Kenny had such a wonderful time in Mallorca, and I really thought it was unfair that he made me come home last night. How could he love me and treat me this way? All jokes aside, this was just a great trip.
Kenny loves to golf but rarely has time to do so. We decided to stay at a
golf resort so that he could golf most mornings and then spend the rest of the day with me. This worked out very well. He booked tee times for 7:50 or 8:00 and was showered and at the pool by 11:30 or so. We were able to spend a good amount of time together without sacrificing what either of us wanted during our holiday.
The pool at our resort
We were in Mallorca for 10 nights and decided that it would be a waste to spend each and every day, all day, at the resort. There was an entire island to see after all. So we rented a car for two days. Because we only know how to drive automatic, European car rentals are very expensive. We wind up paying twice what we would pay for a manual and frequently have to rent a higher caliber car (the car rental companies don't bother having cheap automatic cars). Renting a nicer car is never a hardship, until the bill comes in. One of the amazing benefits to requiring an automatic car is that we are frequently upgraded to a much better car than what we originally booked. We had booked an A-Class Mercedes in Florence a few months back and wound up getting an E-Class Mercedes convertible in its place. On the same trip I had reserved a Ford Fiesta in Positano, and we were instead given keys to a Volvo S60. In Mallorca I again reserved an A-Class Mercedes, which was the cheapest automatic option. The company wound up giving us an SLK200 Mercedes convertible both days! So there we were, driving the coast and looking fabulous in this little convertible.
Obligatory picture of me driving:)
We drove up the west coast of the island on the first day, stopping at several little towns along the way. If I am being completely honest, many of the towns were underwhelming. They were cute and quaint, but that was about it. Every town has a church, an open air market and then... nothing! I am pretty certain that most vacationers would be a bit more impressed than Kenny and I were, but there was little to make these towns distinct from those in parts of Greece, Italy or even other parts of Spain.
View from the Carthusian Monastery in Valldemossa, where Chopin stayed for 3 months
On the second day with the car we cut through the island and went straight north. The island has several caves, and we stopped to tour one. I had initially decided against doing the cave tour, as the most popular cave on the island gets horrible reviews- 300 people on one tour, the tour done in 5 languages, difficulty seeing anything. I did a bit of research and found a much smaller cave instead and was happy that we decided to visit. The caves are gigantic, and they are cool (not a bad thing when the weather is in the high 90s most days).
The cave
We then drove to Formentor for lunch, followed by a visit to Cap de Formentor. The cape itself is about 12 miles long and has a pretty, old lighthouse at the tip.
The only problem was the road, so narrow in places that this very little car of ours could barely drive around the idiot drivers who took their half out of the middle! So while I'd like to think that we looked wonderful with the top down, the reality is that I probably looked more like this at times...
We also spent an afternoon in Palma, the main city in Mallorca. I wasn't overly impressed, but the Cathedral was beautiful.
Le Seu Cathedral
Wrought-iron canpoy by Gaudi
The food in Mallorca was just amazing. We both love Spanish food and enjoy eating our way through the various regions of the country. I was a bit concerned about gaining weight on this trip due to the amount of time we would be away- 10 nights away means somewhere between 20 and 30 restaurant meals. Because I am not much of a breakfast person, I bought single granola bars in London and brought them with us. Every morning I had a bar and an apple rather than paying resort rates for a breakfast I would not enjoy and would even have trouble getting down. We ate a proper lunch every afternoon, seared tuna for me most days, and a shared plate of fried calamari. Then we had a mojito or glass of sangria on the terrace every evening before dinner, which always included a bottle of wine. At dinner I was pretty controlled and stuck mostly with fish, avoided bread and only shared a dessert on one evening. Even though I don't feel tight and know I can still probably eat more than I will when I reach proper restriction, this little thing really does work! On a few evenings we went out for tapas. We would order 5 tapas to start, and I couldn't even eat my share of what was in front of me. I ate the protein first, again avoided the bread and was satisfied with so much less than I would have been pre-surgery. Kenny and I shared a paella on our last night, and I ate about 20% of my portion. I know I would have scarfed down my entire plate, and then gazed longingly at what he didn't finish, a year ago!
The most amazing bacalao carpaccio
I continue to be amazed at how much easier life is now that I have lost 80+ lbs. I am not lethargic, am much less sweaty (but in all seriousness, I still sweat like a pig when it is in the high 90s... it is what it is) and am not so afraid of not fitting, literally fitting, into things. The first day we drove the SLK I pulled on the seat belt to see how much give it had. I showed it to Kenny and said that I might not have been able to get the belt around me last year. This was a small sports car, not a big car with extra roominess. He mentioned that I would have probably gotten the belt to click but that I would have been much less comfortable. I also move so much more! Even though I brought gym clothes, I decided that I was not going to go to the gym during our trip. I just wasn't in the mood. Instead, I took the stairs everywhere. Down to the pool, stairs. Up to our room, stairs. Up to the concierge, stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs. And I didn't have Kenny go to the concierge so I could avoid the stairs; I simply did it myself. And with eating over 20 meals in restaurants, drinking more than I typically would and not setting foot in a gym for nearly 2 weeks, I came home down 0.2 lbs. I consider this a huge WIN!
I am also much happier laying out at the pool now that I have slimmed down a bit. I might be one of the bigger women at the resort, but I no longer stand out like a sore thumb. And now that I am smaller, I find myself looking at other women much more than I did at my heaviest. American women surely take the cake (yes, pun intended) when it comes to being fat, but these European women have a whole different mindset when it comes to appropriate swimwear for the heavier ladies of society. While up in Formentor as well as when out to lunch on our last day, I saw bikini-clad women who weighed well in excess of 300 lbs! I saw one rather large women in a surprisingly small bikini a few days into our trip. I commented to Kenny that she was almost as big as I am and that, while I am impressed with her confidence, I'd be a bit happier if I didn't have to see quite so much of her. He said that the woman was actually bigger than I, and my heart smiled just a bit:) My happiest moment was when we were clearing immigration last night. I handed our passports to the border control officer, and she reviewed my documents first. She looked at my passport- then at me- and said (with a smile on her face), "You have changed, madam, for the better". It was the NICEST thing I have heard since I have started losing weight. It was entirely unsolicited and from someone who doesn't 'owe' me a compliment or feel any obligation to say something so pleasant. I wasn't happy to land in London, but hearing something like that provided a great welcome home!
Last but certainly not least, a big thank you to
Catherine, for lending me this fun dress!
