Eight days in Spain

For a moment in Spain, life slowed down.

I just returned from eight days in Spain with my family, four in Barcelona and four in Mallorca, and I came home with a lot more than a tan and a camera full of memories. I came home with a renewed perspective on how media shapes our perception, how policy impacts communities, and how travel, at its best, opens our eyes far wider than the lens of a camera ever could.

Before we left, plenty of people told me Spain was not safe. Pickpockets, they warned. Tourists are targeted, they said. I have travelled enough to know how to watch my stuff, and we were prepared. Our passports were locked in the hotel safe, we carried almost no cash, and our valuables stayed in fanny packs tucked under our clothes. I stayed vigilant. Yet, despite all the warnings, I saw nothing. Not one suspicious move, not one attempted theft. What I did see was a country full of kind, welcoming and joyful people.

Another fear I carried was that Spaniards do not want tourists anymore. Headlines and social media chatter have suggested hostility toward travellers. I braced for rudeness, for cold shoulders. Instead, what I found was the opposite. Not once did I encounter a rude person. In fact, one of our best moments came in a seaside restaurant in Mallorca, where after a few beers we found ourselves sharing stories with the owner.

Naturally, I asked him about the negative press surrounding tourists in Spain. His answer was fascinating. The problem, he said, is not with the tourists themselves. It is with the government’s handling of short term rentals. He explained that when entire neighbourhoods are converted into vacation rentals, locals get squeezed out. Housing disappears, and prices for what is left soar. Property owners make far more renting to visitors by the night than to …