Summer in Spain - little tweaks I'm making for a more enjoyable Summer

Last year I was so fed up with how busy everything was and the heat of the Summer I was literally ready to pack me, Mark and our 12 fur-babies up and move us all back to the UK! I had even got us visiting new build developments near where Mark is working and we were getting very close to making offers. Dramatic I know.

But the Summer did get too much.

It seemed that wherever we went, there were people everywhere. 

The beaches were packed, the carparks, restaurants, our walk we like along the promenade at Mil Palmeras was always swamped with people. La Zenia Boulevard absolutely manic and then throw in the Spanish Summer heat and I was done.

I get it, I live in a very touristy destination and people want to visit. Which I completely understand, we loved it so much we moved here! 

But, day in day out when because you do live here, trying to get your normal weekly errands done was turning into a stressful nightmare. Not the idea of living in the sun.

After the Summer when everything had calmed down and normal order resumed I realised moving back to the UK wasn't the answer (it did have a few pluses, but that's for another day). 

I decided this Summer I really didn't want to go through all that again and I didn't want to feel stressed out and fed up about where I lived, so a few things had to be tweaked for this Summer to be more enjoyable.

One of the biggest problems was my weekly Mercadona shop. Now everyone loves Mercadona and when they're in town they are also doing their weekly shops and my god it does get busy! The thing is with my local one the carpark is fine normally, but in the Summer it is mental. It's bad enough spaces are harder to find, but throw in people driving the wrong way, going out of no exits, blocking the carpark, reversing without looking - it sends your anxiety through the roof. 

So, this year I thought I am not going through that again. 

Towards the end of July when it started to be getting a little bit busier then normal I did a huge mega shop. Anything that we have that is frozen or a long sell by date I literally doubled up with or tripled up in some cases. This meant that I could do less Mercadona trips throughout the rest of July and August. I could then do the 'top up' shops in quieter supermarkets and when I do need to get some bits from Mercadona I now park down one of the side streets nearby and walk across. It is only an extra minute or two, not even and I'd rather do that and get a little bit sweaty, then go through all the stress and anxiety of parking in the carpark. 

Sounds silly, but it has made such a difference. I can cope with it being busier inside and when taking the carpark situation out of things, it has made my Mercadona trips enjoyable again. 

We have also switched up our weekend beach walk. We would always go to Mil Palmeras, but again because it is such a lovely spot everyone also wants to go. Which means it is really hard to get a parking space anywhere close to the beach and the promenade. Also, walking along it becomes very challenging as well with people everywhere. 

A couple of months a go we started to have our beach walk along the boardwalk at the beach in Pilar De La Horadada. We never thought it was long enough, but one day we literally walked a little bit further, turned a corner and voila, found a whole new walk that continued and ended up at a lovely chiringuito in the park. 

That has become our favourite weekend walk now. If you follow my Instagram you've probably seen some of the pictures I've shared from there. 

Along with it being a lovely stretch, so far it is so much quieter then Mil Palmeras. We haven't had a problem parking and it hasn't got overrun with people yet. There are little areas that are busier as one end of the beach seems a lot more popular then the other, but it's nothing we can't cope with.

Such a find, as again just switching up our walk to a quieter area has made all the difference too.

During the summer months we are also making less visits to the Boulevard, it has to be an absolute necessity and if I do go it is literally first thing in the morning. Get there for 9am when Al Campo opens, then if I want to pop to any of the shops they open at 10am and it's literally whizz round to the ones I need to go to and I'm out again.

The heat. Well, there isn't much we can do about that, but to be honest I haven't found it so much of a problem this year at all. I really think because I've tweaked a few things it's really helped to make me a lot calmer and I'm just enjoying and embracing the Spanish heat now. Yes it is extremely warm and after running around doing my errands I am a bit of a hot sweaty mess, but so is everyone! 

We have our air con regulated in the house so the lounge stays at a constant temperature, we keep the blinds down where needed and make the most of having a pool! I have noticed this year we do spend more time indoors, we tend to head back outside around 3pm. Being sensible and keeping out of the sun at the hottest part of the day.

It just goes to show if you're prepared to make a few little changes and tweak things here and there it can completely change your outlook and the way you go through life. 

I'm sure this kind of approach can be applied to so many different scenarios in our lives.

I could of easily just sat there and kept moaning about it all, but I was honest with myself, looked at it objectively, tweaked a few things and now I'm loving my Summer Spanish life again.

Heather