Spanish Road Trippin’

I have another trip surprise…

Right now we are in the car for a very long day of driving. About 9 hours of driving. And from where we live, we could get to any number of places in 9 hours, but this time, we’re on official business: put an end to our illegal immigration status.

In order to do this, we have to go to a US Naval Base in the south of Spain. They’ll take our passports from us for the week, process us, and give us the wonderful little stamp that allows us to be here. We have been laying low over the holidays since the police are very quick to pull over anyone at night to breathalyze them/check their papers. So with our newly attained SOFA (Service Of Forces Agreement) status, we will be able to once again leave the house without fear of being pulled over and being locked up abroad.

But just because we’re on official business doesn’t mean we won’t be making the most of this trip! We get two days of travel down to Rota, where the Naval Base is. Tonight, we’re stopping in Sevilla for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll head into Gibraltar and check it out before going on to our hotel.

Our hotel in Sevilla–hopefully it really does look this cool in real life!

Our hotel in Rota, where we’ll be staying for the week.

The week won’t be too busy for us, but we do have to take Spanish driving tests! It’s a written test, thank goodness, and it’ll be in English since many of the men and women at the Navy Base need their license. We get a little review session before the test…I hope I pass! It’s certainly been awhile since I’ve taken a driving test.

Other than that, we’re going to explore the Cadiz area and relax! We’re excited to explore yet another area of Spain, and I get to add another country to the places I’ve been–we’re spending all day driving through Portugal!

Oh, and I almost forgot–one of the parts I’m the most excited for!! On the Naval Base, there is an American grocery store where we can get some of our favorites from home that we’ve been missing. I’m looking forward to marshmallows and reese’s cups!

Wish us luck on our Spanish driving tests!