Your advice provides healing

Steven, sending my best wishes to your daughter for her recovery! Hope can work wonders! ❤️

Thank you, Steven, for your kind words here, and your obvious love and care for your daughter. Spain is indeed a beautiful and special place. It will be there, waiting patiently, for the day when your daughter can visit again. Wishing her a speedy and full recovery, and good health to you and your family.

What a clever idea! My almost daily time on the forums always lifts my spirits. You are so very kind to share how the forum is so helpful in her healing process. You've lifted my spirits a bit more as well!

Wishing your daughter a speedy recovery and that she will soon be back in her beloved Spain 🤗

At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, when all travel was shut down, I wrote a few retroactive trip reports with photos included. Here are some links, hoping this helps and maybe inspires future travels too 😉

Backroads of Spain 2018 | Roadtrip - Navarra, Aragon, Toledo, La Mancha, and Cuenca

Vicarious Travel Poland 2017 | Wrocław + Silesia

Vicarious Travel Norway | Oslo + Bergen 2016

Steven, heartfelt wishes for your daughter's recovery and for strength for you all as you help her heal. I'm so very happy that hearing about travel is making things better for her!

Steven, I hope your daughter heals fully and can visit her favorite country again!

Random memories about Spain that hopefully will bring back good memories for her:

The variety of colorfully designed tiles. The first page of our photo album is a collections of photos of tiles.

Beautifully haunting melodies played on the Spanish guitar - a lovely evening sound in Toledo, Ronda & Nerja.

Having our first jamon sandwich carved from the leg with a hoof! : )

The amazing art at the museums in Madrid.

Stopping in at the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid to browse & eat tapas & desserts. A country of tapa grazing - delicious!

The creative evening street entertainers.

The pretty blue shades of Cordoba patio pots against the bright flowers.

Hot days & cool drinks.

Festive decorations in towns during a local family-oriented celebration with fireworks.

Gorgeous gardens - some with mazes. Others with ancient figurines.

Flamenco!

Ocean beaches.

Bright white buildings contrasted with small blue doors in hilly villages.

Fragrant spices.

Steven, when I told my sis-in-law some years ago about how much pleasure I get from the Forum, she said simply: "You've found your people."

We love Spain, and have it on our "want to" list for next year. We love the people, the energy, the art, the food... pretty much everything. Please tell your daughter that we are with her in spirit, and perhaps one day we'll meet in Spain.

Hi Steven,

I wish your daughter a speedy and full recovery. You have generously shared your knowledge and experiences and given me much valuable advice, which made my visits to Spain truly exceptional If anything I've posted has a positive affect on your daughter, it's only a small repayment.

Wishing your family health and many wonderful travel adventures to come.

Wishing your daughter a speedy recovery (and Spain travels to follow!) 🤗

I am younger than the majority on this forum and recently became active on it after my first Europe trip in 16 years.. I truly enjoy the genuine advice - given as if the OP is a family member. The sharing of experiences. I spend a lot of time learning, planning, engaging here.

One could call it a distraction. Or resource. Or a meeting of like minded souls. Our Tribe! Rick’s genial, homely but travel hardy and live-like-a-European attitude permeates this forum. Its almost magical.

This post really touched my heart. I wish your daughter a full and speedy recovery.

Spain is a country neither my husband nor I had much interest in, but we ended up going there this past November. I was looking for a relatively warm location with decent covid numbers and easy entry, and Spain fit the bill. We loved it! I was so inspired I wrote a fairly long trip report, which you might want to read if you are looking for some less popular destinations for your and your daughter's next trip to Spain. Which I hope is in the near future!

My very best to you and your daughter.

Here's a link to Carroll's trip report: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/spain-the-ideal-for-us-pandemic-trip

Wow, I am so sorry to hear that you’ve been going through such a tough experience, but what a creative way to help in the healing process. Would it help to have people share their favorite memories of Spain to give you more to share?

Your replies are so heartfelt and inspirational! Leigh, daughter, reads each response and said, "This is not folks just saying "Get well", this is people taking the time to care about me." (a bunch of tears followed along with a big smile). Then she said, "I am going to be part of this group and give back so my journeys will help others." I think she is has already started doing so. Leigh is doing better and we spent the evening planning the renewal of her passport.
So grateful to all of you!
Steven

Hey, Leigh! Did you see Rick’s Tour News email today? He must be thinking of you because he’s got some segments on Spain! They are pictures of his tours day to day, but Spain nonetheless.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/on-the-road-reports

Get better soon, sweetie. We are all sending you happy and healing thoughts.

Just in case your daughter is also interested in videos about Spain, there is a great YouTube channel for daily life in Spain, it's an English and Spanish couple living in Madrid, its called Spain Revealed, very charismatic and entertaining:

Their page - https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesBlick

You and your daughter, Leigh, are in my thoughts. Sending positive wishes.

Positive thoughts and best wishes from one Spain lover to another! Barcelona grabbed my heart forever the first time I saw those Gaudi buildings!!!!

Update.......... a week of helping, assisted by your responses, has brought wonderful results. Rehab, time and continued warm thoughts shall enable planning another trip to Spain.
Thank you!
Steven

good to here - glad its working

I, too, am sending positivity and healing karma to a fellow lover of Spain. Besides the You Tube and Rick’s videos already recommended, read some travel/guide books and begin to think about where you’d like to go when you’re healed and ready. You will find a lot to look forward to. I’m so happy to hear your health is improving, Leigh! And Marbleskies, what an awesome and heart warming post from an awesome parent. Thank you.

Sending happy thoughts for your daughter’s quick and total recovery. I haven’t been to Spain yet but hope to get there soon too.

Oh my goodness. What a loving father to reach out in this way that he knows will boost up his daughter. I am so happy to come across this thread, and to learn that Leigh continues to improve.

Wishing you both -- and all your family -- all the strength, positivity and excellent care out there !

I wish your daughter a speedy recovery. For me, nothing lifts my spirits more than my family, friends, and dreaming about future travel and all the place I want to see for the first time, plus favorite places I want to return to. I hope she can use her passion for Spain to get through this difficult time and look forward to returning. Best wishes to your family. When one person is facing a challenge it becomes a challenge for all.

Steven - I know you been a forum poster for awhile, so thank you for letting us into your life. Your thread has helped me to stop and relive what a fabulous time we had on our Spain trip. RS tour company always asks on the feed back form what was your “wow” moment. At first my thoughts went to La Sagrada Familia, but then I started remembering so many other moments - the Mezquita in Cordoba, wandering through the grandeur of the Alhambra, over looking the gorge in Ronda, the funicular up to Monserrat… it just keeps going. I hope you are able to plan a spectacular trip when you get to the other side of all of this.