My trip to Spain
After looking around on their website and social media I decided to go to Sun & Co in Spain. They are located in Javea, a small town between Alicante in the south and Valencia in the north. It is one of the most eastern parts of mainland Spain. They started out as a hostel, but quickly realised to needed to change some things if they wanted to get bookings in the low season. So during high season (late June until early September approx.) they are a hostel and the rest of the year they are a coliving for location independent professionals or the so-called digital nomads.
That seemed a good plan because I would be surrounded by likeminded people. I thought about getting an AirBnB in some town and go to a coworking space, but I was scared that it would be a bit more lonely. I totally did not regret my decision of going to Sun & Co, because it was such a nice place with very nice people from all over the world. At the moment of writing this blog I’ve been there twice and the third trip is already planned later in 2018.
But for my first time I committed right away to a whole month. There were some discounts if you committed for the month and I’m Dutch, so discounts are in my DNA. I booked a flight to Alicante and an airport transfer (it’s a 2,5 hours drive from the airport) and about 2 weeks later it was D-day for me. I shall be honest that I was very nervous to go there. You never know for sure if you like the town, the people and to be away from home for a month. The longest I went away was about 3 weeks and that were the family camping trips in France.
I arrived in the evening at around 7.30pm and was greeted by Jon the host. He showed me around and introduced me to some people whose names I forgot as soon as the left my sight and then I could stash my stuff in my room. I was right away invited for dinner by some people because someone else was leaving the next day. It turned out it was some kind of tradition to go to a certain restaurant when someone was leaving that stayed there for a little while. And that is the perfect way to get to know people quickly, so I joined instantly.
Since then I’ve been at restaurant La Cajita (the little house) many times. It is basically the cheapest place in town but with the best food. You have to take your time, because you go there at 8pm (at the earliest) and you are lucky if you return before midnight. But that is the whole experience when you have some drinks and good conversation.
People come and go in a coliving, so you can have a connection with someone instantly, but maybe they leave 2 days later. But when someone leaves usually someone else arrives and if you are lucky you have nice people also staying there for a couple of weeks like me and then you can have a good connection.
Every Monday evening there was the ‘family meeting’ and then Jon, the host, would ask us what we want to do that week. They have large windows that lookout on the patio and they use them as a chalkboard to schedule activities. You can think of social activities, like group dinners/cooking, playing games, go kayaking, hiking and the like or more business minded activities like skill shares and masterminds. So, if you wanted to do something, you could let the group know and usually there would be some other persons that wanted to do the same thing as well. That is a very good way to strengthen community because everything is on the board (window) and they also put there who was arriving or leaving. I really enjoyed my time there that I even stayed for an extra week and I met a lot of nice people. I went kayaking, went to beach many times, surfed for the first time, climbed the Montgo mountain, visited nearby towns and ate (ok and drank) in a lot of different restaurants. After this one I want to some other colivings as well, but Sun & Co is still one of my favorites. It also really helps when the accommodation and coworking(spaces) are in the same building, that really helps the community because you see each other in the kitchen in the morning for some casual talk or you speak each other during the day in the house or patio. I personally like that very much, but I’m aware it is not for everyone. I also like my private space occasionally but then I just withdrew to my private room.
So, my first solo trip was a huge success and one of the best I had, so that put the bar high and I needed to be aware that not every place would be like that. But this trip sparked my enthusiasm for colivings, traveling and spending time with other location independent people. It sounds cliche, but the decision to go here was a major turning point in my life. It’s where I caught the travel bug.
That seemed a good plan because I would be surrounded by likeminded people. I thought about getting an AirBnB in some town and go to a coworking space, but I was scared that it would be a bit more lonely. I totally did not regret my decision of going to Sun & Co, because it was such a nice place with very nice people from all over the world. At the moment of writing this blog I’ve been there twice and the third trip is already planned later in 2018.
But for my first time I committed right away to a whole month. There were some discounts if you committed for the month and I’m Dutch, so discounts are in my DNA. I booked a flight to Alicante and an airport transfer (it’s a 2,5 hours drive from the airport) and about 2 weeks later it was D-day for me. I shall be honest that I was very nervous to go there. You never know for sure if you like the town, the people and to be away from home for a month. The longest I went away was about 3 weeks and that were the family camping trips in France.
I arrived in the evening at around 7.30pm and was greeted by Jon the host. He showed me around and introduced me to some people whose names I forgot as soon as the left my sight and then I could stash my stuff in my room. I was right away invited for dinner by some people because someone else was leaving the next day. It turned out it was some kind of tradition to go to a certain restaurant when someone was leaving that stayed there for a little while. And that is the perfect way to get to know people quickly, so I joined instantly.
Since then I’ve been at restaurant La Cajita (the little house) many times. It is basically the cheapest place in town but with the best food. You have to take your time, because you go there at 8pm (at the earliest) and you are lucky if you return before midnight. But that is the whole experience when you have some drinks and good conversation.
People come and go in a coliving, so you can have a connection with someone instantly, but maybe they leave 2 days later. But when someone leaves usually someone else arrives and if you are lucky you have nice people also staying there for a couple of weeks like me and then you can have a good connection.
Every Monday evening there was the ‘family meeting’ and then Jon, the host, would ask us what we want to do that week. They have large windows that lookout on the patio and they use them as a chalkboard to schedule activities. You can think of social activities, like group dinners/cooking, playing games, go kayaking, hiking and the like or more business minded activities like skill shares and masterminds. So, if you wanted to do something, you could let the group know and usually there would be some other persons that wanted to do the same thing as well. That is a very good way to strengthen community because everything is on the board (window) and they also put there who was arriving or leaving. I really enjoyed my time there that I even stayed for an extra week and I met a lot of nice people. I went kayaking, went to beach many times, surfed for the first time, climbed the Montgo mountain, visited nearby towns and ate (ok and drank) in a lot of different restaurants. After this one I want to some other colivings as well, but Sun & Co is still one of my favorites. It also really helps when the accommodation and coworking(spaces) are in the same building, that really helps the community because you see each other in the kitchen in the morning for some casual talk or you speak each other during the day in the house or patio. I personally like that very much, but I’m aware it is not for everyone. I also like my private space occasionally but then I just withdrew to my private room.
So, my first solo trip was a huge success and one of the best I had, so that put the bar high and I needed to be aware that not every place would be like that. But this trip sparked my enthusiasm for colivings, traveling and spending time with other location independent people. It sounds cliche, but the decision to go here was a major turning point in my life. It’s where I caught the travel bug.
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