#Explaw🐾-ing Málaga

The UK has recently had incredible weather – I definitely have tanned some more (my Fitbit tan line is proof! 😝) It’s almost been as nice as when Matt and I went to Málaga a few weeks ago. Although the trip had unexpected bumps, we still made the most out of it!

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Our trip in 5 minutes

I’m pretty proud of the video I created that showcases bits of our trip, it contains clips both from both Matt’s Canon G7X Mark II camera and GoPro Session 5.

It was fun playing around with the GoPro with our different amounts (chest and head straps were our favourites!) – we ended up getting some pretty cool shots that we couldn’t have had without it. I’m excited to play around with it some more for future trips! The original clips from the GoPro weren’t as vibrant as we were expecting, so I edited the saturation in the video. I’m sure there’s a setting or something to make the video more vibrant but we didn’t get a chance to explore this – if you know (plus any tricks!) let me know 🤗

Quick reality check

Although the video shows us having an awesome time (don’t get us wrong, we did! It was definitely time needed), it doesn’t show how we ran into so much bad luck along the way.

This really honed into me that what you see on social media is definitely not an accurate representation of real life. During my trip, I received so many comments about how everything is perfect on my trip and how happy I must be 24/7 but behind all the beautiful ‘gram shots and 15-second videos, were a lot of struggle! We must be more mindful of this – it’s so easy to fall into the trap of judging someone’s life based solely on their Instagram posts and stories. I got real and highlighted this – there’s a lot more to real life than those little colourful squares.

It all started with a silly mistake…

Sunscreen.

We woke on our first full day hungry – we hadn’t eaten anything since the airport the night before. So, eager to fill up we went to a supermarket to fill up the fridge in the apartment we stayed at. In addition to food, we bought some sunscreen for our beach adventures after eating. We paid and made our way back to the apartment and excitedly got ready to head out to the beach. All is well and good, we spend most of our first day under sun, tanning and playing around in the sea.

After a few hours, we got back to the apartment where the light wasn’t so blinding and quickly found out that Matt was burnt. Very very very badly – he couldn’t let ANYTHING touch his skin otherwise it was greeted with a hell lotta pain. We then quickly realised that the sunscreen we bought was suntan lotion… not sunscreen…

face…palm…

From this one silly mistake, it all went downhill from here…

• 💤 We didn’t sleep well because it was difficult for him to lay down on his back, so we were up most nights trying to figure out how to sleep sitting up (verdict: impossible 😂)
• 😴 We didn’t sleep much ANYWAY because with the aircon it was too cold, without it it was too hot. 😆
• 🍽 When we ate at an Italian place (which charged us $6 for water!!!!), Matt quickly lost his appetite.
• 🤢 And then when we returned to the apartment that day, he was sick.
• 🏥 He was so sick that we rushed to the hospital on an Uber up the hills of Benalmadena…
• 💰 When we got to a hospital, we were told to pay $130 for someone to see him (it ended up being a private hospital) Thankfully, there was a public one around the corner that checked up and treated Matt for free.
• 👙 At the same time this was all happening, my bikini bottoms broke and was difficult to fix at the hospital so I mostly walked around with half of it falling down my shorts…
• 🚽 THEN I spent time in the waiting room looking around for the toilet. When I finally found one, I walked in on somebody who yelled, “LOCK IS BROKEN GET OUT!!!!” At this point, I was not only tired, hungry, anxious and stressed but also was drowning in my own embarrassment.
• ✨ Once we left the hospital that night, we got back and Matt was feeling okay again. They made sure he was hydrated (we think he had some sort of a sunstroke / was severely dehydrated and burnt) So we got to sleep that night, happy and relieved.
•  ❤ Until the next morning, where he continued to feel unwell. So we mostly stayed inside to try and let the sickness pass and making sure that he was eating and drinking well. I went out to do little trips to supermarkets and chemists for meds but other than that, it was just waiting for him to recover.
• ☀ A few days after that when he was feeling strong enough to go out, we spent the day exploring and chilling by the beach (this time with a little beach umbrella for extra protection and of course, sunscreen (different types at this point 😂)) When we got back after this day, we found Matt covered in sun blisters. Terrified of all of the things that happened up to this point, we decided to stay indoors for the rest of the day to make sure he was fully hydrated and well.
• 🙌🏼 THANKFULLY, the blisters didn’t get any worse so the next day (the final full day 😅) we spent time eating paella, exploring the Marina, walking around the area and of course, swimming in the sea!
• 🏖 When we were at the beach, Matt and I started planning some cute couple shots with a selfie stick. For some reason, the camera wasn’t attached to the stick securely and fell off, landing in the sand.
• 📸 AND YES, YOU GUESSED IT, THE CAMERA BROKE. 🙃 After a few attempts of trying to fix it (probably making it worse at this point), I semi-fixed it by removing sand I could see on the lens. Eventually, it could shut down and switch on fine again but still has sand inside (which we will get fixed soon!) It works but is broken, if that makes any sense. 

But you know what? Despite this, we…

• 📸 Still took incredible shots on our multiple cameras and tech to document such a truly beautiful place (anything by the sea is beautiful!)
• 🇪🇸 Had some awesome food – did someone say Paella? I ordered Paella that was for two people – the waiter was shocked. DON’T BE YA GIRL IS BIG I GOTTA FEED MYSELF OK.
• 🍦 Ate at the best ice cream place in ALL of Spain
• 🐠 Explored one of the best Marinas!
• 🌊 Had fun on the beach and sea!! The water was cold but you eventually get used to it!
• 🏠 Stayed in a really cosy apartment quite cheaply
• ✈ Had the opportunity to explore a new place outside Sheffield!
• 👫 Spent time together and supported each other no matter the circumstance – through sickness, through arguments and disagreements. ❤

Málaga in photos

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Sometimes the most unexpected things that happen, make the best stories. Have you had a trip gone wrong before?