EXTRACT FOR
Ella's Fetish
(Anna Mann)

Nineteen year old brunette Ella had been dreaming of her trip for years. Born to Spanish parents who had naturalised in London, England she had always felt more Spanish than British. Maybe her passport did state that she was a citizen of the United Kingdom, but her heart always yearned to return to what she considered her real homeland.

Her eighteenth birthday had come and gone, and always she had discovered obstacles to prevent her travel plans. Originally she'd wanted to begin her odyssey the week following her birthday, but she'd been forced to face facts, she just hadn't saved enough to cover her costs. Ella had always planned to travel light, she had decided to backpack her way around the country, hitching where she could, and at other times she'd use the cheapest public transport she could find. Hostels would be her accommodation, she'd learned that throughout Spain there was an extensive network of pensiones, the Spanish name for a no-frills guest-house. They were cheap, but considering she intended to spend most of the year travelling, what she had saved was woefully inadequate.

I can work while I'm there she had told herself, plenty of her friends had flown out to places like Salou, or Benidorm, or the Costa del Sol and quickly found temporary work in the multitude of bars and restaurants. And Ella had the added advantage that she spoke Spanish, native Spanish, and that broadened her options considerably, because not every bar catered solely for tourists. Which means I might pick up a few jobs inland she'd thought. Seeing Spain wasn't going to become a hop from one Costa to the next, in her opinion that wasn't the real Spain, it was the Spain that had adapted itself to capitalise on the annual influx of British, and German, and northern European tourists who flocked to the Iberian Peninsula's sunny beaches and cheap booze. Ella would also take advantage of the resorts, but only to earn a few more Euros, money that would allow her to spend more time exploring without having to find a job.

Where did she plan to go?

The simple answer was... Everywhere, she wanted to see Don Quixote's windmills in La Mancha, the Pueblos Blancos of Andalucia, the wilderness of Extremadura. The Alhambra in Granada, The cathedrals in Cadiz and Sevilla.

So I get a job on the coast, save as much as I can, then visit another historical site.

***

Ella had quickly found a job in London, working long hours in a property developers office. The work had been mind-numbing and menial, but Ella had constantly reminded herself that it was only a means to an end. One year she'd told herself, I shall stick with this for one year... then I'll spread my wings and go home.

Her parents had been supportive, and so she had managed to keep virtually all of her earnings, she lived at home for free, ate at home for free, she wasn't weighed down by rent and utilities, and so her saving rapidly grew.