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Andalusia or Andalucía?

The autonomous region of Andalusia (Andalucía in Spanish) is in the southern part of Spain. It spans from Atlantic coast in the west to the sheltered coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the east and from Málaga's Costa del Sol to the borders of Castilla – La Mancha the famous flat lands and Don Quixote windmill country.  With an average of 300 plus days of sunshine a year the coastal area is an all year round destination. Not so in the inland provinces of Cordoba, Jaen and Sevilla which ha ve baking hot summers that can reach +40c and cold winters which can be 0c or less overnight. The Mezquita, Córdoba Andalusia is divided into eight provinces, each with a provincial city of the same name. Some of them are far more famous than others: Almería , Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Sevilla. The three land-locked provinces are Córdoba, Jaé n and Sevilla, the rest are coastal. Each province and city is full of culture, history, traditions, fabulous monuments and cre...
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If you don't enter you won't win! My Competition Wins

Prevaricating is easy. I expect you already know that. I'm very good at it.  But if you don´t enter you won´t win. Here I´m sharing my competition wins.

I'm not very good at many things but prevaricating I (sadly, almost proudly) admit I am up there with the best. What about you? Are you a prevaricator or a doer? 

Occasionally I do. That happened fairly recently. I entered a Bradt Travel Writing competition and I was one of the runners-up. I applied myself and I got a result. That got me thinking about other competitions I'd entered. One, many years ago, was a children's story competition and in that one I was short-listed.

Then other competitions, those you see and don't take more than a minute or two to enter, I've entered lots of those. How many? I've no idea but I've had quite a few wins, which encourages me to keep doing those simple and quick to enter ones.



What have I won? Well here's the list for luck of the draw competitions


  • Two return flights with Easyjet (Spain -UK - Spain)
  • Two nights for two at  Hotel Catalonia  Reina Victoria in Ronda
  • Two nights for two at a Rusticae hotel - I choose Hotel Gar Anat in Granada
  • A shawl by Q-Bee
  • A Charming Hotel Guide to the UK.
  • A live Spider Crab
  • A Guide to the Cotswolds (writing competition)

So it got me thinking that if you don't do and enter something you can't possibly win. So I'm definitely going to look out for more writing competitions, that doesn't necessarily mean I'll get around to entering! But if I do I stand a chance at winning and if I don't well......

What about you are you a winner or a prevaricator?

Update:   2023

We are back entering competitions and travelling again -  I have a win!

A night in Cortijo Santa Clara in the valley of Carmona. 
If you don´t enter you won´t win!

Update: April 2025

Last year I won a 2 night stay in Bilbao with flights, airport transfers, 1* Michelin Star meal, entrance and guided tour of the Guggeneheim and a 48 hour pass for buses and trams for 2 - See my post on Luxury Spain Travel about our 48 Hours in Bilbao trip.

Then in February, I chose our wedding anniversary to experience the Michelin 1* star lunch at JCG Restaurante on Muelle Uno, Malaga port. A revamped shopping area, the prize was an Instagarm draw for Laurent Perrier Champagne.

My latest Instagram draw win is a 4- night cookery holiday in the Algarve, Portugal. More to come on that in the next update.

Enter those competitions - you might not win, but then you just might win.


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