I had a different paragraph already written for this assignment before I left for Valencia, but now that I am back from that trip, I realized I need to write a new one.
The first weekend trip I took was great most of the time, but there are definitely some things I learned from it. First, and most important, keep in mind the number of people travelling with you. This was the first trip we took, and there were 13 of us. This was a nightmare. A couple of us decided that we wanted to go to Granada. Great. Except then everyone else decided they wanted to go to Granada too. At first, this seemed like a great way to get to know everyone so I said sure, whoever wants to go to Granada, make these travel arrangements and come! We all booked separate bus tickets, and I made one big hostel booking. So far, so good. Then it came to the actual weekend traveling and I never realized how stressful it could be to watch out for 12 other people and yourself. None of us had taken a bus before so we all learned that together which was good, but very frustrating. Once we got to the hostel and got settled, everything was much better. But the moral to this story is travel in smaller groups – I would say 6 or 7 or less is ideal. I learned my lesson and next weekend only 7 of us traveled together, which was much better as far as numbers go.
So far I have been two places in Spain – Granada and Valencia. I loved both of them, but Granada was definitely my favorite by far. You just can’t beat La Alhambra. If you have a chance, don’t miss it. Anyway, to get to both of these places, I took buses. You almost always have to go to Madrid before going anywhere else. There are buses that go from Madrid to Toledo every half hour and they cost 4.68 euros and it takes about an hour to get there. There is also the high speed train – AVE – which is more expensive (about 8 or 9 euros), but gets you there in half the time. I have not taken the AVE yet because it doesn’t seem worth it to me. The bus works fine and is easy to connect to other buses. To book buses, consider booking them as early as possible because sometimes prices change. We used the company, ALSA to book our buses online – just make sure you are going to where you think you are going. We made the mistake of booking Madrid-Valencia Don Juan, which apparently is not the same as Madrid-Valencia. We ended up having to buy completely new tickets when we got to the bus station…ugh!
The other thing I have learned from traveling is that it is crucial to have some sort of guidebook. I didn’t really think this would be necessary, but mine has been the most useful thing I have brought. I have the Rick Steve’s 2008 edition, which works just fine. He gives up to date information and helps you plan your time in each city. I don’t have any experience with other guidebooks, but I am sure there are other good ones out there.
Other things to consider-
-Pack light, you will have to carry your luggage with you everywhere…sometimes for longer than you would like.
-Any hostel that is over 20 euros is probably not worth it
-Bring things that you can share – like one person bring shampoo, one hair dryer, etc.
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