Hey 2+2. I lurk this forum quite a bit, and I've decided to post an ongoing TR on my 8 Day trip to Madrid, Spain.

I'm 33, from Las Vegas, and I will be reconnecting with my best friend from college who moved to Spain 2 years ago to become a teacher. We are going to be staying in Madrid through the weekend, seeing the sights, drinking all the drinks, and chasing everything but our liquor before a 5 day backpacking adventure through Spain. We will be reconnecting with 2 other friends from college on our trip and making our way to the beach towns of Spain all through next week before I return on 3/14.

As far as the thread title, "Brother Darkness" is my nickname given to me among this group (I'm the token). I'm not really sure what to expect, as I've never been overseas. I have the Spanish vocabulary of a 3 year old, two of my friends are still party animals, and I'm sure this TR will have some eventual juicy degen stories along the way. I'm mid air right now trying to make the best of this $33 day pass for wifi on AA, but I will be updating this thread regularly and hopefully this makes for a classic.

I land 4/6 @ 8:00 AM in Madrid.

Cheers.

Cool only thing I know about Spanish beaches it that time Rocco invaded Ibiza.

I know a bunch are topless.

Departing PHL to MAD right now. A complete hottie sitting next to me on the flight for some early rungood.

First day was spent in Sol, the city center of Madrid. Right now I'm nursing one of the worst hangovers of my life on a bus to Grenada to spend the next few days traveling the coast.

The real updates are going to have to wait until I can keep my head up.

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We decided to backpack through Spain. Night 1 was Madrid, last night was the most fun I've ever had in my life in Granada, Spain. Today we are in Malaga. Tomorrow we're on a bus to Cadiz, Spain where we're renting a beach house for 3 days. I'm too drunk for a proper update so here's a pic dump.

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Have fun. Dunno why you spent only 1nt in Madrid though

I leave from Madrid Friday. I'll most likely spend the last 2-3 days there before going home.

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That food looks good, how was it?

I lurk both this forum and the Las Vegas Lifestyle forum, I was surprised to see your nick show up here.

Food was amazing. We went to Cadiz, which was dead AF but a nice town. A poor judgement Tinder hookup almost got me robbed and beaten but I managed to get out of it unscathed. We left this morning back to Malaga. This town is just too much fun. Gonna finish in Madrid the last night. This turned into one weird ass backpacking trip. I promise to give a full update soon, but spotty service and bad decision making is getting the best of me.

Anyways pic dump of the airBNB that we stayed at in Cadiz and a few shots of Malaga in between. My burner phone with way more pics on it got stolen in Cadiz, but here's what I have on my main.

I think I'm going to use the majority of 15 hrs flight time to give a proper update from what I can remember. €2 shots is taking a toll on me though.

Sounds like fun except the part where you almost got your butt kicked and running robbed.

The end of the 9 days is over and wow, what a life changing experience. What started as a trip to Madrid, ended up turning into two best friends since college, backpacking across Spain like true travelers. While the goal wasn't to "nit" it up, we planned to do this backpacking experience true to form. Staying in hostels, meeting other travelers, not really having a plan, and catching buses/trains to a different city every few days.

Day 1 (Madrid)
I met up with my best friend who moved to Madrid 2 years ago to teach English. We met up with his other two roommates, also English teachers as they were all on a 2 week break for Spring Break/Holy Week. The pace of Madrid was so relaxed, great beers & free tapas, and since my friends had been there for a few years I got to experience the town like a true local. To protect the innocent we’ll label the crew as follows.

“Bob”: Bob is a 32 y/o English teacher that I went to college with. We’ll call him Bob for his passion for everything Reggae & Cannabis related.

“Silky”: Silky is a 29 y/o English teacher who has every skit from the Dave Chappelle show memorized by heart. He will constantly go in and out of characters from that show. Silky Johnson, being his best impersonation.

“Randy”: Randy is 30, knows “Bob” & “Silky” from the same teaching program, but I’ll cut to the chase. He’s a sexpat and proud of it.

“Chase”: Chase, age unknown, is visiting “Randy”, “Bob”, and myself midway through the trip for a few days at the beach. His occupation isn’t necessarily in law enforcement, but he chases bad guys for profit. I didn’t know there were still modern day bounty hunters.

The first night was spent reminiscing about old times and watching the locals skateboard and play basketball at the “hippie park”, which is in the city center of Sol. Growing up in New York, it was a throwback to Rucker Park mixed with the infamous “Breeze” (Desert Breeze Park) in Las Vegas. I wasn’t expecting Madrid to be so liberal, but there was drinking a plenty and joints of cannabis + tobacco being passed around freely. After hours there, Bob, Silky, and I went to their favorite local bar for beers & tapas, and shots going into the double digits. The tapas were amazing, Fried Sardines, An assortment of ham & meatballs which was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted, and a ceviche dish that I passed on as I can’t do shellfish. We all blacked out back at my buddy’s flat and woke up woke up with a headache so bad I wanted to die. Figures.

Silky gets us up around 10:00 AM. For the love of God why? In a drunken stupor of **** talk the night before, Bob and I had the idea to go backpacking around Spain and meet his other friends he’s made around Spain instead of staying local to Madrid. We even booked tickets online for the bus to Granada. We had 40 minutes to make it to the bus station. It was a rough rough go. We finally board the bus, 5 ½ hours to Granada. Seated behind us were two of the most annoying Americans ever. They were from Los Angeles, aspiring actor/actress and they played this disgusting game of “Guess the movie” where they were dramatically re-enacting scenes from movies as if they were reading lines for a starring role in a summer blockbuster. I was on tilt for about 3 hours. I was holding back vomiting the whole trip, I drank about as much booze last night as I have in all of 2017. I decided to myself that if I indeed had to throw up, I was no longer going to hold it in, instead I was going to turn over my left shoulder and vomit on the annoying pretentious millennials behind us.

Long story short….. Didn’t throw up.

Next up, Granada, Spain.

Day 2 (Granada, Spain)

What an amazing city. I always wanted to visit this city. It’s small cobblestone streets, strong Muslim/Spanish influences in architecture and one of the 8 wonders of the world, Alhambra. Bob and I pride ourselves on “Dirtbagging it”. We’ve been through everything together. Broke college students, to broke adults post college. There was a time where I was dead broke and was sleeping in Bob’s living room, as there was a time when Bob and I were working **** jobs in restaurants in beach towns, making it by with enough money to pay for bills, enough to get a keg of beer every 5 days, and penny pinching everything else in order to have the most fun possible.

So with that said, where do we book accommodations? The cheapest hostel money can buy baby! We wandered around these tight cobblestone roads with no street signs for hours until we found the place. Constantly accosted by beggars and drug dealers. I already feel at home, living in Vegas. We finally find the hostel (13 euro a night baby!) and as soon as we step in, 5 (out of 8) of the hottest blondes from Holland that you’ve ever seen. On the list for the nights events would definitely be the pub crawl. We were trying to lock in a fun time with these girls at the hostel. The pub crawl was 15 Euro and you got a shot, a beer, and tapas at every stop from 11:30pm until the death.

We hiked our way up to the highest lookout point in Granada to see Alhambra. What a marvel. Seeing the architecture of this city, so rich in culture was amazing. The intermixing of the locals, college students, spring breakers, and backbackers was so harmonious that you couldn’t tell who was who. It was just peace, everyone being caught up in the moment….. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Looking at our itinerary, we had a bus to catch to Malaga, Spain for a night before meeting “Chase” and “Randy” in the southern beach town of Cadiz at 9am. We decided against the pub crawl, there’s no way we would have caught the bus. We did decide on a pub crawl of our own, ending up at a club called the “Boom Boom Room” at 2am.

The “Boom Boom Room” was everything you would expect from a “Boom Boom Room” in Granada. All the women in sight were a strong 8 or better. Party “enhancers” a plenty in the bathroom. We swore that we weren’t going to stay out late. Next thing we know, it’s 6:18 am, the bus to Malaga leaves in 4 hours, and we’re both “wired” to the gills. Dammit, we got ****ed up again. Another bus ride from hell.

Granada was best served for one night only. That’s one of the craziest party scenes I’ve ever seen (or so I thought).

Day 3 (Malaga, Spain)

Two dead mofos, Bob and I were on the bus ride to Malaga. I couldn’t sleep. The Granada yak was A+. As soon as we arrived in Malaga, I instantly know I was in love. What a great town. The downtown/center reminded me of a Spanish version of New York City in the early 90s. Graffiti everywhere, great weather, one of the most amazing beaches I’ve ever seen, and some very rich history. We ran into one obstacle though. It’s Holy Week. Holy week, from Palm Sunday - Easter Sunday has parades going 12 hours a day, late into the early mornings, a ceremony that takes up the entire city. It was next to impossible to walk anywhere in the downtown/city center area but it was an amazing sight to watch. We checked into our hostel (10 euro/night) which was light years ahead of the hostel in Granada. This place was literally nicer than most budget hotels I’ve stayed at in the states (minus the bunk bed sharing room with strangers deal).

We spent the day sweating our sins out of our pours while looking at some of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen on the beach. Oh yeah, clothing was optional at the beach. Bob and I sat at the beach, getting our perv on, heads on a swivel the entire time. It was so relaxed out there. A great day to relax with a few beers to aid in the relief of the hangover. All was well.

Day 4 & 5 (Cadiz, Spain)

Cadiz is a small town with an amazing beach south of Malaga. Another 4 hr bus ride. By this day, my body is physically hurt. I’m not a big drinker anymore, but 3 days of drinking hardcore was starting to take a toll on me. There’s no way I could have stayed on top of this thread. We met “Randy” and “Chase” who came in from Madrid. They had been drinking until 7am 2 nights in a row before arriving. We decided it was best to chill tonight, find a nice restaurant and recover in our AirBNB. The AirBNB was immaculate. It was a very nice place. We later found out, the siesta is real. There were no food places to be found for miles. In addition to that, it was Palm Sunday so lots of places were closed period.

In what probably was the most disgraceful part of the trip, we had to settle on a Burger King on the beach. Burger King in America is ****-tier, Burger King in Spain had a completely different menu and was equally ****ty. One weird thing about Spain, they love Mayonesa/Mayonnaise. When you get mayonesa on a sandwhich, it’s caked on like frosting on the top of a cupcake. The chicken sandwich was inedible, we decided to all retire to the room for some netflix and power-swiping on Tinder. Enter….the situation.

A few swipes in, I get a match. A nice looking girl names Rocio (a 5 for Spainish standards, but a 8.5 for the states) wants to meet, she speaks English, and is 1 mile away. Great right? Well my antennas were up as well, but I’m always cautious. I know about the “Vegas 2 Step” so I was on the lookout for anything sketchy and ready to make a run for it if things didn’t pan out too well. We agree to meet at a Rock bar that was open between our locations. It was on a sketchy side street. I meet my “date” for the night. Her English was great though text (thank you Google translate), but in person, she struggled. Between my 3rd grade level Spanish and her bad English, we had a decent conversation although she wouldn’t drink. She nursed the beer I bought reluctantly. When I came back from the bathroom, I had a freshly poured rum & coke for me that I didn’t order.

I might have been born yesterday, but I stayed up all night. No way was I drinking that drink, despite her constant pressure. It was at this point that I started paying really close attention to my surroundings. There were a few “Sketchy Jeffrey’s” in the place, staring at me, blowing their cover. I’m deciding to cut my losses as this girl was uninteresting, and things were feeling too weird. She asks me if I can walk her home since it was dark. Prepared for the worst, I said yes. Now when I mean “prepared for the worst”, I only brought 50 Euro on me with this date, no identification, an empty dummy wallet with $3 USD in it (a must have for any vacation for this very reason) and a cheap $50 android phone that I bought with a foreign sim with ****ty service everywhere in Spain. We walked about 3 blocks when behind me I feel a presence looking. I turn quickly and I see a guy in a red track jacket quickly turn to one of the parked cars on the street, as if he was changing direction. About another block away I turn and see the same red jacket and another guy accompanying him and they’re closer. I was thinking (a little intoxicated btw) two things. 1) Turn around and square up with the two skinny bastards following me. 2) Make a run for it. Now I don’t know why I did this, but I took the burner phone out of my pocket to text the roomates that I might be in trouble and that I was making a run for it back. If they don’t hear from me in 30 minutes, to call police. As I am texting, these guys have made their way from 20-25 steps behind me, to about 5 feet behind me. At this point, I throw my phone and dummy wallet into the street and make a run for it in the other direction back towards the beach. As I make the left turn I see one of the guys chasing me for a few steps while the other one screams at him to stop as Red Jacket was making his way into the street for my empty wallet and ****ty android phone that’s locked with a pattern lock and the ability to brick the phone remotely from another device.

I freaking knew it the whole time. After about a 3 minute full sprint, I find myself back on the beach not too far from our building. The boys had a good laugh about it because I was ok. That’s what I get for ho-chasing, but at least I was safe and only made out with a loss of the burner phone and $3 USD.

Don’t trust these hoes fellas.

The next day in Cadiz was spent on the beach recovering and trying to find edible food. The only problem was, we dicked around all day at the beach and by the time we were ready to eat…..Siesta again. The Siesta is real brothers. And it sucked. After a smoke sesh, and a run for snacks at the local gas station, we hold out until 9PM to eat the worst chinese food I’ve ever had. Yeah, bad Chinese and Burger King in Cadiz, Spain…..rag on me all day for it, but the only other options were a few high end restaurants that we weren’t hungry enough for. By that point, we just wanted some rice in our stomachs and sleep. We’ve put our bodies through hell for 4 days straight.

The next morning, it was time to split ways with Randy & Chase. Two really cool dude who we’ll be friends with forever and then the weirdest thing ever happens. We wake up and the Air BNB is literally infested with roaches/water bugs. We must have swept no less than 40 of them out of the door of the beach condo and hauled ass to the bus station. It was so weird that we had no bug problem the first night. It was plague levels of gross as we made our way through the hallways running over bug after bug on our way out of the building. It literally sounded like running on bubble wrap until we got to the elevator as we were stepping on roaches left and right that infested the hallways. Pretty gross stuff. We opted for a train out of town back to Malaga where we were going to stay with a buddy’s local friend and to meet up with two others.

Day 6 & 7 (Malaga, Spain)

This is where the trip turned up a few notches. The party/nightlife scene in Malaga is unreal. We spent all day at the beach, smoking dirt weed with the locals (nothing like the Cali Kush I’m spoiled with in Vegas) drinking beers, and getting our perv on at the beach before heading out that night. We hit about 4 bars, Bob, myself and two Malagan local friends of Bob’s. D&G. D runs a hostel where he had a private room for Bob and I (Free-99!). At this point my body is a wreck. Malnourished, dehydrated, fueled on beers & tapas for 5 days…..but the party must continue. Holy week was in full effect in Malaga. The downtown streets packed shoulder to shoulder for the parades and ceremonies. It was quite the sight, all of the festivities. It was time for Shawarma Burritos, beer, & the search for “The Dark Artist”. After hopping a few bars, and picking up some people along the way, we settled at a place playing hip hop very loud with some clear degenerates hanging out in there. On the first trip to the restroom, I was offered some of the Malaga party fuel by an old Russian guy. The deal was done, the party was kicked up to the next level and we drank shots with the Russians and Malagan locals. We had a hell of a time dancing to the most ratchet hip hop from the early 2000s to present day until 4am when the bar closed.

No bull****, it was one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had in my life. The KGB knows how to have fun.

The next day, we did another beach day. Beer, Bud, & Boobs a plenty. Malaga is too special for words. If you’re ever in Spain, it’s a must see. Just don’t go during holy week, from 12pm - 2am the holy parades block the streets everywhere and the only thing I can compare it to, just sheer volume of people wise, is Times Square on New Years Eve. We chilled at D&G’s hostel the entire day, meeting the crazy travelers staying at the hostel, smoking joints and eating Shawarma. 6 out of 7 hugh party days already, we promised we would take it easy for the 5 ½ hr bus ride back to Madrid the next day. That plan lasted all of about 1 hour. We were back at the same bar, partying with the same Russians, and laughing more than I ever have in my entire life. Vlad & Alex were some legit scary dudes, but they loved us to death and made sure we didn’t spend a dime the second night.

Day 8 (Malaga -> Madrid)

The next thing I know I wake up in a bed at the hostel. Bob is in a bed laying next to a scary looking hippie chick who he swears that he didn’t do the deal with. Whatever….we were feeling next to death and the bud back to Madrid was 4 hours away. A 9 hour pure hellride. 7 days of destroying my body with liquor, amongst other things was taking its toll on me. I was done. It was the worst type of hangover. The one where you’re feeling like crap and sleep is impossible. The ride back to Madrid was a painful one. When we touched down in Madrid, it was close to 8pm. Silky met Bob & I out for a nice dinner to end the trip. The dinner wasn’t that great, the steak I had was pretty close to Raw but tasted delicious. It would have been a 4/10 in the 2+2 Steak thread. Weak sear, no grey band, but it tasted pretty amazing. I really wish I could have stayed in Madrid longer, but this was a trip for the books. I had a ton of fun, met some new friends for life, and I plan on returning after the summer once the heat dies down. It was an early night for sleep, I had to wake up at 4am to catch my flight.

Day 9

I wake up to a text from Alex, the Russian “We see you in Vegas for world series of poker. We take all the money, drink all the gat, and **** american slut ladies”. I laughed so hard I almost vomited. The walk to the train station and getting through customs was a bit brutal, on a 7 day bender. But my oh my I would do it all again if I could.

Despite all the fun, this really was a life changing experience. The pace of Spain is so unlike America. Here, I’m used to my fast paced 60-70/hr work week, finding time for poker in that, maintaining relationships, and hobbies. Here in America we live to work in order to pay for these extravagant lifestyles that we’ve been sold as the American dream. In all of that we lose focus of what really matters. Family, staying in the present, and enjoying the lives we are so blessed to live….things we all take for granted sometimes. I met friends who made the equivalent of about $900 USD/month, living in a $250-300 month apt with 6-7 roommates, and no A/C in the summer. Despite this, some of these people were genuinely some of the happiest, most carefree, loving, accommodating people that I’ve ever met. Something so simple as the gift of a free dinner or a 2 euro beer and people were more appreciative than friend’s in America that I’ve leant $500+ dollars to. It really is a culture clash, but for the better.

In all of the fun, I’m returning to the states a changed man. Life is too short for the minor annoyances that we obsess over daily in American culture. For 9 days, I had no drama, no worries, not a care in the world, disconnected from the web, just pure peace. If you travel at all, you owe it to yourself to visit Spain. Specifically Malaga & Granada. It will change your outlook on life forever.

A lot of people are alive, but they ain’t living. Thanks for reading. I will do a pic dump when I get home.

Total Spent:

Airfare: $912
Lodging: ~$95 ($70, 2 nights on the Air BNB, 2 nights in a hostel, the other rooms were free)
Travel: ~$275 (Bus & Train tickets all over Spain for 8 days, including back & forth to airport)
Food, Drinks: ~$250
Gifts: ~$50

All things said, I packed 800 Euro for the trip and am returning home with around 125 Euro to convert. Spain is dirt cheap for everything. I can't wait to go back after summer.


Thanks for reading guys.

Amazing trip report Foatie, it sounds like you had a blast. A+

23 hours of travel later and I finally made it home. I'll be doing some pic dumps over the next day or so.


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We went to the highest peak in Granada to see Alhambra. More coming soon.

Nice report foatie, what a great adventure for you.

Who were those people in the purple robes and pointy hats?

That is a tradition that they have for Holy Week that is supposed to represent Fallen Saints I believe? Anyways it was pretty freaky as each day was a different color when I first got there they were in all white robes like the Ku Klux Klan. But of course the Spanish history predates that. It was a pretty surreal sight to see. A lot of the city's sick people, cancer and disease-ridden would follow the sacred floats in the parade begging God for cure or relief to their diseases Etc. It was very solemn, yet at the same time you have this vibrant, party Mecca with hundreds or bars and clubs in Malaga amongst the processionals.

People were still partying regardless so I didn't feel out of place or anything.

I was wondering where the rest of my pics were, I should have grabbed the micro SD out of that burner phone I had to ditch.

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Nice report, love that octopus photo!

Excellent TR!