my trip to Spain and Portugal

Hi my friend,
just got back from Spain and Portugal two days ago. Many have asked about the trip so i figured the best way not to tell each one of you is to send out a summary of my trip. Well I'm gonna do this in a simple Q&A manner so it's easy to browse to the part you wanna read about

1. Where exactly have you been in Spain and Portugal?
Valencia-Palma de Mallorca- Santa Ponsa (Mallorca)- Barcelona- Madrid- Sevilla- Cordoba- Lisboa (Lisbon)- Sintra- Porto (Oporto)- Santiago de Compostela- Bilbao- Burgos- Salamanca

2. Do you speak Spanish or Portuguese?
Hola! Gracias! Obridgad! would be my best tries.

3. How was the weather like?
Unfortunately, as always, I had extreme bad luck- aside from the almost two weeks of sunny weather in Barcelona and Madrid, the rest was windy and rainy and freezing. The first day I arrived in Valencia it was the coldest day in 5 years.

4. So you traveled alone?
Yes, for the most part. Except that I stayed with the family of my dad's friend's in Madrid and most of the time with Manu (my flat mate) in Barcelona. The rest I traveled alone or with the people I met at the hostels.

5. Ok the most important question... Did you enjoy the trip?
Well, tough one. I really did enjoy it, for the most part. But since it's my first big trip alone, I had come to some difficulties that I wished that someone had traveled with me alongside. Overall, it was very great experience although language barriers in Spain were the things that discouraged me every now and then.

6. What town was your favorite?
Tough one again. All the cities were different and you can't really compare them like that. Most of the cities in Spain are a combination of the modern and the ancient. Personally, I have found that Santiago de Compostela somehow very attractive. I also liked to walk the streets of Barcelona and admired the architecture along the way, strolled in the Prado in Madrid and be overwhelmed by all the art there was.

7. Impressions of each city
Valencia- polite people with exquisite paella (although I never tried it there)
Mallorca- lazy tourist information receptionist, whatever I asked they always pointed to the same direction that "everything was behind THAT BUILDING"
Barcelona- probably one of the most chaotic cities in the world
Madrid- people from Madrid have this special capital pride in them without knowing it themselves.
Sevilla- The Andalucian Flamenco passion city
Cordoba- enough for a day visit
Lisbon- the next potential big hit tourist attraction
Porto- Go for the free wine tasting! with amazing Bifana! a spicy pork sandwich
Santiago de Compostela- great blend of the modern and the old
Bilbao- nothing that I had imagined the Basque capital would be like. rule followers- people actually wait for the green light to cross the street! And I was expecting to see some weird looking Basque people but all I heard and saw was Spanish.
Burgos- Amazing cathedral with the hint of blood sausage
Salamanca- full of college students, I guess great for partygoers

8. Interesting people you met?
The middle aged supermarket cashier Argentine, Valencia- stayed in the same room in the hostel of Valencia. didn't speak a word of English who reminds me of Mr. Bean for some reason. We hung out and had fun chatting with each other using our invented sign language.
Ernesto, Valencia- an Argentinian American from San Francisco. ready to move to Valencia who used to teach English to foreigners. open minded but not enough to become gay. At least that's what he said to the two middle aged gay norwegian guys we ran into on the street.
A crew of middle aged horny blue collars, on the ferry from Mallorca to Barcelona- guess the equivalent red necks from Spain. sat and chatted so loud during the entire journey. very friendly and invited me to their snacks and beers. Only one truck driver knew how to speak a bit of English. he told me he's better at French, German, or Russian (apparently learning Russian from a very hot Russian girlfriend of his). Horny because once they saw a decent ass of a woman they urged me to take a picture of it because I had a better camera. And apparently Asians are famous for their "photo taking skills." Had their email addresses down so I could send those to them although the pictures were long deleted and the addresses were lost.
The Two gay Norwegian guys, Valencia- found out that they were gay after they had got married and had kids- poor wives and kids
Mayte, Madrid- a pretty, diligent girl who's double majoring in Economics and Law in a top university in Madrid. a Spanish native speaker who has amazingly no accent in English, and has been learning Mandarin Chinese for 6 years. Been to Taiwan twice and, if my hearing wasn't bad, Taiwan is one of her favorite countries. Asked why learn chinese she told me she just feels like it. Showed me around in Madrid and had a good time together.
Emma and her sister, Sevilla- met at the hostel in Sevilla. They grew up in Colorado but now have immigrated to New Zealand. Emma now lives in Christchurch and her sister studies in Scotland. we went to the three king candy throwing madness together and waited there for 2 hours for it to start.
Nice guy who let me hitchhike, Barcelona- It was pouring rain like no other and windy as hell. I was stuck at the harbor and had to walk 4 kms over a bridge to the city side. So I saw this car coming and thumbed. it stopped immediately and I went over to ask if he could gimme a lift and if he spoke english. God blessed, he spoke fluent English though was still apologizing for his english.
Alex, a Chilean immigrant hitchhikee, Santiago de Compostela- I was wandering in the streets lost searching for a place to stay one o'clock in the morning. This guy drove by 3 times and kinda made me suspicious. But finally it turned out that he wondered if I needed a lift to somewhere so dropped me off at the nearest open hotel.
A "claimed to be Brazilian" bastard thief, Barcelona- This SOB pickpocketed me and was so shameless that after I fought him for my wallet back, he was "making sure" that I was calm and going to "take it easy"
A bunch of South Asian (most likely Pakistanis or Indians) SOBs, Barcelona- They cussed me out at their own souvenir shop and tried to throw me out of it. The cuss was the most insulting one I have gotten since I was born.
Alexis, Lisbon- When I arrived in the city of Lisbon, I was clueless of where to stay. Thankfully that she took the same bus as me and turned up at the same metro station I got out at. So I walked over and asked her if she spoke english. of course she did- she's from NYC but immigrated to Toronto, Canada 6 years ago. Lisbon was her last stop and before going home. She went to the Sahara Dessert before coming to spain. She said she spent the new years eve in the middle of the dessert which was the most amazing moment of her life. She's very friendly and talkative. I had good company while in Lisbon thanks to her.
Weird guy from New Mexico, Lisbon- actually in my opinion he wasn't weird. I had some good conversations with him. He was weird according to Alexis and the Hostel manager. He came in the 2nd day I was staying at the hostel and the manager told Alexis that the other hostel had already call in to warn the manager about this guy. And Alexis herself felt that he stared at her weird and was giving weird vibes to her. I think he was either extremely horny (because I think he only stared at girls weird), or stoned all the time because his motion was kind of way too slow. Although this lucky bastard got in Real Madrid- Barcelona football match in a box seat for FREE!!! He told me that he just happened to party with the right crowd and the guys had the box covered. Really lucky... you know how much a normal seat would cost? at least 200 EUROS!!! imagine how much a box would cost.

I have met tons of other people but the conversations were rather brief. Most of the spaniards I have talked to were friends of friends'. But the trends I see in the people are: 1. lots of Argentinians 2. Americans are immigrating out of their country 3. Spain is the one of the last countries you wanna be in if you don't speak the language 4. on the other hand, the Portuguese are quite good at English and don't expect them to understand Spanish.

9. Suggestions for the people who wanna visit Spain and Portugal in the future?
1. LEARN SOME SPANISH BEFORE YOU GO!
2. trains are generally more convenient than buses. every train station has a tourist information which is quite helpful when you arrive in every city.
3. don't expect the transport to be easy from Spain to Portugal, or the other way.
4. to avoid the crowd you should visit the Iberian Peninsula in the winter but will miss all the beach relaxations.
5. put your important belongings at least in your front pockets. in a money belt is even better.
6. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT SO READ IT CAREFULLY!
This pickpocket trick is now international after talking with some people. It's well known in Spain as the "Ronaldinho trick" and France as the "Zidane trick." If someone approaches you trying to show you a football trick, especially putting his/ her foot between yours and kicking between your legs really rapidly and hard, DONT LET THEM! and examine your belongings after if they have already done it to you. That's how I got robbed and how I reacted quickly enough to fight back for my wallet.
7. not necessary to book beds in low season. this way you can find a more center-situated hostel in a city.

Thanks for reading my update on my trip.

Belated Happy new YEAR to EVERYONE!

truly yours,
Tim Lee