In late July, 2019 I realized I would stop accruing vacation days at work if I didn’t take some time off soon (the best kind of problem to have!), so I’m taking a week off in late September 2019 – which left me with less than 2 months to figure out where to go and get it all booked. Since Ryan isn’t able to join me on this trip, I needed to figure out a trip that suited my travel-style when I travel alone (which isn’t at all as adventurous as when I travel with another person). After much thought, online research, and stalking some of my favorite travel accounts on Instagram, I settled on 2 days in Paris (culture! cafes!) and 4 days in Deia, Mallorca (beaches! small towns! local wine!). Fast Forward to October 2019 – I’m back from this trip, I had the BEST time, and it went like this:
DAY 1 / BONJOUR PARIS!
- I arrived to Paris in the early evening, grabbed a taxi to my AirBnB in the Marais neighborhood, and found a cafe for a glass of wine, a charcuterie board and to soak in the Parisian-ness.
DAY 2 / DAY IN PARIS
- I walked to the Eiffel Tower (from the Marais, this took about an hour), and I stopped at the Tuileries and outside the Louvre along the way. I hopped on a Bird scooter (they have Bird, Lime, etc all over the city!) and scooted back to the Marais as fast as I could because I could tell it was about to rain – which it did, all over me. This gave me a great excuse to go back to my AirBnB to dry off and take a good nap since I was still jet lagged. I got back up around 5:00pm and and wandered around the Marais and found a cute restaurant for dinner. I *thought* I ordered a steak – however a cheeseburger was brought to my table so I think I didn’t Google-translate the menu adequately.
DAY 3 / GOODBYE PARIS, ON TO MALLORCA!
- Early Morning – I pre-arranged a Transfer Shuttle to CDG through EasyGo Shuttle. I found them online (with good reviews) and I was not disappointed! They were communicative, professional and on-time. I was still jet-lagged so the early morning wake-up didn’t bother me.
- Morning – Vueling flight to Palma de Mallorca (PMI).
- Late Morning– Picked up my rental car (which I found to be a very easy process at the Palma airport. I was surprised that there wasn’t any passport control at this airport – so I just arrived and walked right out. After getting my car, I drove 40 minutes to Deia and checked into my hotel – Hoposa Costa D’or. This hotel was a big part of why my experience was so fantastic – I am definitely returning to this hotel!
- Afternoon / Evening – After an early morning of travel, I spent the rest of the day on a lounge chair reading, drinking a San Miguel beer (seems like the most widely available beer on Mallorca!) and taking in the gorgeous ocean views.
- Overnight at Hoposa Costa D’Or
Day 4-6 / SOLLER, DEIA, and VALDEMOSSA (Mallorca)
- I left these days kind of unplanned because I didn’t know if I wouldn’t be able to peel myself away from my poolside-lounging but after the drive in, which took me through some beautiful little towns, I was feeling very adventurous each day, so I did the following over the next three days:
- Visited the town of Soller (which was my absolute favorite). Soller had an incredibly charming central plaza with lots of cafes and a train that ran right through the center of town.
- Visited the towns of Deia and Valdemossa – I found both to be very charming.
- Beach Day at Soller Port – a beautiful bay with a sandy beach surrounded by shops and restaurants. I rented a beach chair, soaked in the sun, sand and water and definitely enjoyed an ice cream cone.
- Visited Binigrau Winery in the very small town of Biniali for a private tour and tasting. I’m usually a red wine drinker, and thought their red wines were very nice, but their white wine, “Nounat”, blew me away. I bought a bottle (for the very steep price of 10.50 Euros) and brought it back to my hotel to enjoy with my lunch and dinner.
- This was a 45-minute drive from my hotel which was very easy and pleasant with the GPS I had rented from the car company (although I very easily could have used my phone, it was nice not to drain my phone battery by using the GPS).
DAY 7 / ALL VACATIONS MUST (SADLY) COME TO AN END
- I left my hotel early (4:00am) and drove to PMI airport. The drop off process for the rental car was super easy – I just pulled in to the parking structure, parked in a spot designated for my rental company, and dropped my keys in a box.
- Flew home – The first of two flights was at 7:00am from Palma to London Gatwick, and from there, onwards to LAX.
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