Got an afternoon flight from Gatwick on British Airways, which was delayed. Was slightly dreading it as was aware of all the crap that had been going on with them recently, but thankfully they didnt lose my bags, although it took long enough to get them back in Madrid. The airport there, by the way, is magnificent, and puts all ours to shame.

After I got my bags, I boarded the metro straight into town which was efficient and inexpensive. Found my hotel, Hostal Persal, which was located a couple of streets away from the Plaze de la Puerta del Sol. Dumped my stuff and headed out to find some food. Cant remember what it was, but probably involved chips.

I had researched heavy metal bars as usual, and one of the places that came up was a place called the Bajos De Arguelles. Basically loads of alternative/metal/rock bars located in one area of the city. So I decided to head up there. I didnt realise the drinking times in Madrid were so late, as it was about 10:00pm and only one or two were open. The one that I wanted to go into, Lemmy, was shut. So I found one called Rock Disco which had a fair few people in and good music, so sat down with a couple of beers.

As it got busier, a few people came to sit with me as I had a few vacant seats. Got chatting with them as a couple of them spoke English, and they're all really great people. They also introduced me to a new drink, Kalimotxo, which is basically wine and coca cola. Heavy shit man. Later on when the bar closed, they took me to another one a few streets away. On the way, they told me that I have to kick over the bins on the pavement as the residents are all arseholes. So, er, I did. Heh. Had a couple of drinks in the second bar, and it was about 6:00am when it closed, so headed back to the hotel on the metro.

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

This was my last day/night in Madrid. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad all day, it just didnt stop raining. So, I didnt particularly do much, except sit in cafes! Had a walk up to the Plaza Mayor, but that was about it. I was pretty tired from all the partying I had been up to anyway, so thought I'd have a quiet day, as I needed to be prepared for later that night when I went back to Arguelles. When I did get there, I thought I'd pop into Lemmy, as well, I had to really. The music in there was pretty good, and they show videos on the screens, which Ive noticed that they do in quite a few places in Spain. When my friends arrived I partied with them at the rock disco until it closed. Didnt go out after that as I had to be up the next day to go to Barcelona!

Overall, Madrid is very different from your typical Spanish destination. It's not a resort. It's not by the sea, there's no marinas, or anything like that. The weather there is pretty terrible. However, if you want culture, there's plenty of museums and galleries. There's also plenty of green areas to relax in. The nightlife is crazy, with many places not open until 10pm and closing at 8am. If you want to party, this city is perfect. The people there are great, and I've never seen so many hot girls in my life. Not sure I could handle living there, although I suppose I could get used to it. Definitely somewhere to go back for a couple of nights though, and as I have made friends there I probably will!

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

I didnt get up particularly early on this day. Started out though by walking around the areas to the right of where I was staying. Plenty of cafes so I grabbed some breakfast. Coffee in Europe is so much nicer than anywhere else in the world I've noticed. Walked down along the Calle De Atocha, leading along to the main train station in the city, which I was to pass through a couple of days later. From there, I walked through the Parque Del Retiro, which is a lovely area, and very peaceful. There are some interesting gardens and sculptures in there aswell, as you can see from the pics. Spent an hour relaxing in there, although there weather wasnt very hot!

From there, I walked back along Gran Via, up towards Puerta De Alacalá, and then around Plaza De Oriente and the Centro district. By that time it was early evening and I was quite tired, so headed back to the hotel to have a little rest, before heading out on the town again. Again, noone drinks at that time so I got quite a few strange looks when I was sitting outside having a beer at the horrendous time of - 7:30pm. Was waiting for the Rainbow bar to open, which was a rock bar a few doors away from my hotel. When it did, I was the only person in there, but the music was good so I had a few drinks.

Once again, I headed back to Arguelles to meet with my new friends. There were even more out that time on the friday, and I spoke to many people as best I could! Went to the same little bar after that, and got absolutely shitfaced.

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Once again, Cat and I woke up around 2 pm.  We discovered that our Brazilian roommates had left, so we had the whole room to ourselves for the rest of our time at the hostel.  It was nice :)

Once again, I TOTALLY don't remember what I did during the day??? I remember that we had lunch at Pans & Co.  and went shopping at El Corte Ingles?!?! Cat and Javi made plans via text to meet up on the following day for coffee.

We had dinner at VIPS again and walked around Plaza Santa Ana a bit before deciding we should take a cab to another club, Kapital.  Unfortunately it was CLOSED!!! So it was back to Gaviria for the third night in a row.  This was one crazy night.

I think it was gay night or something because the go-go dancer or whatever that night was a drag queen who had better legs than I did.  But we ended up meeting a SH*TLOAD of straight guys so who knows? Cat was dancing with a Spanish guy and I was next to them, tipsy, and in my own little world.  Next thing I know, this Spanish guy grabs my arm and we start dancing together.  HE was cute so I went with it.  After awhile he whispered in Spanish that he wanted to talk so I was like, "Okay." Basically he took me down one of the main hallways and whatever and we started kissing.  He was going WAY too fast for a guy I jsut met TEN MINUTES EARLIER so I pulled back and said I had to go back to my friend.  HE tried to get me to stay with him but luckily I saw a cute Spanish guy walking near us that Cat had eyed earlier and she said she wanted to dance with him.  So I grab his arm and praise the gods that he was there so I had a legitimate excuse to not make out with the other guy.  I told him in broken Spanish taht my friend wanted to meet him.  He stopped and asked if she was as pretty as me and then he started kissing me.  I was like, "WTF?" I pulled back and said that MY FRIEND was interested in dancing with him, NOT ME.  He was a persistent little bugger but i made it clear that it was NOT me that was interested in him (even though he was totally cute).  I pointed Cat out to him back on the dance floor but he was like, she's dancing with somebody.  He asked for Cat's # so he could call her later .  So I gave it to him in a moment of insanity. 

I went back to the dance floor and Cat was done dancing with the guy so we start dancing together and this guy comes up to us almost immediately and is like in an horrible American accent, "¿Habla ingles?" He was cute and totally digging Cat...we were all dancing together and then I noticed this older man trying to get in.  He said it was his professor and Cat and I were like OMG this cute guy is anotehr college student.  Granted, Cat is 26 so the  age difference isn't bad, but you know. 

I started dancing with a REALLY cute guy named Juan Manuel and this is where things get hazy! Cat leaves me and says, "I'm leaving" - meaning, she's going back to the guy's hotel room so they can have a holiday fling.  I should mention that Cat had a really bad breakup with her British boyfriend and needed a trip to kind of get over him.  I casually mentioned, "You should go to Spain!" and she was like, "Okay!" I was totally like saying that not thinking she would do it.  So a month later we were in Spain. 

I stay with Juan Manuel until the club closes, and then I go with him and his friend to a gay club near Gran Via.  Juan Manuel is totally sweet but our language skills with each other are so basic since neither of us were fluent in each other's main language so it was a little difficult to communicate with each other.  SO instead we just made out.  Kissing is a universal language! We stayed there until about 6 am and then I was like, I have to go home! Juan Manuel held my hand the whole way back (ugh...I hate crap like that but I didn't say anything and let him hold my hand) to the hostel.   He wanted to hang out again so I gave him Cat's #.  I knew already that I didn't want to hang out again.  He was really, really cute but although we had fun together, I didn't want to hang out with him again.

I get back to the room and Cat is waiting up for me.  We catch each other up on everything and then both of us pass out.  It was a loooong night. 

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Our last day in Madrid...Cat and I woke up early - like around noon, because we wanted to visit the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen Museum.  We needed some culture in Madrid besides clubbing every night!!!

We were both totally hungover but managed to stay awake and alert at both museums.  Cat was dreading her date with Javi.  I left her and went shopping at Zara and Mango.  I met Cat back at the hostel around 7 pm but not before running into Javi on the street as he had dropped her off at the hostel.  We had a brief conversation and then I headed back to the room where Cat filled me in on everything that happened on the date.  Javi was a total gentleman.  He's so sweet. 

We went out again despite the fact that we were both leaving Madrid the following day - Cat was going back to NYC and I was going to BCN.  We made sure it was tame and we were exhausted from clubbing for like 5 days in a row. 

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Cat and I woke up around 2 pm...still exhausted from our long night.  We got bocadillos de calamares and sat in Plaza Mayor and chatted.  I really don't remember much about what we did during the day.  Both of us have been to Madrid previously (Cat even studied abroad in Madrid) so we were in no rush to see the sights. 

We went to VIPS for dinner where the couple sitting next to us were hard-core making out!!! The table of young Spanish teenagers behind us were cracking up and taking photos of the couple making out. 

We met some Spanish guys at the club last night who told us we should try hanging out around Plaza Santa Ana.  We went to a wine bar and got really tipsy.  A guy sat next to me and if I knew that he understood what we were saying, we would not have said some of the things we were saying! He finally turned to us and was like, "Where are you guys from?" Turns out he was a college student studying abroad in Alicante.  He was totally charming but hello, still a college student and I am NOT a cougar.  He had a fascinating life story and Cat and I had a lot of fun talking to him.  HE hinted that he wanted to hang out with us at a club but Cat and I gracefully ducked out of that one.  Drunk out of our minds, we somehow managed to find our way back to Sol around 2 am.

We decided to try this other club near to Palacio Gaviria because the front desk guy at the hostel recommended it.  Oh my god it was awful.  We walked in there and were like...this is it?!??! We stayed for about an hour since we paid like 10 Euro to get in.  THe music was pretty bad, too.  And it seemed to full of Americans :p We went back to Palacio Gaviria around 1 am and it was PACKED! We could barely move but we managed to get our favorite rum and Cokes (I love the way they do it in Spain).  We managed to find a (tiny) spot to dance.  We danced with a few cute Spanish guys but we weren't really digging them.  Cat noticed a cute Spanish guy who looked like a less hairy version of Pete Sampras.  While we were dancing, I noticed that he kept staring at Cat - he was leaning against a wall and not dancing.  Finally, his friend came up to us (what's up with this phenomenon) and said his cousin wanted to meet Cat and would it be possible for him to introduce her.  So we go over there and introductions are made.  So while Javi and Cat are making a love connection, I'm stuck with Pepe making small talk.  Unfortunately, my Spanish skills are awful and his English skills are non-existant so the conversation was definitely awkward but we still managed to have fun with our mangled Spanglish conversation.  I managed to find out that Pepe drives a Heineken truck.  Ha ha ha!!!!  By this time it was around 6 am and both Cat and I were exhausted.  We said goodbye to Javi and Pepe (but not before Javi got Cat's #!) and stumbled back to the hostel. 

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

After an uneventful overnight flight from JFK to MAD via Amsterdam, I arrived in Madrid bright-eyed and bushy tailed.  Cat arrived earlier than I did on a different flight and met me outside of baggage claim.  We took the Metro to our hostel, near the Opera stop.  When we arrived, the cute guy behind the desk regretted to inform us that they had screwed up with the reservation, but offered us the same 2 beds in a 4-bed dorm room at their sister hostel, Los Amigos Sol.  Luckily, it was only a short walk and pretty soon we were all set up in our TINY room.  The girl working behind the desk told us that our room mates would be two Brazilian brothers.  Cat and I were like, "Oooh!"

After freshening up, we headed out to explore.  Our first stop was trying to find a SIM card for Cat's phone.  That was a pain but we finally found one at THe Phone House, near El Corte Ingles.  We were hungry so went to Plaza Mayor and sat down at a café and ordered a pitcher of sangria and patatas bravas.  I noticed two pale, blond guys circling the café, and out of all the empty tables, they sat near us.  They were from Denmark and struck up a conversation and oh my god, can you say PERSISTANT?! These guys did not the fact that they were interested in us and they wanted to hang out.  Their flirtation skills were hilarious and hard-core and OBVIOUS and they bought us a bottle of champagne and bought us food.  The cuter one was definitely my type but unfortunately a real douchebag.  The other guy was totally digging Cat, but she wasn't attracted to him.  They tried to convince us to go clubbing with them later that night.  Both Cat and I looked at each other, like, "Um we're in Spain and we don't want to be tied down to these two." We feigned not knowing what we wanted to do and gave them an empty promise to text them later that night.

We walked around and went back to the hostel to take a siesta before heading out that night.  We met our roommates and unfortunately they were homebodies and didn't speak a lot of English.  They were very nice and sweet, though. 

We got dinner at a tiny tapas restaurant where I got callos (tripe) which was amazing.  We wanted to go dancing and went to a place near our hostel called Palacio Gaviria.  We didn't know any better and got there around 11:30 pm and it was so dead!!! We fended off some gross older guys and then around 1 am things started picking up and that's where the fun started.  Cat and I both had a great time meeting and dancing with cute Spanish guys and came back to the hostel wayyy too late.  We were both repulsed to find that our clothes and hair REEKED of cigarette smoke!!!!

Oh, one HILARIOUS pick-up line that I got was this guy going up to Cat and asking her in Spanish, "My friend wants to know if you can give your friend to him as a gift and he would very much like to kiss her." Cat just about died laughing and translated.  The guy was SO not cute plus he was like 18 or something! I said, "No!" and they wouldn't leave us alone for awhile but finally they did. 

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

This place is also known as "Hotel Campomanes". My husband & I stayed here for 3 nights on a recent trip. We had Room 201. We were so excited to see that our hotel room was HUGE, even for American standards, it felt like an expansive suite! The bed was extremely comfortable. The wardrobes were large enough to really unpack your stuff and the bathrooms were pretty modern and luxurious. I really loved that we had 3 huge windows, floor to ceiling. My husband loved that they had a decent sized Plasma with premium channels! The decor was modern, bright & minimalistic. Staff was super friendly. The neighborhood was one street off Opera & within EASY walking distance to Plaza De Oriente, Royal Palca, Puerta del Sol, shopping areas...yet the little street this hotel is on is fairly quiet...you will hear things, it can't be helped on such small streets but it's normal city noises. Another great thingabout Hotel Mario was their continental breakfast that they served...absolutely yummy, lots of variety and a great way to begin the day in this fun city. I would definitely return here to this hotel.

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Back in Barcelona, once again, but haven´t had classes at all this week (Spaniards don´t really believe in schoolwork... Okay, that´s a generalization, but not a huge one). I missed Monday and Tuesday because I went to Madrid with the padres, came back on Wednesday for class, except that it was cancelled, along with Thursday and Friday because it´s aholiday on Thursday (Día del Trabajador (Worker´s day), which I find kind of ironic considering that Spaniards don´t really work. Ever.) and classes were cancelled Wednesday and Friday also. Just because they felt like it. Oh, well! This semester in Spain is for travelling and learning about life, not schoolwork... right?

So the visit with the fam was wonderful. They had a great time in Barcelona, Granada, Córdoba, Sevilla, Madrid and Toledo (whew!).  We had tapas and sangría galore, walked a ton, saw the sights, and spent some quality family time together. It was fun playing tour guide and translator. Betty will have a conversation with anyone (regardless of which language the person speaks...) so I had to always be on guard to translate everything she said to my family. My two Mamas liked each other, as I knew they would, and my Mom did a good job with the Spanish she does know! Betty also found my Dad hilarious when I translated his jokes to her, which was great for his self-esteem!

Perhaps the most memorable part of their visit was when we went to Llavaneras (Betty´s second house) on Saturday. She´s awesome because most of my friends´señoras would never invite their families to their house or show them how to make paella and sangría and feed them afterwards, of course. Anyway, we had a great time making and eating the meal (minus my sister´s queasiness at the shrimp equipped with eyes, legs and shell... or finding out that the clams are alive until you put them in the boiling pot... I thought I was the vegetarian here!). She also got some laughs when she showed us how much alcohol to put in the sangría by closing her eyes and pouring about five different kinds in it (my family understood that part perfectly... ¨Gestures are universal!¨she says). Then we went down to the beach about a ten minute walk from her house, where it is just beautiful, and so was the weather.

So Marni went home the next day and Mom and Dad and I jetted off to Madrid. We went to the Prado and saw Velazquez´s famous ¨Las Meninas; the Reina Sofía Art Museum to see the Picasso exhibit with the incredible ¨Guernika;¨ Parque Buen Retiro which is GORGEOUS- equipped with gardens, fountains and a man-made lake; Palacio Reial with exhibits of the royal family; took a day trip to Toledo to see the Jewish quarter (Yes, there actually are two synagogues in all of Spain! Damn Spanish Inquisition...), and of course, ate churros con chocolate. Two of my friends are studying there this semester, so they helped show us around the city. I loved Madrid, in general, and I kind of knew I would beforehand since it´s Spain´s most international city with tons to do and see (not to mention that´s where Betty´s from, and I like her better than I like most Catalan people here...).

On the way back from Madrid, I sat next to a chatty woman and her sisters and nieces from Ohio. I was tired (had to get up at 6:30 to say goodbye to Mom and Dad), so I didn´t want her to find out that I´m American and start talking to me. But I stupidly pulled out the AAA Europe book my dad gave me and she said, ¨Triple A! That´s an American company! Where are you from?¨So I grudgingly told her I´m from Wisconsin, and she was very nice, but proceeded to give me every last detail of her family´s trip to Spain. She said one of her sisters planned the trip throughout the country and when she told her that Barcelona was one of the cities they were going to, she said, ¨Wait, I thought we were going to Spain, not Italy!¨ Ouch, I know. That´s definitely something I would not admit to anyone...

So I made it back to Barcelona and now I have work to do... Oh, wait, ¨work to do¨ is an oxymoron in this country. So in other words, I have hanging out and planning travels to do (Note to Mom and Dad: Please don´t stress, I´m only kidding. Kind of).

;)  ¡Ciao!

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Yesterday I left South America, from Buenos Aires I took plane to Madrid where I changed planes and continued back to Dublin. Ive spent in South America one month only and have realised that one month is very short time for so nice country like South America is. I must come back there for more months, I will, I promise. Hasta luego America del Sur!

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

When I planned out my Spain trip in September of 2007 I also planned a follow on trip to the UK. I wasn't able to get e-tickets for my flight so I booked a hotel room in Madrid to have my tickets sent to. I didn't do as much research as I should have done and as a result there was not much within walking distance to see. The hotel was nice, but not in a tourist area. If you are looking to go to Madrid for a vacation, I would not recommend this hotel. I walked into the hotel wearing jeans, a button up shirt, and carrying my travel bag. I received a few glances from the staff for this. A suit and brief case were the norm here apparently.

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Wow. I have utterly neglected this blog. I have many, many tales to tell and will get to them someday... you know, in between all my days lazying about at cafes and all.... but this story I must tell now. I only hope other girls traveling in Spain hear about my story and heed my advice. Beware of the Lecherous Spanish Old Man...

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Back in Madrid first thing in the morning--with still a full day to explore the city, play some more music and meet up with old friends...

And so Trip Number Three of my 07-08 tour comes to an end...

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Back in Madrid first thing in the morning--with still a full day to explore the city, play some more music and meet up with old friends...

And so Trip Number Three of my 07-08 tour comes to an end...

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

On our last day, naturally enough, we went shopping and had lunch.  This is not terribly exciting to read about, but it did mean that I got to take the touristy photo of the bear and the strawberry tree.   And I got a great t-shirt with a red headed woman getting out of bed on it - cooler than it sounds, I promise, and the trip home was uneventful.  We stayed in a hotel near Gatwick airport, which stung us more on a courtesy bus than a cab would have cost!  Breakfast wasn't included, so we went to TEsco and I put Allie on the cab home. 

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com