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What should I know before traveling to Spain?

Hi, I’m Fernando, Live in Barcelona since 2018. I´m one of BBreak Time’s agents. Our agency is located in Barcelona, Spain. Today we are going to tell you about several interesting things about life here.

People don’t speak English generally or are often embarrassed to use it even if they do have some (the under 50s are more likely to speak it than the older generation). Learn a few phrases to get you by like “thank you”(gracias) and “please” (por favor) and “I would like” (they say “I want..” which is “Quiero..” -kee-air-oh). Survival Spanish, basically.

Photo of plaza españa in Barcelona – Spain

BBreak Time

Travel, Events & Adventures

  • Don’t get very drunk like you might do in your home country – people don’t get plastered like Northern Europeans and Americans and it’s really not seen very well at all.
  • Don’t do anything there that you wouldn’t do in your own country. Yes, the alcohol is cheap and it’s a fun country but have respect for the local people and their customs. Don’t treat it like your own personal playground where you can do what you like.
  • The Spanish are extremely proud of their food ( I particularly recommend batatas bravas and chipirones, I learned to love this typical Spanish food 🙂 ) – do not insult it or complain about it in front of them. This, ime, can cause deep offence.
  • Don’t mention politics, Franco, The Civil War or religion unless you’re acquainted with someone and you know their political views and they’re open to talking about it. Keep your mouth shut about any of this – the Civil War and the dictatorship are extremely delicate subjects there.
  • If you are a person who likes to delve into history, I recommend this series https://youtu.be/Gw5fmgMNPGY, because it is neutral and has no political parties, it is just for people to understand what happened here in Spain.
  • The Spanish are forward, extroverted, friendly people who can be quick to anger in public places sometimes (though it rarely gets physical), relatively speaking. It took me a while to get used to this but go with it. The Spanish don’t care about you liking them – they’re very confident, outspoken, passionate, friendly, civil, sociable, quite moody and extremely chatty people and sometimes this heady combination can be misconstrued as rudeness but it’s not: their idea of manners differs from those of other countries and they simply don’t waste time on (what they view as ) pointless niceties (“would you mind if I could possibly get a glass of water if that’s not too much trouble” for example).
  • Always have cash on you – in many bars and cafes you can’t pay with card for a bill less than 10 Euro. Now with the pandemic, it has changed a lot, but still some bars prefer payment from cash cafes.
  • Overall, respect their culture and learn from it; don’t expect America or Britain or wherever – you didn’t come all this way to have a holiday like you would back home…otherwise why would you travel at all?

About Autor:

Specialist in world travel and adventure, marketing digital, event organizer

BBreak Time

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