Spain | Mistakes We Made, So You Don't Have To!
Spain was our comeback trip from the semester abroad that never happened. From Barcelona to Lisbon, we made stops all through Spain. We were off to a rocky start.. and ended on a rocky one too, but we learned a lot!
What we learned:
Pickpocketing in Barcelona is no joke (try anti-theft bags)
"Southern Hospitality"/customer service is purely American. Also, you are more American than you think you are.
Pickpocketing in Barcelona is no joke, neither is the straight-up mugging.
We were warned, but we thought we were invincible. It happens to all of us. You go to a new country feeling like the Cheetah Girls strutting down Park Güell one day...
Only to get mugged on a fine and unsuspecting Friday morning 😭
My friend got mugged on a 7 am churro run. Here's the breakdown of what happened.
Aleia walks alone to find churros in broad daylight. This brings me to my first point: do NOT expect you are safe from muggers at any time of the day. Day and night these people are hard at work stealing our phones, wallets, anything easy to grab and they are GOOD at what they do.
Aleia, following directions on her phone, took a turn down an empty alley. If there isn't a crowd, don't bother walking through. This is especially the case when you're alone as well. It's always best to be around people.. but too many people can make it easier for pickpocketers to get to you as well so make sure to always stay alert. This means looking up from your phone every now and then, keeping any zipped backpacks locked, and bringing purses in front of you to keep an eye on them.
Man shoves into Aleia knocking her over. At first, he appears to be helping her up, only to actually be attempting to steal her purse and successfully stealing her phone. yikes. If you get shoved, don't fall for that! It's an easy way for people to catch you off guard. It's also best to use a cross-body backpack or purse, muggers like an easy steal and won't always spend the extra time to wrestle a purse from you that's strapped across your body. Having zippers instead of a flap over the top (or a mix of both) will also make it harder for muggers. I put together some cross-body purse/anti-theft bag options below.
This water-resistant bag is easy to wear cross-body or as a belt. Take this bag anywhere on your trip with the sleek black design going with any fit!
For the girlies that usually have their wallet as an attached pocket on the back of their phone, this bag is for you. It's easy to strap as a belt, or like a stylish fanny pack, and hardly notice it's there (and potential pickpocketers won't either...maybe).
There's a special slot in the back of this bag that allows you to scroll, and type, anything you want on your phone while keeping it in the bag.
With lockdown straps + compartments making for harder access to zippers and RFID-blocking pockets to avoid potential hackers, even the most anxious travelers can feel stress-free with this bag.
Enjoy love! For the girlies with too many toiletries, who comes too prepared (we'll thank her later), or who can't leave her work laptop at home. This bag is for you.
Made with 100% recycled water bottles and an expendable, chic design to carry all your belongings, this bag is great for the ones looking to make a fashion statement without the bulky backpack look.
2022 changed the game, Trains NEED to be booked in advance. At least in the summer.
If you're going between big cities, expect it to be packed, especially in the summer. We missed a couple of stops between Barcelona and Ibiza after the stolen phone fiasco. Our route was Barcelona to Denia via train and Denia to Ibiza via ferry. Neither of those trips went to plan, here's the breakdown:
We miss our first train. Friday AM we miss our train from Barcelona to Denia. The next best bet is to spend a ton on a taxi to make sure we get there on time or risk barely making it on the next available train. We risked it. and then we didn't...
Our first move was to take the chance to miss our ferry in Denia and wait for the next train. We figured it would save us more money than booking a taxi would. As if anything else could go wrong, this train was NOT moving. Think of a classic New York subway experience with stops between stops, not moving between stops, and not fully catching what is said by the train authorities, or whatever they're called.
We decided to jump ship after making it about half the way and call a Taxi (this is what I mean by and then we didn't). We spent a hefty 100+ euros to get us to Denia... and then we missed the ferry. Tragic, but not surprising at this point.
After running across this small town to find the port where our ferry was docked, we ran into a fisherman who shared we had to go across the port to make it there. I was screaming to say the least at this point, and the poor fisherman watched in shock as I complained to my friend. Spanish people will forever be my favorite people for this specific moment: the fisherman, not understanding anything we were really saying, offered to give us a ride in his little clown car to try to make it. Next thing I know me and Aleia are crammed in the back of the car with my knees basically touching my chest as we drive the circle around the dock only for the ferry to be pulling out of the port just as we arrived. I can not make this sh*t up.
Luckily, we were able to get on a different ferry for a small change fee and twice the commute length, argh. Instead of getting to Ibiza at 5 pm we got to our hotel at 9:30 pm and you better believe we got dressed and walked right out that door an hour later. No way we were missing a Friday night out in Ibiza. My lesson for all of this really is just book your tickets in advance. The main train operator in Spain is Renfe where you can search for and book tickets in advance! As you reach a new city maybe consider booking tickets to the next one while you're still at the station, especially if traveling between countries because Lisbon really did a number on us 🥴 but that's a story for another time. Check out the best train options based on your trip! Renfe
Alvia long distances in high speed
AVE - really fast trains
If you're the more laid-back type, feel free to just find tickets where you can and explore! just know that the summer season can be packed, so it might not be as easy to get tickets between the popular cities.
If you go to Ibiza... good luck Charlie
Ibiza was an interesting time to say the least, most people go to day parties and night concerts, listen to EDM and take a pill (in Ibiza). What really shouldn't be missed, but often is on this island, is the beautiful beaches!
Enjoy the party atmosphere, but do NOT miss out on the beautiful beaches. Finally, one thing we did right. A relaxing day at the beach was exactly what we needed after the hectic commute and crazy night before.
Don't expect to hear local Spanish music here. One of the things we were most excited about going out in Spain for was the Spanish music! I knew Ibiza was a touristy westernized area, but definitely thought we would be able to find pockets of local culture here in the club atmosphere. Imagine our surprise when we showed up to find the headliner to be... David Guetta? Well at least he's French.
Expect pricier fees at the Ibiza nightclubs. The entrance fee for these night clubs were $75 to $100+ dollars. Here are a few ways we did or should have gotten more bang for our buck.
If you're a girl (or not), head down the bar strips towards the big clubs like Ushuaïa and embrace your femininity. In other words, see if you can get free drinks. As always be careful when accepting drinks (check for fizz, if too salty, etc.) and NEVER make it a solo mission. Although I will say when it comes to drugs in Ibiza, we noticed people will politely offer them to you rather than go behind your back, which is nice, I guess.
Get a head start and book a boat party for 2-in-1 deals for nightclubs after. We were exhausted after our first night in Ibiza and stuck to land the next day we were there. While we enjoyed the day lazing on the beach ending with a much-needed meal of paella and sangria beachside, the boats out on the water filled with booze and jet skis taking people to the party were also an envy to see. Some of those boat parties also include entrance to nightclubs later as well! If you have more than a couple of days, I would def recommend a relaxing beach day AND a boat party day.
Do NOT expect to eat dinner before 9 pm
Looking forward to your standard 7 pm dinner? Only if you want to look like a tourist. 9 to 11 pm is a more common time for people to go out to dinner. Expect breakfast, lunch, and dinner to be late. On the other hand, you can expect a lot of little meals in between. It's totally normal to eat more than three meals and if it's not, no one is going to notice anyways.
Expect food with flavor, don't expect spicy food. A rather small note to piggyback on my dinner-time call out, food in Spain has great flavor, but don't expect any heat (other than the temperature). After almost a week, my body was 90% paella and sangria and we were ready to try some spicy Thai food. We finally found a Thai place in Madrid and our mouths were watering when the food was brought out. The thing was, one bite of the food and we were instantly craving paella again. The food wasn't bad per se, but it lacked the extra spice that I was hoping to find. We also didn't realize how good we had it with paella. We figured, we're only here for a short time, might as well enjoy the local cuisine while we're here.
Southern Hospitality/customer service is purely American.
And god bless America for that, and I rarely say this. In America, your tickets get canceled? no problem here is a refund. You didn't like your meal? no issue you can send it back.
In Spain, your airline cancels your ticket? TOUGH. Our airline consultant stopped us right in our tracks before we could behave "too American." To be fair, she had dealt with screaming and temper tantrums (super embarrassing to be an American at this point) and was expecting the same from us. Long story short, we had to pay hundreds of dollars more to get on the next closest flight out.. only for it to be delayed by another 6 hours 🫠.
Friends from France, Foe from Germany
What are the odds we run into the same people three nights in a row? not very high, so we made the third run-in on purpose :) Nathan and Emilie were vacationing from Paris and we ran into them two nights in a row while going out in Madrid! We made plans to grab dinner on purpose our last night there and we naturally talked about the classic American and French stereotypes. Nathan had a lot to say about America - good and bad. Here are my favorite quotes:
"Americans are quite fat know? but that's okay, that's okay"
"Do you love Halloween? I LOVE Halloween"
"I went to New York, I saw a rat"
We also met Mark from Germany.. Mark looked back and forth between Aleia and me, deciding who he was going to hit on for the night. When I was the chosen one, Aleia fought him and it was iconic. Much love to Mark though <3
We knew from the start this trip was going to be a sh*tshow when I started yacking two hours before our layover in Lisbon. Can we say we anticipated using one cell phone the whole trip, missing every other train ride between cities, and Ibiza to be so... Ibiza? absolutely not.
But now you can.
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