Rainbow story about one cool (4 days or 3 weeks?) trip to Mallorca

Life is kind of cool. Challenging, but that is what makes it fun. I guess.

It is Saturday evening and looking back at this week feels kind of ridiculous. Jan left for a conference to US and I was left in front of a decision either to cry alone at home and feel miserable or use the time as well as I can. And that is what I am kind of good at. Using and enjoying my time.

Now I could just show you the cool pictures and tell how amazing time we had. To show up. But there is the whole story that should be told. Story of parents with small kids. The truth, that there is way more than you see on the pictures. It doesn't mean that it wasn't cool. It just means that stories have many different sides. And stories with small kids are so colorful that there are not enough colors to paint all those moods and experiences that change quicker than you can register. And on top there is the fight between you being solo adventurous traveler versus being a parent who is sometimes also just tired and wants a bit easier and relaxed life.

I want to note down this story in a whole (or in so many colors that I can maintain to paint) for myself, for others, for whoever who doesn't understand the life with small kids.

Here is the full rainbow story, including my inner fights...

I bought very cheap flights to Mallorca already some weeks ago, knowing, that good decisions should not be overthought. As the day to leave came, I was more and more unsure. I was having nice time at home. Robert is not that easy company when he is challenged. Weather forecast looked really bad (2.5 days out of 3.5 days rain). I am not a giving up person, but I was just a millimeter close to staying at home. There were only two people knowing where I want to go, so that it is easy to give up if I don't feel like it. Wasn't the point of the trip to have a nice time? What is the point if we can enjoy the same or even nicer time here? What should we do there if the weather is bad? Will it be worth all the travel? These were the thoughts running through my head all the time. And these thoughts were not thoughts of a coward, they were very rational. 

On Tuesday morning I checked again the weather - my favorite yr.no which is always showing the nicest weather, was telling that it should rain only two half days and not two whole days, as it seemed before. So I booked the accommodation. Yes, even I am able to stay under the roof when I am alone with small kid (for those who all the time asked me if I stay under the tent like if they would like to make me feel terrible for not doing it - oh, well, it might kind of work, if I wouldn't be a bit grown up already - oh, wait, of course it works, but fortunately the big backpack was too expensive :-D ). I finished my work and closed my laptop at 11:45 on Tuesday, took our two small backpacks, run for a covid test (good there are no queues anymore), picked up Robert from kindergarden after lunch and went to the bus. 

And then there we were. At the airport. Me and him. Looking at the planes. Robert walking "sam, sam, sam" (alone, alone, alone), so people were falling over him as he had to immediately stop in the middle of the way to explore a tile or get by himself to the running stairs but starting to be scared just in front of them. I was still deciding if to just go back home or go on. I asked Robert what he wants and he said "Letadlo-uiii". So we queued for the plane. So easy. We queued for the plane. Wrong gate for the same destination and time. I was running to other gate totally unsure if I want to miss the plane or not. We made it. Got to the plane, Robert was so happy "uiii, letadlo", when we were taking off and I felt for a minute happy - maybe it was a good decision to go. 15 minutes passed and he said "stačí - domů". Since then, I felt for the rest of the flight totally desperate, thinking if I can book a flight back on the other day. It sounds like a joke, but it wasn't. I was really considering that option.

Full time trying to entertain him in the plane - 4 pm, no afternoon sleep, you can imagine how easy it was. Book read. Window covers 50 times opened and closed. Dry bananas eaten. Toilet visited. Pencils and paper tried. Table in front of us 50 times opened and closed. (Do you know Mr.Bean? I always see in front of me the picture of Mr.Bean rotating to us and scaring Robert for hitting his seat from the back). Varila myska kasicku, Koulela se brambora... 

Bread eaten. Toilet visited again. I guess that those instructions on the seats explaining how to behave in the case of emergency were saving already life of many parents and all the parents have them really perfectly studied while trying to entertain their little ones. One parent for one 2.25 years old kid is just too little. It is not 24/7 care. It feels that day has at least 60 hours with no break.

My planning brain was fortunately at home working well so we just got out of the plane, in 5 minutes we took a bus (Robert asking if we can go "letadlo-bus-domu" - no, we can't, sorry dude, you will get some life experience apart of your motorbike-playground-kindergarden easy life) and got out of the bus 15 minutes later just in front of our accommodation 

(I felt proud of myself. It was one of the 5 cheapest accomodations at Mallorca on Airbnb. Well because I booked it just in the morning. And I actually felt weird to be at such a posh place. But nobody was seeing me to give me comments and make me doubt it and feel stupid that we are not under a tent. I know we needed this. I would love to be under a tent. Without Robert. I know there are times for adventures and times for an accommodation. But opinions that we put on ourselves are sometimes just really terribly difficult to handle. Sometimes our prejudices about ourselves and our willingness to look cool in others' eyes is destroying us...whatever, nobody was watching me and I knew I am doing the right thing for this evening. So I could enjoy it for a second :-D ). 

We put down our backpacks and went out. 

To see the sea. At the moment we got to the shore, Robert saw boats and was really happy "koukej - lod - koukej - koukej" (look-boat-look-look). We got to the small beach, I stopped for a second and watched the boats and the sea and felt also totally happy and relaxed. All stress went away. This is what I like. This is why it is all worth. This feeling of being somewhere else than on the known places. Looking to the far and seeing no end. Ten infinite minutes passed by, felt like a whole romantic evening on a beach. 

Then Robert said "domu - spat" (home-sleep) and I also had enough. So we went slowly back (slowly as it was "schody-sam-tap tap"(stairs-alone-walk). To sleep. I bought a salad for him to get also a pot for the morning porridge. He ate two pastas and one piece of tomatoes - but the picture looks cool, right? 

Morning porridge, checking beach and boats and leaving by bus. No rain, only wet streets. Some sun among the clouds. How happy I am that those weather forecasts are so unreliable :). My bus plans worked magically. Fortunately. We left by bus to Campos and then to Cala Figuera. I just got message from a friend who walked 25-35 km a day over mountains about the good places we might like. I smiled to the phone. I know what I can do, I know what is our speed and space we need. I checked again the map for our plan for today afternoon. No, I still don't know what I can do to enjoy our time. I again overestimated our capabilities. Let's get out of the bus already at Cala Santanyí and walk only half of the planned way. 

Beach. Amazing rocks. Building boats from the sand and touching water with our toes. Only two other families on the beach with us. I was sitting on the send and all my doubts were gone. This is so much fun to be with Robert. It might seem I don't have time for myself, I even cannot go swimming as I am here alone. But I actually right now have time for myself. I can sit on the beach, walk around the shore and enjoy all of that. The beach was nice, the cliffs were nice. Robert was nice and happy. 30 minutes passed and it felt like half a day.

Me, who almost never buys food in restaurants on the trips abroad, I bought at the beach restaurant one kid portion of spaghetti bolognese and water for Robert. Spaghetti! How could I dare to buy spaghetti at a restaurant? It is something which feels so terrible that I can do it only secretly and alone. Spaghetti which is the easiest food to cook and I pay 7 euros for that? 7 euros? Crazy. I know. Robert ate it, I drank most of the water. So we were both happy. If you count 10 euros as expenses for a lunch for two people, it doesn't sound that bad. Then we could go. 

Big stairs up and down, Robert walking with his big backpack that amazed anyone who met us. "Sám sám sám" (by myself/me alone) was following us all the time. We reached a nice viewpoint. 3 pm.

He was getting tired, so we rested and ate our apple for 30 minutes, but he didn't sleep. I never explored so calmly and well all those places that I am visiting. I learned to switch to this mode of slow travel and I can accept it if I have what to see. If you want to walk with small kids, walk around the shore around Cala Santanyi and Cala Llombards - every step you get different view so it doesn't matter if the kid decides to just rest anywhere, you can just sit, relax and enjoy.  

When mapy.cz doesn't show any path, it typically means, there is no way. Well...if you don't see a small path going on. It was on the cliffs, there was a rope to climb on few places. I checked with Robert and decided to go on. I felt totally proud of him. He was listening, waiting, standing, concentrating on each of his steps. Like if it would be some other guy than I normally know. Talking to me all the time about what he sees and what could happen "koukej - skala - koukej - lod - koukej - strom - Robert - padnul - dolu - bum-curat-curat..." (look - rock - look - boat - look - tree - Robert - falling - down - bum-pee-pee). I was a bit scared but I also had a lot of fun. And the views! In the end we climbed over a private fence and go to the other beach. Both of us really happy.  This is so much fun. It was like 200 meters, but it felt like 10 km adventurous trip. 

Big stairs to walk on, one private fence (I really didn't want that, but when I found out that these stairs lead to a private property I didn't see how should I explain Robert after he walked so many stairs up, that we have to walk again down and take another way. So we risked it. There was nobody and also no alarm, so it was all fine :).

Cala Llombards. Beach. Playing with the sand and waiting until it is time to go to the accommodation. Robert is getting tired. We are leaving. 

Some Germans are amazed by his backpack and how sweet he is. Well, the clear way to make him stop and yell. He sits down and he doesn't want to move on.  The sweet smile on the faces of those amazed Germans is freezing. He sits there for 10 minutes. They rotated away from him. Most probably they don't think he is sweet anymore. He wants to walk alone. But he is too tired to walk. Infinite loop with no way out without yelling. In the end he sits on my shoulders and we walk the hill to our accommodation. 

I stop him from sleeping just before the house. Meaning he has really great mood when we enter the house. Then the big dog licks his feet. The smile on the face of the houselord is freezing. What can I do? We go for a milk to a shop, get back and shower. 

He founds out that the doors of the shower can be opened and closed. It makes noise. Even better. And doors from our room can be closed with noise. Cool! When I try to stop him, I see that he is just getting to the yelling mode. I know he needs to sleep. The only problem is how to move him to bed with the least noise. I am waiting when the houselord will come to complain. He sleeps. I read 5 pages of my book in the flash light. I cannot leave him on the first night in a new place. Then I better sleep also

In the morning we eat. But there are so many cool drawers, glasses and food within a reach, things to explore. My concentration runs on 1000 percents but still cannot stop all his moves and avoid all the noise. Parrot that speaks "hola" is making Robert smile. But the dog is too big for him and scaring him. Finally we leave. 500 meters from the house is a beach. Amazing beach. We have to climb stairs down, but there is a really cool cave and beach and blue sea..."koukej-tunel-koukej-cap (rozumej, racek)-koukej-doda (voda) - koukej - mami - skala" (look-tunnel (meaning cave) - look - stork (meaning seagull) - look - water - look - mum - rock), "sam-sam-sam" (alone, alone, alone). We reach the beach and there is nobody. Nobody. The beach is like from a fairytale. I cannot enjoy it enough. Robert also really likes it.

In 20 minutes come 5 young people. And I understand what does "Insta-beach" mean. They change to swimmsuits, take many pictures, pack and leave again, without even going to the water. Afterwards, many more people come. It is still nice here, but it is time to go. The moment when we had this place for ourselves is gone. Wondering how full it has to be in the summer. Amazing place. 

Moving like a snail we reach in 200 meters another beach. Robert is today a bit more tired than yesterday and therefore also easier irritated whenever I want to help him. But we reach the second beach. It is totally different, with cute houses, fascinating colors and cliffs. Robert wants to go inside the boats and stays playing with the stones. My plans to go to megalithic ruins around the coast (3 km) are gone. But I feel really fulfilled here. It is so nice. Robert walks stairs - running twenty in a row and then sitting for ten minutes, playing with the stones.

It takes long. It is late afternoon. He is challenged and tired. "vylet - staci - domu" (trip - enough - home). Home being whatever place where he feels that he can rest. We reach house. He yells to the robotic vacuum cleaner and to the dog that licks him. I cook, we eat and try to clean after us. He opens and closes the trash bin. Many times. I try to stop him. But he is not in the communicative mood. He opens the trash bin many more times and uses it also as a drum. Until the houselord comes. He speaks Spanish but I get the point "stop making noise, you are not here alone. I know that it is a small kid, but you are his mother. Make him behave.". Robert stops. He got the point. I also feel like "vylet-staci-domu". Every minute needs my full attention and it is still not enough. Especially when he gets tired. Well, actually I am the one that makes him tired. Hmm. Good point. Cannot parenting be easier?

We leave to the beach. I talk to him. We have a long talk and he seems to really listen and understand. We buy a chocolate and Robert insists to carry it home and give the "darek - Robert - sam" (present - Robert - alone). And he really gives the chocolate to the houselord. I explain him he has to be silent that there are other people and the dog and he manages to silently shower, drink his milk and go to sleep.

Morning. We leave silently. Houselord says even quite friendly Adios. At the bus stop I find out that my planning is actually off and the bus goes in one hour. When I start to consider to hitchhike, some woman stops by herself and offers us a lift. Then we hitchhike once again. It seems very easy here :). We reach by bus Palma, walk through some old streets and Robert gets a huge smile on his face when he sees "kocicka-tam-mami-koukej-kocicka-nahoru-nahoru-hop-utekla" (cat-there-mum-look-cat-up-up-hop-run away) and then a big playground. 

He seems very relaxed and I can see how all those walks on the rocks were challenging him as he had to concentrate on every step. But challenges are great. I believe that those are the points which enable us to grow. 

Aquarium. Quick decision as it is a bus stop where we should get out for our last accommodation. One ticket for fun for 2 people sounds good. It has really good evaluation. I decide that we can do it. Let's see, what it will be. And it was wonderful. Really great. It was a huge zoo, but with fish all over the world, corrals, sea horses, long fish, striped fish, dotted fish, fish with big nose, octopuses,corrals of all the different colors...just everything you can imagine. With huge pools. There were places to sit to watch the fish and enjoy. I could stay there for the whole day. 

Robert was also amazed. "ryby-koukej-velke-ryby-koukej-male-ryby-tam-koukej" (fish-look-big-fish-look-small-fish-there-look). But after one hour he said "domu -staci" (home-enough). I would love to explore all those corrals and fishes way way longer. I was just fascinated. I tried a bit. We annoyed some people around as he started to complain loudly. Because I didn't want to accept that he has enough. I wanted to be here longer. Can he also respect me? Whatever were my inner thoughts, it was not of much value. There was not much discussion with him at 3 PM. 

We went on. But it didn't go out yet. There was a playground with pirate boat and jumping slide and water fountains to run through...He got totally alive again and started to run around like crazy. One hour passed. Then I wanted to go home and he didn't want to. Finally we moved on. Running through a jungle, around sharks (I could observe them for ages) and meduses we left the place. If you are in Palma, definitely visit Aquarium. It is really worth.

Last walk to the place where we sleep. I put him on my shoulders and think that 2.3 km will not be too far. But in 300 meters he falls asleep. 2 km with sleeping kid on the shoulders moving from one side to another on the hot sun (after 2.5 days of 20-22 degrees it got way warmer) is kind of challenge. On the street full of cars. Can it be over quicker? We managed. The owner opens us gate and seeing me with him sleeping in my hands, she just directs me to the room. I put him to bed and he sleeps from 5:30 pm till the morning 6:30, when we are getting up to get to the airport. He got amazed by all the cats around in the morning and then we just go. 

Flight. I don't have to repeat it. It is the same story. Only when we are landing he says "vylet-este" (trip - again) and I feel like that I might start loudly laughing to the whole plane.

We get home and he tells me happily about all those things he experienced.

It was maybe the slowest vacations I ever experienced. We were all the time sitting and waiting or moving by really super slow speed - Robert's speed. We walked the whole day and managed to walk maximum 5 km. But looking back, our time was so full of experiences, full of program that I honestly couldn't believe today morning, that we just left 3.5 days ago on Tuesday afternoon from Prague. How is it possible that so much was fitting to so little days while having so slow speed? I could write about every 10 minutes a separate blog post. There is so much happening in every second. That is why the perception of time changes - your concentration on every single minute prolongs the time so much.

We made people smile to his cuteness, appreciating his smart talking or ability to walk with backpack alone, raise eyebrows to his yelling, turn away from us with disapproval after 15 minutes of him sitting in the middle of the street. Having problems to undestand that it is all still him. There are no drawers for people. All moods together are making one person. All of the colors.

We had a great time. Indeed. I feel fulfilled. But it is totally incompatible with anyone else. It was our time. It was a challenge for both of us. But we both in the end enjoyed it.

P.s. I can now write about all of this, because I got really well slept, as I most of the time was sleeping same time as Robert. Now he sleeps in his bed and doesn't need me around anymore...So I can rest by doing something else then caring for him. And in the morning Jan comes to take over :). 

P.p.s. It was just a false feeling of calmness. He called me just before I managed to upload the pictures so I had to finish it 2 days later :-)

P.p.p.s. And now I upload it 2 weeks later. But that is life :)