Global
Add a review
Hotel review
Travel story
Attraction review
Question to tourists
Forum thread

Holidays in Spain

25 November 2014 • Travel time: with 15 august 2014 on 23 august 2014
Reputation: +14
Add a Friend
Send message

I want to create a review-instruction, as it were, it will be useful for those who are going on a trip for the first time. So, let's begin. How long before departure? I preferred to leave at night for 15 hours, while I got there for 7 hours. There was a case when people left for 11 hours. And they were 40 minutes late. Moreover, they were driven by a taxi driver who knew the road well - gentlemen, traffic jams. If you get to get to the airport on your own transport, then it's a good idea to negotiate in advance with the parking lot. Prices vary from 200 to 400 rubles per day, as a rule, this price includes a transfer.

And so we got there, we go in, we see the X-ray installations, we pass everything through them: purses, fanny packs and main luggage. We pick them up right away. That's it, we entered the airport.

The wait at the airport took us 6 hours. But the first three dragged on. Then registration is announced 2-3 hours in advance and the time is already running fast.


You should not constantly run to the scoreboard, there is free wifi in the airport and at the office.

On the site you can watch the opening of the registration in real time. We are looking for a flight by its code and departure time (your travel agent should tell you all this). Please note that the time on the ticket is Moscow! So far this is not relevant, but we were given vouchers and they indicated the return flight, but here we need to specify the local time, since the departure will already be on it. So, the numbers of the check-in windows are indicated on the scoreboard under your flight, here you can already check in your luggage and free your hands. Here, yes, in principle, and in general, you only need a passport. Do not be surprised when you receive documents from your tour operator and do not find tickets - they are electronic, and you will receive boarding passes when checking in your luggage with your passport.

Then you can take a little walk, drink coffee, go to the toilet, but do not walk around in front of passport control and customs.

It is not bad while waiting to study the airport plan at least structurally (ABCD-sectors). As a rule, everything is located in the direction of the boarding gates. And so passport control, girls sit in booths, here you give your passport, they certify that you are you, the green arrow on the turnstile lights up and you can continue on. Approaching the customs already, you will see plastic containers in which you need to put all metal things and hand luggage, if you have a belt with a metal buckle, you will be asked to remove it too. Come into the booth, hands on the glass and you can go pick up your things. All finish line. Here you can go to duty-free, cafes, buy cosmetics, use vending machines for drinks. In about 15 minutes you need to proceed to the boarding gates. Here you will need boarding passes in addition to passports.

Either you go straight to the plane or you are taken on a special bus to it.


Got on board. Flight attendants will explain the rules memorized by heart, in Russian and English. Learn to use a seat belt.

The plane starts to taxi to the runway, it can take a long time especially if the airport is overloaded, you can laugh but at the airports I saw a traffic jam from the planes, although it was on the way back in Barcelona. If you feel a sharp acceleration, much stronger than on a twisted sports car, it began to take off - last a few seconds. The sharp release is like swinging when you're flying up, but the sensations are stronger. They do not last long, then the plane begins to climb more smoothly and it is practically not felt. It lays the ears a little, I recommend emulating swallowing and let go of the ears.

This paragraph is dedicated to those who are afraid to fly. Since I was flying for the first time and it was not the flight itself that scared me, but the unknown.

I studied pretty much the Internet and found out what an aircraft is structurally and how its safety is ensured. So, I assure you, an airplane is hundreds of times safer than a car!! ! Everything is duplicated there, and some systems are duplicated more than once. Two pilots, two computers, at least two engines. Moreover, the aircraft is designed for a long pallet on one engine. Well, just for an analogy with a car, answer the following questions for yourself:

1. What will happen if you overtake and your engine stalls (you have one)?

2. What will happen if the driver lost consciousness at a speed (you also have one)?

3. What happens if the brakes fail (the aircraft has a reverse, flaps and wheel brakes for this)?

As you can see, the chances of a car crash are many times greater.

The plane's wings are movable and it's normal that during takeoff they rise and "stagger", believe me, they are not going to fall off : ).


If shaking starts in the plane, the pilots call it - chatter, just the plane hits the ascending air currents, this is called the terrible word - turbulence. The phenomenon has been studied for a long time and is not at all dangerous, unless of course you are in the gas front, pilots are strictly forbidden to fly there. The plane has a large number of lightning arresters and nothing terrible will happen if lightning hits the plane. Aircraft are equipped with a nearby object detection system, and it is impossible for another aircraft to approach an unsafe distance unnoticed. And finally, the plane can just glide for a while and not fall like a stone, and some models can land without engines at all. History knows such cases.

Every second there are about 10.000 thousand aircraft in the sky, they carry millions of passengers, you can view this on flightradar24. com.

And one accident inflated to madness by the press does not prove anything at all! Compare with the statistics of fatal car accidents. Understand that in order for an accident to happen, you need a combination of many factors, which in principle seems unrealistic. Fly and don't be afraid of anything - it's safe.

During the flight, when the plane gains a height of about 10.000 meters, the display will go out, fasten your seat belts, you will be offered several times refreshing drinks, and will be fed lunch. Here I would like to note the metrojet company, the plane is licked, the flight attendants are very polite and tidy, they take their work very responsibly. Several times during the flight you will be told at what stage of the pallet you are. When landing, you will feel it, the plane begins to descend as if in steps, before landing it always makes a circle.


If you feel that the plane began to gain altitude again or went to the second circle, there is nothing to worry about. Pilots do not have the task of landing the plane at all costs. And if there is an assumption about any difficulties during landing, and only an assumption! The pilot will not risk anything, and will land the plane only with 100% certainty. The touch itself feels quite comfortable (but I still heard the touch on the plane of the metrojet company), but I realized that we sat down only by applause. True, as the pilots themselves say, they still do not hear them. It is much more reasonable to thank the flight attendants at the exit from the plane. I don’t know if it depends on the aircraft or on the skill of the pilots or on weather conditions, but the plane of the Metrojet company (I don’t remember) was landed less comfortably than the plane of the Utair (Boeing) company. On a Boeing, I did not hear the touch at all and realized that we had already sat down by the characteristic sound of braking rubber.

And so we arrived. Spain met us with an almost empty airport, there is no this anthill that was in Moscow (I felt somehow comfortable). we go to the conveyor and pick up our luggage, then we go to passport control where they put a mark on this, the arrival procedure is over. We head to the exit of the airport where we meet with the guides, learn from them by T-shirts or pillars. There is no need to worry about waiting for everyone. We follow them to the bus that will take us to the hotel. On the way, you will be given the necessary information and set up a meeting time with your hotel guide. You must come to the first meeting, here you can not only ask your questions, the most important thing here is to clarify everything related to the way back. Above, I wrote that you need to know the exact time of departure in local time!

In general, the principle is this, you fill out the papers that you will be given and according to them you are assigned a transfer to the airport. Information appears in the journal of the travel agency in my day. Where to find this magazine and the hotel guide will tell you. Be careful and remember or write down everything you are told. The guides do everything on the machine and at least information, no one will repeat anything to you for ten races, let alone lead you by the hand.

We arrive at the hotel (ours was Best Los Angeles), go to the reception and hand over our passports for check-in, here you can take the key to the storage room and, for example, go to dinner while the paperwork is being processed, as was the case in our case. Just do not forget to immediately take a food card - this is a piece of paper with a schedule for breakfast, lunch and dinner (Desayuno, almuerzo, cena). What is available to you, time will stand against it. We took breakfast and dinner, because with lunch you will be tied to the hotel, which is extremely inconvenient.


And eating fast food is never a problem. The food card must be presented at the entrance to the restaurant. For example, we arrived at the hotel 15 minutes before the end of dinner and almost left hungry. Here I would like to mention the Russian-speaking manager Roman, who gave good advice more than once. It was thanks to him that we were not left without dinner on the first day.

The table is buffet, we take a plate and put absolutely everything that we see. Exceptions are drinks at dinner, you will have to pay for them. So for example for a small cup of tea from a bag (t? negro) I had to pay 1.20 euros. All drinks at breakfast are free. Coffee and juices are available from vending machines, but you don't have to pay for them at breakfast. Boiling water should also be poured from them (agua caliente). Tea in any cafes and restaurants will still be from bags, apparently it is not popular in Spain as a drink. Alcohol is always free! We really liked the table, fruits, desserts, ice cream, always fish and meat.

Here sausages are not very good, and as I understand it, salads are not popular in Spain. But you won’t believe one of the days I saw a bowl of Olivier, and yes, it’s not the French original, but ours with sausage and green peas. So the Spaniards try very hard to please the guests. Although the local staff does not speak Russian, they are very friendly and smiling people. Russian-speaking managers, in my opinion, do everything as if reluctantly. But maybe we ourselves are to blame for this, because I heard from a girl with a clearly Baltic appearance the phrase - “But you Russians constantly ask you to be moved to other rooms. "But our compatriots love to snort, to be honest. I must say that, before checking into the hotel, I was afraid to get in with Russian neighbors, and as it turned out, in vain. I didn't see a single Russian drunk or screaming. Our compatriots are behaving very worthy! But screaming in English at 4 o'clock in the morning, please.

Or French morons who behaved like gibbons in the zoo late at night, this is also not a question (I didn’t see them again a day later, most likely they were evicted from the hotel). In general, I must say, after that I began to dislike the French, they behave brazenly defiantly, cause discomfort to others, the road to red is no problem. True, this applies to children and adolescents, I did not catch adults in this. When I studied at the institute, many French people lived in our hostel, normal guys, I would never have thought that they behave like that on vacation.


And so we got a key card (there is an arrow on the card how to insert it : )), the key to the air conditioner and, if necessary, a larva from the safe. You can also ask for a TV and air conditioner remote control, for some reason they themselves do not offer it. You can also ask for a password for wifi, it is free in the hotel, but the range is small, I was lucky, I was perfectly caught in the room.

The speed is low so you can't download movies. But for web surfing it is quite enough, and it also allows you to talk on Viber quite well. I must say that there are many places where there is free wifi, for example, in cafes and even on the beach (special signs signal this). For the larva and the key you will have to leave a deposit of 5 euros, so keep the receipt until departure, it is for it that you will then return the deposit. As the hotel guide said, that the staff, of course, will not steal, but any outsider can enter the hotel. And the administration does not want to be responsible for the safety of things. There are pickpockets operating in the city and on the beach, they go to such places as to work, so be as vigilant as possible. But do not cling to the purse and tie it to your hand. No one will snatch it from you, as this is already severely punished. Thieves prefer to do everything quietly.

The rooms are simple, but everything you need is there, bath shower, toilet and hot water : ), air conditioning and TV. But I never turned on the TV, I took a laptop and a portable hard drive with a prepared collection of my favorite films with me.

The rooms are cleaned every day, the servant chooses the time when you are absent from the room. For example, I have never found myself in my room like this for all the time. Leave a good tone on the bedside table 1-0.5 euro tips (la propina). In general, tipping at the hotel is very welcome.

As for the entertainment program. Of course, it is impossible to be in Salou and not visit Portaventure. From Salou to the amusement park 2km. We walked there for three days. Yes, I want to warn you right away, it will not be superfluous to put a navigator like Garmin or Igo with maps of Europe on your smartphone, forgive me, the authors, but everything can be downloaded on torrents for free. And without straining to walk in any direction.


It is very easy to get lost in Salou, and I tell you this, a person who has never taken a compass into the forest and has never strayed. The fact is that the streets are located in arcs, and not in the usual straight line, and it is very difficult to keep a landmark in your head, keep this in mind. Tickets can be purchased directly at the hotel reception. It’s not bad to look at the weather forecast, because in case of strong wind or rain everything closes and no one will return the money to you. We took tickets for three days, then exchanged one day for a water park, of course you can do this, but you have to stand in a frail queue. So it's better to take exactly those tickets that you need. My recommendations are:

1) Don't go on Saturday and Monday - it's rush hour

2) It is better to do it on Sunday after 4 pm.

3) No need to take two days, there is nothing to do there, take 1 day and VIP entrance, and you will visit many more attractions and get rid of standing in huge lines.

4) Of course, the park is full of coffee, but everything is very expensive there, for example, 1 liter bottle of cold water costs 4 euros. You can bring water with you, and go to the park after having a good meal. In extreme cases, there are drinking fountains in the toilets, you can drink there (no problems for the stomach : )).

5) Before you queue up for an attraction, make sure that your child or you meet the minimum height, all this is in the cards. Most of the main rides have a minimum height of 140cm. Some of the restrictions are lifted if the child is accompanied by an adult. You must definitely be in a T-shirt or T-shirt, even if you wet them, you simply will not be allowed to enter the attraction without them.

6) No need to strain and try to hold on (this causes discomfort) while riding on slides like "chambola". Relax and enjoy. Everything is calculated more than once and you will not fall out for anything.

7) Do not go on wooden slides, terrible cod and nothing good.

8) Do not wear caps, flip flops, glasses, keys, phones and change to put in unfastened pockets. All this will take off!

You are tormented to look for entrances to the attractions, it seems that this was done on purpose. You just need to imagine that there is a ring around the portaventura (and it is). On which you can go in a circle and visit everything that is there. Do not try to cut and follow the signs!

The same applies to the water park, it is less confusing, but I'm tired of looking for my cell in order to change clothes. For example, no one could tell me that there is a second floor in the main terminal and my number 780 is located there.

Although I'm pretty good at English.


In general, it must be said that English in Spain is of little use to you, as a rule, it is spoken only in large entertainment centers.

So it's a good idea to learn a few words in Spanish and put a phrasebook on your phone. I did some Spanish for a month before the trip, I highly recommend "polyglot spanish in 16 hours". And believe me it helped a lot. For the English (people who know English), do not swallow the endings and do not try to somehow smooth out the pronunciation - they will not understand you! Pronounce the word clearly and pronounce the ending clearly, the Spaniards pronounce the words well even in songs, I think this is a big plus of the language. The only incident is if you have a European appearance, they will try to speak with you as much as possible using familiar English words and you get a kind of mixture of Spanish (Catalan) and English. This is what drove me to a stupor because I can’t perceive information in two languages ​ ​ ​ ​ that are not native to me at the same time, I need to “switch”.

As for the documents, I have never once taken them out of the safe, no one ever checks them here. True, it is still recommended to make photocopies of them and store them in different places. This will help to avoid many red tape when they are lost.

In my opinion, it is better to refrain from renting a car here. The roads are toll (for free for a long time), fuel is expensive, the minimum fine for example for not wearing a seat belt is 150 euros. And most importantly, there are no parking spaces. But I saw a rare phenomenon with so many cars, I have never seen a traffic jam! Learn gentlemen officials, adopt European experience. : ). And if you decide to rent a car, then always with full insurance, it can save you a headache in the future. The cars are mostly diesel. If you drive lightly into the bumper when parking, you shouldn’t make a fuss, you won’t be understood by the Spaniards, it’s customary to park, take a closer look at all their bumpers.


The first acquaintance with the sea went like this (I was at the sea for the first time, and I live on the Volga River). I went ankle-deep into the sea, damn it, and the water is cold, if such water was in the Volga, I would never swim. I am confused and disappointed. Well, I think if I flew here, then it’s better if I lie down with the temperature the rest of the days, but I swim in the sea. I climb into the sea and, lo and behold, the water seems to be nothing and the longer you sit, the warmer it is. For 40 minutes without getting out of the sea, I could spend in it without almost freezing. Why such a deceptive first impression, I do not know. On the beach you can rent a sun lounger and an umbrella for 1 or 2 euros, I don’t remember exactly. Well, you must admit it's stupid to fly to Spain and hide from the sun. Although of course you can burn out here in one fell swoop, and you need to be careful. Since my whole family tolerates the sun very easily, we bought a couple of mats and used only them. The sea itself is very clean, well-groomed beaches.

I walked barefoot along the beach for 2 km and did not prick my leg, on the Volga you will prick it as soon as you take it out of your boot : ). If there is no sun and the day is cloudy, then it is quite possible to swim, but it is better to take some light clothing with you. The beaches are also full of entertainment. This is a banana ride, a parachute ride, an inflatable city. I recommend spending at least half of the days just on the beach.

In Salou itself, in the evening it is very beautiful on the promenade along the central beach at the end of which there is a laser show on the fountain near the bay. A very impressive sight. You should definitely see this.

We were on vacation for 9 days, but this is pure marketing. Since we arrived at 10 pm and this day can be crossed out, and left at 4 am, we can say that the day has not yet come. So it's really 7 days to rest. And believe me, this is very little, no one from my family wanted to leave. Next time I will go for at least 2 weeks.

Don't forget to collect all your deposits when you check out, I did this the night before. Be sure to specify the time and place of departure of the transfer to the airport a day before!

Translated automatically from Russian. View original
To add or remove photos in a story, go to album of this story
Similar stories
Comments (5) leave a comment
Show other comments …
avatar

© 2006–2025 TurPravda.com — Help • Advertising • Hotel owners • Export information • Privacy Policy • Terms of use

TurPravda - reviews of tourists about hotels | Rating of hotels and resorts according to tourist reviews

Hundreds of hotel reviews of all popular resorts are presented to your attention.You will learn the whole truth about hotels "first hand".The opinions of real tourists about hotels and resorts will help you make a decision about choosing a hotel.Read reviews of tourists - use the experience of other travelers!