Alan and Heidi quit their jobs, sold their home and belongings, and moved to Spain (with 2 kids) in August 2012.  This American family loves to explore and share their experiences on the family travel blog called Wagoners Abroad.  Let them be your inspiration to get out and see the world.

Outside my Front Door is a series of posts by fellow travel bloggers who share what is … outside of their own front door

Outside My Front Door

What is outside my front door?  It’s not much to look at frankly.  Tell me what you think? It’s OK.  Be honest.  I can take it.

Not very inspiring is it?  What happens if you look at my front door?  At first glance, perhaps not much.

But if you look very closely, you can maybe…just maybe see a little piece of the magic. Take another look. I didn’t see it either at first, but once I saw it, I was blown away. Technically, you can’t see it, but I’ll explain what I mean.

What’s so great about the Front Door?  It’s what’s on the other side!

How about that?!  What did I tell you?  Fantastic, right?!  That my friends, is the Mediterranean.

This view is one of the biggest things that has made our life in Spain so magical.  As a family, we had never lived on a lake, or by the ocean, so being close to the sea was a requirement for us when looking for a place to live.

How do I sum up all of the beauty and emotions that the Mediterranean brings to life?  Pictures don’t do her justice.  Video can’t capture those ineffable qualities that we find so enticing.

She has is this complex entity with moods, colors, and sounds.  She even has a distinctive smell.  When she is angry, her roar can be felt and heard.  I would not want to feel the fury she unleashes on the shore.

When she’s calm, her visage is clear and serene.  She beckons, “Come to me.  Be with me.  Savor me.”  While it bothers me that far-away strangers come to her and enjoy her beauty, I can’t fault them.  Her voice is so inviting.

Throughout the day as I watch her, and her moods change, I wonder at the spirit of her.  I’m not a religious sort of person, but just taking in her magnificence makes me wonder if there isn’t something bigger going on.  The physicist in me scoffs at the idea, and proposes that there is a scientific reason for her allure.

Calculating the paths of the sun-borne photons as they make their way through millions of miles of space is straightforward.  Determining which ones make it through our atmosphere becomes a bit harder, but those photons that manage to break through are special.  They are reflected off Her trigonometrically-defined waves, before they reach my eyes.

But there is something that can’t be defined; not in all of the math equations or physics graphs that explain her breathtaking beauty, that in this brief moment, is just for me.  There is no one else in this world who sees this.  Her display is for me, and me alone.

So back to the question:  What’s outside my front door?  It’s the excitement and anticipation of who I will see on the other side.

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