#madrid2013

[anytafernandez]

#tbt #lanochenosconfunde #plazasantaana #demadridalcielo #madrid2013 vaya tres jajajaja @arietis68 @rosamadridcc #photoofday #picoftheday (en Community of Madrid)

[anytafernandez]

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#iloveyoupotrillo @alexoficial #madrid2013 #siempreatulado #teextraño #vuelvepronto #situsupierasespaña @situsupierasespana #picoftheday #siempredentrodemicorazon #orgullosapotrilla 🐴🐴😘😘 (en Community of Madrid)

[liliobregon]

«Te espero, Mi teatro es para ti ... » #Miteatro #DaniMartin #Madrid2013 @_danimartin_ (en Teatro Círculo Bellas Artes)

[worldiary]

I'm suddenly kinda nervous like I don't know enough spanish what if I get lost what if I'm roaming around Spain alone and I get attacked or something you know?

[worldiary]

Prepping to Travel Abroad: transportation (Part 5/X)

Each area is going to have its own transportation system. The Spanish public transport system contains  buses/ the metro, taxis, and the railway system. The metro is cheapest and most suggested way to travel. The railway system is best used for inter-city travel.

Metro map

Tourist travel pass: according to the website, the cheapest way to travel around Madrid. I'll keep you guys updated on what kind of transport I get.

Spain's train system

Suburban buses

[worldiary]

Prepping to Travel Abroad: Money (Part 4/X)

There are a couple things you need to think about when it comes to money:

 Can I use my credit card? In my case, the answer is yes. But it will come w/ a 1.5% transaction fee.

 Can I use ATMs? In my case, yes, with a $5 flat fee for each withdrawal-so withdraw a couple days worth at a time.

Is there a way to avoid all the fees? Most banks will let you exchange currencies inside a branch for free. My problem is that my bank only has branches within the county. So my best bet is to withdraw a bunch of Euros before I leave.

Do I need to worry about fraud prevention cutting my  card off once they notice I'm in a foreign country? YES! Make sure to call the number on the back of your credit card and tell them that you'll be in X country.

How much money should I be carrying around? I plan on having two types of money: an emergency €50 in my shoe/ bra/ whatever, and a daily allowance of maybe €50-€100 a day depending on whether I'm staying in Madrid or will need to use the trains. Spain has some awesome bullet trains, but they're not super cheap.

[worldiary]

Prepping to Travel Abroad: your phone and general communication (Part 3/X)

There are a couple reasons why you might want to be able to use your phone while out of the country. Maybe you're travelling with people or know you'll need to coordinate with people while you're there. Or maybe you just like the possibility of being able to call in an emergency.

Things you'll need to do:

Call your cell phone provider, they should be able to unlock your phone for international use. (My provider does it for free).

While in [insert country here], purchase a cheap prepaid SIM card.

Pop out your SIM card, put the local one in.

Note: you will have a new, local number.

Data stuff: Talk to your provider. I have a ghetto phone, so I don't need to worry about such things, but you might have to.

Other communication: use your favorite search provider to figure out where your country of choice has wifi hotspots, if any. Madrid has plenty :)

[worldiary]

Prepping to Travel Abroad: paperwork, getting there, and accomodations (Part 2/X)

Personally, when traveling to Spain, the only paperwork I need is my passport. For citizens of other countries or when going elsewhere, you may need visa. Use your favorite search engine to determine what you need and where to go to get your passport renewed /visa, if necessary.

Convention states that one should buy tickets generally 3 weeks in advance. I have no evidence to Support such a claim, but there you are. Some of my personal favorite travel sites are momondo.com and rome2rio.com. The latter will take alternatives to flying into account, which can be money saving.

As for accommodations, your options are hotels, hostels, airbnb, and couch surfing. Uhostel in Madrid was recommended to me as a really good hostel with free tours and activities, etc. Note that out of all the aforementioned options, hotels are the most expensive. Hostels can easily be searched for (Uhostel was recommended to me by a fellow tumblr user), and couch surfing can be done either by visiting couchsurfing.com or by messaging all your facebook friends. You'd be surprised to find who would be okay with you crashing on their couch.