Ever since we met more than 34 years ago, my husband and I have dreamed about living abroad. Glenn is originally from Cape Town, South Africa, and I lived in Israel in the late 70s and early 80s; we both have wanderlust in our blood.

About five years ago, after building careers and raising a family, we started talking about taking a year sabbatical and traveling abroad. Then Covid happened and everyone’s world changed.

Two years ago, Glenn said we should start planning a one-year sabbatical. It took
months and months, obtaining visas, finding our base in Europe, packing up our home of 20 years and finding the ideal renters for our beautiful home.

First we wanted to be based in Italy for six months, but it was too difficult to obtain visas.Then we looked into Spain, and Barcelona was our first choice. After more research, we learned that Barcelona could be one of the noisiest cities in Europe. Who knew? The city is also crowded and hot during the summer. I then remembered charming San Sebastian and it seemed like the perfect fit for us. Small enough, but with an ideal climate similar to where we live in La Jolla, California. Of course being the foodie capital of Spain was a significant draw for me. We spent months looking at apartments online and found a few we liked.

We finally decided on a lovely three-bedroom, two- bath flat in the center of San Sebastian that I have yet to see and will be arriving next week. Our first stop was Ireland. Next week we are off to our short-term home in San Sebastián for five months.

During our five-month stay in San Sebastian we hope to immerse ourselves in Spanish life and culture.  And so our journey begins, follow us along our travels, adventures, experiences and tastings of this amazing world of ours!