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the browns go to spain in Spring

A road trip through Spain with my Wife, April 2019

By Kin Mun "mrbrown" Lee

May 17^th, 2019

Partner. Best Friend. Co-Driver. These are words that I am reminded of when I travel with the Wife.

I travel a fair bit alone. Sometimes for work. Sometimes for leisure. Sometimes for both. But there is something about returning to traveling one-on-one with the Missus, something we restarted with the kids now older.

Most of the time, she is happy to let me lead the way. But she jumps in to help when I ask. Sometimes she instinctively knows when to cover my blind spots.

Driving more than 2,500km with her on this Spain trip, going from Seville in the south, to Girona in the north, and back again, reminded me of how much we lean on each other.

I drive. She navigates.

I approach the toll booths of highways, she hands me the ticket and cash, and takes care of the receipts.

I try to not get ourselves killed in the crazy streets of Madrid, she acts as the second voice of the GPS, giving me a heads up ahead of turns.

I tell jokes, she laughs at them, so I don’t feel so sleepy on the long journeys.

I play my NPR podcasts, and we discuss politics and current affairs while going 120km/h on the Spanish highways.

I try to enter a super narrow, and steep car park entrance in Seville, she helps me check that her side of the car is clear.

She tries not to fart in the car. I let her sleep when she enters her post-lunch sleepiness.

I order the wine at lunch at the rest stop, she drinks it for the two of us, because I’m still driving.

A welcome sight when you’ve been driving for hours. The food is average and the prices slightly high but we appreciate the rest.

It isn’t always smooth, of course. Sometimes she misses a turn. Sometimes I make a mistake. Sometimes we get annoyed at each other. But we always remember to ease off the blame game and focus on getting to where we are going to, safely and in one peace, and in good spirits.

A sense of humour helps. And a willingness to let love cover a multitude of mistakes. Above all, throughout our two weeks on the road, we depend most on God’s grace and providence.

Our Hertz BMW X2 and it’s huge boot. And our two small Tom Bihn carry-ons.

The Wife and I are both also on a road trip together for life. We have aging parents to care for, young children to raise, and a special needs firstborn who is now entering adulthood. We know that even though we have driven many miles together for the last two decades, we know we have miles to go before we sleep.

The wife scratched my face when we took this selfie. She was going “Sorry sorry sorry!” while laughing.

And we are thankful for friends and family who help us in all sorts of ways. Nobody does this alone.

Always good to see her happy and on top of the world.

There may be Google Maps and Apple Maps now. And apps that help you book a hotel or tell you where to eat. But nothing can take the place of a companion, a friend, and partner-in-crime.