep walking and the smell would go away in a minute.
Meanwhile back in Exeter, things could not have gone better with the grandparents. We Skyped once but it seemed to simultaneously bore and upset the kids, so we just relied on Facebook photos from family members. It was easy not to worry when we saw shots of the kids having fun all over the Devonshire area:
Our Barcelona jaunt went by in a flash; it was only four days, three nights. We flew back to England and took the bus back to Oxford to spend two more nights with our friends. The one full day we had there, we spent in the city itself (our friends lived on the edge in a more suburban area). One friend showed us where he works, the impressive Oxford University exam schools, full of rooms like this:
Then we walked around Oxford, basically just soaking in the atmosphere. It's such a beautiful city:
That night we ate at a nice Italian restaurant and went drinking at a scruffy but charming pub, one of NT's old haunts.
The next two days were no fun, but we were prepared: We left Oxford around noon and drove 5 hours (traffic was awful) to Exeter, met up with the kids and grandparents for a dinner out (luckily there was a play area because the food took forever and was only so-so), spent the night at NT's mum's house (the kids still had to stay at his dad's because of space issues and that made one of them weepy), got up super early, drove to the car rental place with two emotional kids, dropped the car, lugged our stuff on a shuttle to the airport, waited out a delay, flew to Iceland, got straight on the next plane which was already boarding, flew another 7 hours or so, went through the awful customs line, got a taxi home, and put the by-now hysterical kids straight to bed. That was around 8pm last night, which would have been 2am in England, so they were a wreck (even though they were really good on the plane).
But today was a good recovery day. I almost feel ready to face work tomorrow. Almost. 
Vacation wrapup: England and Spain
July 11th, 2016 at 03:28 am
July 11th, 2016 at 03:55 am 1468209320
July 11th, 2016 at 04:24 am 1468211090
UK flights & travel insurance: $5500
(UK lodging paid for by NT's parents)
Rental car & insurance: $900
Barcelona flight and lodging: $1300
Other spending (food, drinks, gas, public transport, souvenirs): $2500-$3000
So, roughly $10K all told. Highest estimate is $10,700 or so.
July 11th, 2016 at 10:20 am 1468232440
July 11th, 2016 at 11:59 am 1468238382
July 11th, 2016 at 02:12 pm 1468246343
July 11th, 2016 at 02:15 pm 1468246516
Did lower currency exchange rates make a significant difference?
July 11th, 2016 at 02:28 pm 1468247326
July 11th, 2016 at 03:59 pm 1468252763
July 11th, 2016 at 07:37 pm 1468265872
July 12th, 2016 at 01:35 am 1468287300