UNSOLICITED TRAVEL TIPS/Spain

GET A GOOD TOUR BOOK:

When we started to plan about our trip, Zoha rented a few videos and a book from the library. The book "Spain 2012" by Rick Steves went unread and was to be returned. Fortunately it got soaked with water in a home accident and the librarian refused to take it back. We had to buy it. That turned out one of the good things. Close to the trip we read it and realized its worth. Later I found he has a big website and arranges tour of his own. It is a real companion book which is handy and one can take it with oneself where ever you go. It gives you suggested routes of walking and road trips, hotels, restaurants and detailed account of sites with the historical backdrops. Much more than the old AAA tour books we used to have. I highly recommend it. Many of the small details we would have missed if not for Rick's recommendations. 

PLACES TO SAY:

Having stayed in four places we realized that the best place to stay is in the middle of the old city. That makes it convenient for commuting and for enjoying the whole day and the night to the fullest. 

Hotels have usually small elevators but soon one gets used to them.  Some may have a bumpy ride. The rooms lights are Pakistan style, you have to use the room key/card to put in the slot to turn the lights on. Electric outlets need adapters, It is 220 volts. I had taken the flat multiplug with a long wire, which has six or seven outlets. Wherever I used it, it tripped the fuse and the hotel personnel had to switch it back. Wonder why.

MONEY MATTERS:

Money rates were best in the hotel where you stay. To us they gave the Euros at the bank rates. The exchange on ATM's and the street shops were much higher. Credit cards charge a significant foreign transaction fee, except a few. I was told about Catipal One and I got one before the trip. Used it to the maximun  and did not have a high line on it. Once  I ran out of that, I had to use the regular card and had to pay significant transation fee. One should check that out ahead of time. One should also inform the credit card before going overseas as transactions may be blocked by the company assuming fradulent activitiy. One have to call back to explain all that. Another error I made was to use the credit card as a security deposit for the car rental. Once I returned the car, the deposit was no immediately creditted, ( or there was no immediate 'retribution', as the rental person told me in his Spanglish). It took ten days to have that. So I had to live with a reduced credit line for the rest of the trip.

CELL PHONES:

Cellphone usage is another Herculean task to take care of before the trip. ATT offers a date plan for emails and I took that to keep my self abreast with all the meaningful emails I get in the course of the day. For the rest of the family we disabled the data roaming. We got the international roaming for phone calls and 200 texts for each one of us, so that we can be in touch with each other. We decided not to use the telephone unless it is in emergency and rely on texting. It worked out well, although had to pay for each incoming call form the US even if we let it go to the voice mail. 

Best is to get an unlocked phone and get a local SIM, but one would be disconnected with those who try to reach you. 

HOW MUCH TO TIP:
Despite my active attempt to research it, I could not get the right answer on tipping. How much to tip in resturatns, to the cabby, to the tour guide, to the hotel personnel etc. No help from the  internet, personal communications, not even from Rick. We develped our own rules. It seems that the tipping is not expected as it is in USA but who gets it is very happy at it. One does not have to use the US yardstick, it seems.

FOOD:
This is expensive, so choose a hotel which gives away free breakfast, Not everyone does that. 
Tapas are short servings of the traditional Spanish foods. Somehow did not attract us much. We mostly ate Pizza or generic food. Good coffee was however abundant and was much appreciated. 

Trip to Spain/Introduction

Trip to Spain

We as a family went to an overseas trip after a long time. The last time we went together was in 2004, for a short trip to London and Paris. The kids were younger and not that interested in the trip unless we included Paris Disney into the trip, and we did.

Now it was time again to go somewhere. We had toyed with the idea of going somewhere in Europe. Italy was the usual favorite on the wish list. When it came down to make a final decision, Haleema wanted to go to Spain. Reason: she can utilize her presumed skills in the language. No one objected and that was it.

I had always thought of going to Spain, but never thought of it as a reality. Now that we decided on it, I put in my condition. We have to visit the sites in Andalusia. Saleem wanted to go to Barcelona and Zoha wanted to include Gibralter. My friend and medical college class mate Mubashar Riaz lives in Geneva and I thought of including that too.

We searched a few websites and contacted some of them. We wanted to include all of the above and it became increasingly difficult. I thought of Tipu, the travel and event guru at APPNA, who had been in this field for years. I called him, and we are very happy that he built up a plan for us which included all we wanted. It was cheaper, more economical and more over, he was always available. That includes some scary moments when we were told on arrival to Seville (Sevilla in Spanish) that our next day trip to Cordoba is cancelled and rescheduled for another day which we could not do as we had the tickets for Alhambra on that day. Those who have been to Alahmbra know that the tickets are bought well in advance and cannot be replaced or exchanged for another day. These final minute alterations which included canceling the old car rental and making new arrangements in a few hours could not have been possible had Tipu not been available on the other end of the phone all the times.

Going to a different and a totally new country where you do not know the language or anybody in the whole country can be scary. We went there without a group, had all the arrangements made ahead of time and traveled by train, car and air. Could not have done it on our own, we had thought. Now I think otherwise and feel that one can easily plan the next European trip on one’s own.  But that is now.

I will highly recommend it to everybody who wishes to have an independent trip, to contact Tipu or some one like him.

Over the course of next few weeks, I will post my thoughts on the trip along with the photos. There are many and all are available at flickr.com/nasirgondal.

I am sure that many of the readers of this post have been to Spain and what I write may not be new to them. Nonetheless this has been a trip of a lifetime to me and that is the reason of the desire to share it.

What is was in the end a memorable trip, which has incited me to learn and read more about Spain and her history. Many of my perceived notions about the Muslim history in Spain have been corrected and now I have a different and quite mixed opinion of Islam and Iberian Peninsula.