Today began fairly quietly.   John and I got to bed quite late last night, and after a while of tossing and turning I slept pretty well. John woke up just before I did and left the room to investigate breakfast, leaving me to get up a few minutes later and walk over to the window of the small hostel room we currently share.

Stepping onto the small balcony, I looked out over a narrow Spanish street. I was instantly struck by how different it felt: the architecture, the narrow street below, the people walking along it, felt so evocative of something I had never experienced but had only seen in films. It was as if I could feel bulls, matadors and sombreros in the air.

Things had suddenly become far more interesting than my little corner of south London. The thrill of the new and exotic that I already felt, standing on that little balcony this morning was almost overwhelming. This trip is going to rule.