Pro's and Con's of Traveling in Spain

There are numerous pro’s to Spain travel. It is a relatively safe country with beautiful and friendly people. It has so much history, beautiful country side, and amazing architecture. It is very easy to travel throughout Spain, particularly through the rail system. The rates are cheap and you don’t usually need a reservation. Numerous outlying cities can be toured in a one day train ride. The hotels are clean and the food is wonderful and offers a wide variety to choose from. The shopping is intense, especially if you like beautiful items such as Lladro and Damasquinado.

There are even places you can go such as Toledo Spain where you can watch craftsman at work while they design and create Damasquinado.

The night life is amazing in Madrid Spain. It is neon and electric at night, literally! From the colorful lights of the city streets at night with their quaint bars and high energy Flamenco Shows, to the dining and drinks at the Hard Rock of Madrid. Spain is full of fun and full of things to do and you will never be bored!

I consider myself and expert on this subject and as much as I love Spain, it pains me to share the following information with you. Let me preface it by saying, the rain in Spain should stay mainly on the plain, oh what a pain! Be prepared for the occasional rain and foggy mornings when you travel in Spain. Once the weather clears, it’s a beautiful day but you better make sure you have a ride.

That’s right, don’t take anything for granted. I’ll share this personal story with you.

We woke to the last day of our wonderful vacation in Spain. We could hear the hustle and bustle of the streets below from our hotel room. We regrettably packed our bags as we did not want to leave this beautiful and amazing country. We checked out of our hotel room and proceeded to the concierge desk in anticipation of securing a taxi to the airport. Not!

We learned quickly the taxi drivers in Madrid were on strike and we would be forced to take and alternate means of transportation. We headed to the nearest corner bus stop and waited in the rain with our bags for a bus. We saw taxi’s go by and we tried to hail them but none would stop as they seemed committed to their cause. Finally, a large bus crammed packed full of people slowly came to a stop. When the doors opened, we were quickly told in a thick Spanish accent that “you cannot board the bus with your bags”. Not board the bus with our bags? You’ve got to be kidding me. What the heck were we going to do with the bags and more importantly, how were we going to get to our flight in time?

We returned to the hotel lobby frantically asking for help in getting to the airport.  No one seemed able to offer any suggestions whatsoever. Frustrated, we went back out to the street and began hailing every van that would go by in hopes that one of them would be kind enough to give us a ride.

 Our efforts paid off because a sweet little Spanish man was kind enough to see the worry on our faces and our flailing arms in the air and grant us that ride.  We were so grateful and made sure we compensated the sweet little Spanish man who even ended up getting us to the airport 15 minutes early.  All this being said, make sure you do your homework and have an alternate means of transportation to places like the airport and so on.  One never knows when they may decide to go on strike. 

Still, with all the troubles we put up with on that trip, I'd still go to Spain again in a heart beat. I'll even put up with all the Pro's and Con's of traveling in Spain, it's really that nice of place!