The other day, Nicole and I booked tickets to go to the south of Spain for two weeks later this summer.

Now, the concept of two weeks in Spain is loaded with all sorts of images of debauched, alcohol-soaked holidays in once-quiet historic resorts in Spain that have been turned into ugly centres of British hedonism, no doubt to the embarassment of most Brits and Spaniards.  However, our trip, I can confirm, will be far from that.  Nicole has family in Spain so we intend to head out and see them before doing a bit of exploring around the area.

I’ve never been to Spain before, and it’s a country I know little about beyond the cliches, nor have much in the way of strong draws to.  So it will be interesting to read up a bit about what’s in the area we’ll be covering and what I can be enthused or tempted by.

More than that, I am just looking forward to being abroad again: shockingly, my first time out of the UK since my mullet-hunting trip to the USA in September 2008.  Not that the last year and a half has been short of adventure, of course – what with getting married, getting a book published and so on – and there are a few other bits and pieces of excitement coming up this summer that I’ll tell you about soon.

And don’t let this trip to Spain make you think that mullets are off the agenda, either.  The mission is still very much alive, but with the book to promote and the sequel to work on, it may be a bit longer yet before the next mullet trip can be effectively planned.

We will be flying with BA, and of course three potential pitfalls come to mind.  Firstly, it will be ridiculously hot; not my favourite state of being.  However, this particular time slot is unavoidable for for various reasons of practicality and work.  Secondly, there is a huge, big, Icelandic volcano belching its unflyable ash across half of Europe.  For both this reason as well as the love of overland travel, we’d ideally be going to Spain by train or something, but sadly time and money simply do not allow.  And thirdly, BA are engaged in an industrial dispute with its unions, meaning some small risk of strikes over the summer; but given the good price we found, it’s a gamble we’ve judged to be worth taking.

Searing heat, ash cloud risks, and potential strikes.  This, I think, is the ultimate in extreme travel.