Due to some international phone kerfuffles, Aidan's parents reached Sheffield a day before us. Luckily, both of us spent some of our university years studying there, so we were able to give them some tips on where to go without us. After a good nights sleep in a Manchester hostel, we jumped on a train and were greeted by Aidan's parents in Sheffield. It didn't take us long to get our Sheffield groove back on and we gave Aidan's parents the royal tour. This consi...

We had five days on our own in Spain before flying from Madrid to Sheffield. Slightly exhausted after such rapid traveling through Europe, we decided to find a smallish city near Madrid to slow down and really soak up some Spanish culture. We settled on Segovia, only an hour away from the capital, and our flight. We found a humble pension to stay, in a very central location above the popular Plaza Mayor. The owner was a nice old woman who spoke no English whatso...

We've just said goodbye to Andy, Rosey, Em and Splendid, our trusty hire car, who are all headed up towards France. The reason we've had to jump ship is that the cheapest flight from Spain to our friends in Sheffield goes from Madrid. So, to enjoy our last couple of nights with the family in Spain we chose a little mountain town just north of the capital, called Cercedilla. We arrived from Granada, and after struggling to negotiate the price of a couple of rooms...

Aidan's brother, Jeremy, has done a bit of travel around Spain and recommended Granada as the one place we should all visit. It was one of the last Muslim controlled cities in Spain. These days the city has a thriving community of gypsies, musicians and flamenco dancers, not to mention some of the best free tapas. Seeing as Granada is on the opposite side of Spain to Barcelona, hiring a car to carry the five of us across the country seemed more and more like the ...

We left Toulon, France early in the morning with one aim - to drive to Barcelona. To save money and appreciate the scenery, we decided to take the toll-free, coastal road. This was easier said than done, as every road seemed to lead to a motorway tollgate. When we finally found a more scenic, free road we ran into a traffic jam... What should have been a one hour journey ended up taking three! After this we all submitted. If we were going to get to Spain before 2...