Spain: Afterword

Our trip to Spain has come to a close. After giving it some thought, I decided to write a separate post and ramble freely about how the trip really felt—the moments that blew me away, the pitfalls we ran into, and the unexpected little things on my mind.

About applying for a visa:

After going through the whole process, the main thing I want to say about getting a visa is: if you can do it yourself, don’t use an agency.

As long as you’ve prepared all your documents, applying in person isn’t difficult. Just remember to book an appointment in advance. And the more complete your documentation is, the more generous the visa officer might be with the validity period. We got six-month multiple-entry visas this time. Compared with the one- or three-month visas most people get, our thorough documentation really seems to have made the difference. Below is a screenshot of the types of documents we submitted, for reference.

About planning the trip:

Before leaving, we also debated whether to join a tour group. After looking at a few, we found that the itineraries were generally too rushed—basically just skimming the sights—and the prices weren’t low either. After a lot of thought, we decided to travel independently.

Although figuring out transport, accommodation, and food on our own abroad was quite a challenge for us, luckily we started picking up tips on Xiaohongshu a month in advance. The smartest decision we made was finding a short-term rental through a student studying there on Xiaohongshu and staying right in their home. Not only was it more affordable than a hotel, but, most importantly, we could chat face-to-face with the student and get firsthand local tips. That saved us a lot of unnecessary detours, hahaha.

Oh, and if you’re planning to book a hotel, I strongly recommend checking out the street view on Google Earth first. It might not be entirely accurate, but at least you’ll have some idea of the surrounding area instead of being completely clueless when you arrive.

About the overall cost:

There were three of us on this trip, and we spent a week in Spain. Looking back over the expenses, it came to around 1.2 × 10,000 RMB per person, including everything from visas to flights. Honestly, getting that kind of value in Europe means all our prep work paid off. Below is our itemized expense list, for reference.

About what we saw and experienced:

My first impression after landing in Spain was the street graffiti everywhere. Almost every little alley we ducked into had artwork in a different style. This slightly untamed artistic energy was all over the streets, and personally, I thought it was pretty great.

As for the people, they were generally very friendly—at least everyone we met was incredibly patient. Even with my broken English, nobody showed any impatience; they actually made an effort to understand what I meant. That really earned them points with me.

Another detail that made things wonderfully comfortable was pedestrians’ right of way. When we crossed the road, drivers really did yield every single time. Over the whole week, I didn’t even hear a car horn. That was genuinely lovely. Still, you could smell secondhand smoke while walking down the street, hahaha.

About the food:

Honestly, we really struggled to get used to the meals there, but the quality of the ingredients themselves was a pleasant surprise. The tomatoes, for example, actually tasted like the ones I remember from childhood, and the milk was richer and more fragrant too.

If your accommodation has a kitchen, I strongly recommend buying groceries at the supermarket and cooking for yourself. It’s not only cheaper, but you’ll enjoy your meals more too. Also, I highly recommend the Fanta there! Spanish Fanta actually contains orange juice, around 12%, and tastes so much better than the version back home. You have to try it.

I also highly recommend this mineral water! It has a light fruity flavor and tastes really refreshing. I love it. Most importantly, if you find a cheap supermarket, you can get a bottle this big for just 1.75 euros, which is pretty decent value. Whenever I passed a supermarket, I’d usually look for it. Tried and tested: ridiculously good.

About tax refunds:

After shopping in Spain, there are usually two ways to get a tax refund (you really need to read this—pitfalls everywhere):

1. Getting your refund in town: The upside is that it’s quick, but there’s a 5-euro processing fee for each purchase. My heart aches just thinking about it.

2. Getting your refund at the airport: Such a hassle! I recommend getting to the airport at least 5 hours early. First, you scan the code to get the stamp, then queue up for a manual review. The worst part is that the counter probably won’t give you euros and will instead force you to choose between US dollars and British pounds. If you’re good at talking your way through things, you might be able to argue with the counter staff for ages and get euros. Since we had a flight to catch, we had no choice but to take the hit and accept dollars. So sad.

And the biggest pitfall of all: when buying something, make sure the shop can actually guarantee your tax refund. We couldn’t get a refund on one purchase because the shop didn’t have enough of some deposit or other funds—I’m not sure exactly what. That loss was seriously a pain to deal with.

Firsts in my life:

Finally, to sum up this trip: it held so many firsts for me—the first time I truly went abroad, the first time I fully immersed myself in the atmosphere of another country, and so on… The things I saw and heard firsthand really shook up the cultural understanding I’d grown up with. This trip genuinely broadened my horizons.

I’m someone who loves scenery. I’d always felt that the world was more or less as it appeared in books and on screens. But when you’re actually standing beneath the Sagrada Família, walking through central Madrid, or seeing the coastlines of Blanes and Tossa, that sense of reality is something no words can replace. Some things you simply have to experience for yourself; otherwise, you’ll never know that eye-opening feeling of breaking out of your old ways of thinking.