High times or low times?

Ideally, for a budget traveler everything is based on the cheap airfare, but occasionally you have the luxury to plan your trip around events and preferences. Some people want to go to Oktoberfest, while others would rather see the Pope on Easter Sunday. Both are acceptable and accomplishable goals. Others prefer to travel during low tourist seasons while others thrive on the abundance of people to make them feel more comfortable. Either way you look at it, you're going to need a good set of guidelines to accomplish your goals.

I would recommend that you spend a several hours reading guidebooks at a local library or bookstore to get a good start. A book like Frommers, Let's Go, or Lonely Planet will most likely give you the best of Western Europe in one, two, or three weeks as well as one month and two months. It's a good start to familiarize yourself with the number of days you might need to stay in a destination in order to get the most out of that area.

For your first European vacation, it might be wise to stick to Western Europe rather than Eastern Europe for the mere fact that Western Europe has a more developed tourist industry that is used to accommodating visitors from all corners of the globe. On the other hand, Eastern Europe is cheaper, less affected by tourism, and less likely to suffer from angry, tourist hating people, but it may provide more day to day challenges.

On my traveling resume I have 3 distinctly different vacations with one common goal: I wanted to get more bang for my buck. The first was a two-week long vacation during "Semana Santa", literally translated into the "Holy Week" of Spain during Easter. The goal of this vacation was to see as much of Europe in 16 days for as cheap as possible. This consisted of 5 countries (stopping in 3 other countries on our way) in the span of the 16 days.

I booked flights with ryanair and hostels with hostelworld.com. On this journey we accomplished our goals by making some significant sacrifices. First, we only ate out in countries that we could afford to (Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany). Next, we never opted for a taxi since the bus will always be cheaper. Finally, we flew into airports out of the way to save a couple of bucks. Somethings that we didn't sacrifice were our safety and side adventures. Side adventures can be the most memorable part of journeys. I might not remember the the Holocaust Museum, but I'll never forget visiting the Sachsenhausen concentration camp 25 minutes outside of Berlin. I will also never forget getting free admission to the Underground in Berlin (block long night clubs underground). Of course there is a price to pay for all of this, mainly me sitting in an internet cafe for nearly 22 hours planning every detail of the adventure.

My second journey was with my four friends and I at the end of my study abroad. The mission for this trip was to combine the majority of our interests. After polling our interests I decided on a two and a half week adventure in Spain and Italy. First, three of us had 5 days to waste so we traveled from Valladolid, Spain to Santander and San Sebastion in the north of Spain. From Madrid we traveled to Rome, Venice, Florence, and Pisa. Surprisingly, we were able to do Italy in about 7 days. We then flew from Pisa to Sevilla, Spain. While in the south of Spain we went from Sevilla to Cordoba to Granada. We did this little journey in 5 days before we headed to Madrid to leave study abroad forever.

Our goals on this journey were to save as much money as possible and to experience culture. This was a good amount of time to see two countries. Spain for 10 days and Italy for 7 days. It was a bit exhausting at times, but nevertheless fun. One thing to remember when planning a vacation is to make sure that you travel with people that have similar goals and thoughts on travel. This vacation group was split between saving money and spending money. Needless to say we had a few altercations about food and such.

My third journey was when I went to visit my cousin in Spain in 2008. I went with my uncle Steve to see my cousin. We were there together for 2 weeks, and then I stayed an extra week to spend some quality time with my cousin in more of a low key fashion. I spent the entire journey in Spain. We landed in Barcelona, then we went to Zaragoza, Vitoria, and Madrid.

Afterwards, my uncle Steve left and I went with my cousin to Alcala de Herenes for the week. During that week I took in the sights of Alcala and took a day trip to Valladolid (the town where I studied abroad the year before). I got to know Spain really well again and see sights I hadn't spent too much time at before. The only problem was that I was taking an online course at the time and had to do homework on the trip. A bit of a headache for Kyle and I.

Each of my 3 vacations I view as a success because I was able to travel throughout Europe and still afford to go to college. The key when planning vacations is to know who you are as a person and ultimately what your capable of. If you can't carry a backpack through Europe, bring a rolling duffel. If you want to relax, don't try to do 5 countries in 16 days. If you want to save money, look for countries and destinations that have low season rates (like Malta in December and January). Finally, make it happen. You would not believe the amount of people that have said to me "Of course I'll visit you" or "I wish I could do what your doing". First of all, don't tell me your going to visit me if you're not. Second, you can do what I'm doing, you're just not willing to make the sacrifices in your lives. That's all folks. Stay tuned...

Spanish
Pijo-Posh, snobby

Basque
Polita-beautiful

British English
to slag someone off- to make fun of someone. Billy was really slagging you off yesterday when you got shot down by that girl at the bar.

Want to travel to Europe?

My resumé consists of two degrees in Spanish and History, an excessive amount of teaching experience,  experience with children, and yet I feel the most qualified planning trips.  I wouldn't necessarily call myself an expert, but I've sure logged a lot of hours on the computer planning the "perfect" vacations.  I would call myself an experience(ist).  I understand that it's not a word, but I love the idea of a good experience.  I guess it's a mixture of my historical, frugal, and adventure natures that land me in control of planning excursions.  Here's a tip for all of you that wish that you could do what I'm doing or go where I'm going: you can!  Traveling is relatively cheap and every country speaks English, you just have to know the loopholes and where to find the deals.

Getting to Europe is the hard part, traveling throughout Europe is the easy part.  To get to Europe you have to deal-search.  One good and bad thing about flights is that they change daily.  One day you might find a flight from Chicago to Madrid for $550 roundtrip and by the next day it has already jumped to $650.  That's a way of life.  Once you start looking you have to be ready to pull the trigger.  Some great websites for finding cheap flights are Orbits, Kayak, Skyscanner, Pakistani Air, and for you young travelers studentuniverse.com (if you are a student or under the age of 26 you have to verify you status with studentuniverse.com before you book--simple emailed photocopy of license/student card).

Now once you're in Europe everything may seem hard, but it's deceivingly easy.  The three methods of transportation are: train, plane, bus, car, boat.  Ok, there's about 5 methods, but I only use three of the five.  Even with the abundance of trains and busses in Europe, flying might be the cheapest option.  A few of the main websites come to mind, but each has a catch.  Ryanair is great, but flies into remote airports up to an hour and a half outside of the city center (Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, and Venice to name a few), and they'll charge you 6 euros a piece for online booking, but it can have flights as low as .01 euros per person.  Vueling is a bit more pricey, but flies in and out of major airports, however, charges 12 euros for online booking.  If that's not robbery enough, they charge you to check your bags.  Easyjet can be inexpensive to many places in Western Europe, and Wizzair is great for destinations to Eastern Europe.


Traveling by train is a great way to see the countryside and to save money if you do it right.  I've heard of the ever eye-brow raising rail passes, but I've yet to use one.  Train travel is good and inexpensive at times IF you use regional transportation.  Yes, traveling from Madrid to Paris seems like a delightful time, but a direct train will cost you up to $500 and $100 for those of you with rail passes.  The trick that will save you hundreds is to NEVER book a train that crosses a border.  Countries have fought long and hard to create the "best" public transportation for their countries and do not wish to share that title with the rest of Europe.  To get from Madrid to Paris you should take a train to either Irun (border of France and Spain) or Figures (border of France and Spain on the other side) and then a bus across the border into France, and finally a train from that border town to Paris.  Train is $40 in Spain, bus is $1-5, and train from French town to Paris is $33, bringing the grand total to under $100.

Traveling by bus will almost always be the cheapest option, plus will allow you to get to those tiny, hard to reach towns in Europe.  I just got done taking a 9 hour bus trip at night from Bilbao to Valencia at night and it cost me $37 each way.  It may seem a bit high, but the beauty of it was that we left Friday night to go to Valencia and left on our return journey on Tuesday night, ultimately giving us 4 whole days in Valencia and paying for only three nights in a hotel.  The objective of budget traveling is seeing as much as you can for as little as possible.  Sometimes you have to sacrifice a night or two sleeping in a bus in order to save some money.  Stay tuned for my next addition: planning a multi-country adventure?

Spanish
Gilipollas-asshole, dumb, stupid (referring to a person):  It doesn't necessarily have a fixed meaning, but is very commonly used.  It is derogatory and also used with a note of disgust in ones voice.

Basque
ondo-good:  Commonly used after people ask "Zer Moduz".

British English
It has come to my attention recently that British people pronounce words exceedingly different than we do.  For example, the word "fillet" is pronounced (fill-it) not (fill-ay) as we might pronounce it.  This has come up a couple of time in our discussions and never ceases to amaze me.

A common ground: Cats, Dogs, & Students

Dear Bilbao, you are beautiful when the sun shines.  Why can't you be sunny everyday?  Today has been a surprisingly uplifting day.  It all began when one of my students pointed out to me the family of cats that live in the courtyard of our school.  A nice multi-racial family with two orange cats and two grey cats.  Then, my last two classes got cancelled.  Next, the sun came out.  Good day.

 Even though I've lived here for a while now, some things still astound me.

1.  The obedience that Spanish dogs show to their owners is incredible.  They are hardly ever on a leash and almost never bark.  Maybe its because they beat them, maybe its because the walk them everyday, and maybe its a little of both.  Either way, its wonderful.  But why can't their owners just pick up their dog's poop?

2.  In connection with point number 1, Spanish children almost never obey their parents.  OK, this might be  a lie, but it seems like it.

3.  I'm not sure what it is, but Spanish people have a fetish with electrodomesticos (appliances), cooking utensils, pots, and pans.  On my way to work I always pass someone stopped outside of the appliance shop staring through the window at the appliances.  Frankly, I don't get it.  Sure, I love a good coffee maker or pizza oven, but not enough to lust after it.  Just buy it and get on with your lives.

4.  Why do Basque people need 6 days to celebrate Christmas. OK, not 6, but Olentzero comes on the 24th, Santa on the 25th, and the Three Kings on the 6th of January, and in some cases the kids get presents on all days.  Spanish people wonder why their children are spoiled (not all Spanish children are spoiled, but a few are).

Well thats all for today.  Until next time...

Spanish
Lonchas-Slices:  Can I have 3 slices of ham please? ¿Puedo tener 3 lonchas de jamon por favor?

Basque
Olentzero-basque santa clause:  He lives in the mountain in Navarra, smokes a pipe, has a beard, rides a donkey, and carries a sack of presents and coal.

British English
Fit Bird-Hot Girl:  The word "fit" means hot and "Bird" means girl.  Boys can also be fit.

Nerdy in Valencia

I figured it would only take a few months to expose my true nerdiness.  Most people head to Valencia in the south of Spain for tapas, flamenco, and the nightlife.  I went for the museum, weather, and research.  I know, boring right.  The museum was wonderful and the weather was, well, better than Bilbao.  And as far as research goes, Valencia is not for us (for those of you who may not know yet, we're planning on doing this program another year, but are not quite sure where we would like to set up shop).  People are way more sketchier, public transportation is uncharacteristically terrible, even for Spain, and there are way too many tourists.

That narrows the list to two: Santander and Murcia.  Santander pluses--Ryanair airport nearby, beachfront property, not too warm, less tourism, and less sketchy people.  Santander minuses--it rains on average 173 days a year!  Murcia pluses--warm, Tony is going to live there, traditional Spain, cheap, and only 32 days of rain! Minuses--hot, touristy, traditional Spain, sketchy people, and well, the south.  (Open to suggestions, please post comments on which you think would be better or other options).

Valencia.  Beautiful, traditional Spain.  Beach, sun, fun.  These are all words that come to mind when you mention Valencia.  The truth is that all that is said about Valencia is true.  It is a great place to visit with an emphasis on the visit part.  I don't think that I could live there, but I could visit.  Its strange because the south of Spain draws striking similarities to the south of the United States.  Their speech is much more simple and accent relaxed, they are generally a kinder, gentler people, and people from the north like to visit, but don't want to stay.

One thing that Liz and I did while we were in Valencia was eat.  We ate at a restaurant, cafe, chocolate shop, or ice cream stand for every meal.  Which means I gained 10 more pounds and that my mentality on what to spend money on while on vacation has changed.  I would never have even thought of eating out two meals a day when I studied abroad 3 years ago yet alone all three/four/five (depending on ice cream, etc).  Then again, I suppose one major thing that has changed between then and now is a paycheck.  Man, is it nice to explore Europe on an income. Until next time...

Spanish
"Qué fuerte"-How bold, I can't believe he/she did that.  Someone backs into a moped, knocks it over, and drives away--Que fuerté!  Also, it has to be said with some anger and disbelief, maybe a hand gesture into the air.

Basque
Kaixo (Kii-show)-Hello

British English
Proper-very, really.  "That was a proper good disco we went to last night.  I was proper drunk last night." As I have recently been told that anywhere you can use "very" or "really" in a sentence, you can use "proper".

Traveling is the other objective

We five took our first vacation together and made it our own.  No travel guides (primarily because Andrew left it at home) and without a real plan of action.  This is the way it was meant to be.  San Sebastian is a breath of fresh air and a windy one at that.  San Sebastian was a great time.  It's a good place to just sit and enjoy the views, activities, and food.  Not to mention, with two half-moon beaches it's hard to go wrong.  Especially due to the fact that the old town is nuzzled in between the two picturesque beaches.   

            I'm so excited to be finally doing what I came here to do...travel!  I've been here for 2 months now and have taken nothing more than day-trips around Spain.  Day-trips can be fun, but the real thrill of adventure comes in the form of multi-day, exhausting trek across unknown terrain.  My first of many vacations is to the beautiful coastal town of Valencia with Elizabeth and our friend from back home, Tony.  Liz and I are leaving this Friday night at 23:00 and arriving in Valencia on Saturday morning at 7:00 and staying until Tuesday at 23:00.  You have to love Spain's enthusiasm for their puentes (bridges-Monday and Wednesday holidays= Tuesday off) holidays.  

             Our next trip will be our Christmas vacation and, might I add, it'll be a doozy.  We start off with a week in the ever-cheap Malta.  Might I just say, the 7 days and nights in a 4-star spa resort in Malta will be the cheapest of the vacation.  We will next head to Barcelona for the night and then onto....dadadadadadah...Paris for New Year's!!!  After nearly a month of deliberation we decided to head to Paris for the New Year's (our runner-ups were Amsterdam, London, Munich, and Barcelona).  We will be in Paris for 4 days.  Then we will be heading on to Amsterdam then to Belgium.  Talk about an adventure!!  Thanks for listening.  Until next time...

Ps.  I have a video that I have been trying to upload...it'll be on my facebook for now.