Best spanish travel guides according to redditors

Alrighty, if you want to learn Spanish, this is the method that I have been using so far... First off, I have to plug this book:

Fluent Forever by Grabiel Wyner - Amazon.com

I have read and tried a lot of different books on learning languages before I finally found this one, which I consider to be the holy grail. Nothing else has stuck before I read this book. The method is basically this:

1. Using Anki, a spaced-repitition learning (SRS) flashcard program, you start to learn the minimal pairs of your target language (words that differ by one sounds like "cat" and "cut"). This will help you later one when listening and learning words and will help you develop a better accent.
   
   
2. Using Anki, start to learn the most commonly used words in your language by gathering your own images and pronunciations to go along with them. Learn the base forms of verbs, you will learn to conjugate them in the next step. Here is the top 1000 words on a frequency list from Wiktionary and here is the 625 word list provided in the book. I suggest using the alphabetical word list rather than the thematic word list because if you start learning words thematically it can be harder to retain, explained within the book. Grab images from Google Images by typing in your target word after translating with SpanishDict and insert into Anki. Grab audio translations from Forvo.com if available.
   
   
3. Once you have plowed your way through 500-1000 words, you are ready to start learning to conjugate verbs and making sentences. He explains a great method for this in the book using mnemonics for different conjugations and provides a model deck you can install to use with Anki at this website. Also take a look at StudySpanish.com - Grammar Tutorial and start working your way through that at the same time. The reason you learn vocabulary first is so you have words to actually make sentences with, rather than using a smaller limited vocabulary to make the same sentences over and over.
   I suggest focusing on Linguasorb.com - Top 100 Spanish Verbs to start with conjugations that will be most commonly used.
   
   
4. Once you are able to construct basic sentences and have a decent vocabulary, you are ready to start really practicing. Find language partners or tutors on iTalki.com, write some short stories and stuff on Lang-8.com and get them translated by native speakers, practice whenever and wherever you can.
   
   
5. Start to acquire as much exposure to the language as possible. Watch TV Shows, read CNN en Español, listen to radio, watch movies, read books, whatever you can at this point to break through that intermediate fluency level.
   
   Other useful things:
   
   Books:
   
   

• Lonely Planet - Latin American Spanish Phrasebook
  
  
• Lonely Planet - Spanish Phrasebook
  
  
• Practical Spanish Grammar - A Self Teaching Guide
  
  Websites:
  
  
• 60 Insanely Useful Resources for Learning Spanish
  
  
• Spanish Linking Words - SpanishWithJudith.com
  
  
• Spanish Transition Words - TheSpanishBlog.com
  
  
• Palabras de Transicion
  
  
• Graaahh's Awesome Spanish Study Guide (for this one you have to make a free account, then go back to the page, click on "Share", then a download link will appear)
  
  This is all I can write for the moment, I am by no means fluent in Spanish but I am working on it. I have done a TON of research and this is some of the best stuff I have found, but my bookmarks folder is completely full of other resources if there is something in particular you are looking for.

The keyword you'll want to use is "reader" instead of "book". Also a lot of beginner texts are in short story format, so that is also a good keyword. Here is one result I found by searching "spanish a1 reader". Also you can look on audible as there are Spanish audio books that come with downloadable text. The formatting on those tend to be garbage, but it can be helpful to read and listen, or to alternate. Here is one that came up when I searched "beginner spanish short stories".

Adding to what's been said,

• It's a great time for you to come, since the euro just sank with respect to the dollar. Everything will be much cheaper for you than it'd have been, say a year ago.
  
  
• You're not expected to tip as you do in the US. Locals either don't tip at all or just round the price up and let them keep the change. Unless they really want to show gratitude for some particular reason. That said if you do want to tip some 20% and put a big smile on people's faces, hey go for it.
  
  
• If you don't mind carrying your luggage from the airport when you arrive, the cheapest option is to take the subway to the centre.
  
  
• Uber is now available in Lisbon. Both the expensive UberBlack and the cheap UberX. It's also available in Porto.
  
  
• There's also a mobile Taxi application that covers Lisbon and a few other cities. It's called Meo Taxi.
  
  
  
• Mobile payment systems aren't big in Portugal yet. In any case you have MeoWallet available for both Android and iPhone. It is slowly making its way particularly in Lisbon. Here's a list of businesses that accept it. Note that you can use PayPal from MeoWallet, aside from credit card, or a regular top up via transfer. There's a new competitor around (SEQR), but not sure how much they cover.
  
  
• Quite a few banks in Portugal support transfers via MoneyGram. That may turn out useful.
  
  
• The most popular classifieds website in Portugal is OLX. The interface is rather shitty to be honest, compared with sites like Gumtree available abroad. But it does the job.
  
  
• In Observador, one of the newest and most popular online newsites in Portugal, the opinion column by Lucy Pepper is written in both Portuguese and English. Just click her articles and scroll down for the English version.
  
  
• The pirate bay has just been blocked, as were a bunch of mirrors. Either use any other among the gazillion torrent sites available, or some TPB mirror that hasn't been blocked, or switch to OpenDNS or Googles Public DNS, or install some chrome extension, or use a VPN.
  
  
• I'm not big on drinks and drugs, but as you probably know already, the drinking age is 18 years old, and drug consumption is decriminalised (meaning if you're holding a small amount for consumption that's fine). Don't want to sound like a dad but, whatever you do, do it responsibly though.
  
  
• You should go see the gorgeous Palace of Pena (Palácio da Pena), in Sintra, which is next to Lisbon. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And just recently considered the most beautiful castle in Europe by 'European Best Destinations'.
  
  
  
• A road trip down the coast, to see beaches and little towns of Alentejo and Algarve may be totally worth it. Particularly some of the less touristy sites.
  
  
• Everyone drives a gear stick in Portugal (or Europe for that matter). If you need to rent an automatic may be sure to specify it.
  
  
  
• The Portuguese language is 5th in terms of number of native speakers, and 8th in total number of speakers. And Portuguese, Spanish and English are the 3 european languages whose number of speakers is growing.
  
  
• If you want to dabble in European Portuguese before moving over, the Michel Thomas Beginners Portuguese may be a good choice. You can buy it or... er... stumble over it on the interwebs. The focus of the Thomas method is on spoken rather than written language. It gets you to understand basics quickly.
  
  
  
  

5 days, starting in Ferrol, is doable if you’re in decent shape. My wife, 2yo, and I did it at the end of May 2018. It was about 123km total. We used The Camino Ingles: 6 days to Santiago to help plan our time. There were a few inclines that were challenging while carrying a ~25lbs toddler in a backpack, but over all I didn’t feel the route to be too difficult. It’s probably a easy-medium difficulty w/o the kid. We didn’t stay at any albergues, since we had our son with us. We only encountered a handful of pilgrims each day. It wasn’t very “scenic”, but sometimes we would stop to enjoy wonderful views. I’d still recommend it because it was challenging and a great experience.

Buen Camino! 👣

The Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook & Dictionary is what you're looking for. I have the Latin American Spanish version of this book.

It's good to keep your phone out of sight in some places..

Quite informed. I'm a Catalan :-)

Suggestions:

• Barcelona, Catalonia: A View from the Inside by Matthew Tree an English guy who has been living here for many years and is a writer (in both Catalan and English).
  
  
• What's up with Catalonia?: The causes which impel them to the separation cured by Liz Castro, from the US, but a compilation of texts mostly written by Catalans.
  
  
• What Catalans Want (B&W): Could Catalonia be Europe's Next State? by Toni Strubell, a pro independence activist. Take a look at the reviews.
  
  
• The deplorable history of the Catalans, from their first engaging in the war, to the time of their reduction. With the motives, declarations, and engagements, on which they first took arms written in the 18th century, about the succession war and how the Brittish betrayed us.
  
  
• Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. Just an episode of history, 1936-1939, and not really centered in Catalonia, but worth reading.
  
  
• Homage to Barcelona same title, but nothing to do with the previous one. By Irish writer Colm Tóibín, an introduction to Catalan culture and history.

I was 20. As far as expense goes, that is hugely variable depending on where you are going & It's just like writing a monthly household budget. You just get a piece of paper, write down the best estimations you can for your major known expenses:

• plane ticket, (if you don't have a schedule to keep, there are ways to get creative about getting the price down...a flexible return date is a good idea)
  
  
• travel within the country
  
  
• (nightly accomodation * number of days)
  
  
• (food per day * number of days )
  
  
• Experience fund (museums, bike rentals etc)
  
  
• Restaurants (splurging) fund
  
  
• souvenir fund. ( I always bring something back for my house)
  
  
• Emergency / get home fund (in traveller's checks)
  
  
  You can get a Let's Go or a lonely planet to help you figure out what those expenses might be. In europe Youth Hostels will be much cheaper than hotels In Asia or South America guesthouses are the norm.
  
  
  Get a good tough internal frame backpack that can last you 20 years and a pacsafe for security
  
  
  If you have never been out of the country before, you might want to stick to a European country, though dollars won't go nearly as far as they will off the beaten path. I have stumbled across guest houses in small towns in Asia where I was able to rent room with a veranda over looking a market plaza for $3.00 a day with a meal included. You wont find things like that in heavily touristed areas...but I wouldn't suggest something like that for a first major trip. The developing world requires a certain amount of resiliency. The dollar doesn't trade favorably with The pound or the Euro so that becomes more expensive, but again if you have never been out of the country I would try some place like France or Italy. Consider choosing non-peak seasons as well. Venice is like Disney Land in the summer, but is a magical place @ Christmas.
  
  Just do research, research, research and trust your judgement.
  
  http://www.reddit.com/r/earthporn
  
  
  Again, I never said it's easy, but Im emphatically saying it's worthwhile.
  

And another thing - don't bring a guide book. Download the kindle app on your phone, and bam you are off to the races. I'm all about the weight saving...

Here is the book I've used both times. There is a more popular book that ~75% of Americans use but that one will ultimately just keep you on the exact same schedule as 90% of pilgrims. The problem with that is that you'll have difficult days getting a bed since you're competing with everyone. Hitting some of the smaller towns means less competition.

And know that when your signal drops out on your phone, the GPS will still work. So if you download the offline map of route ahead (say night before or that morning), you can easily see where you are when you get a bit turned around.

Have you ever checked this out...https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910636061/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_45jkzbTP6QXQ6

Spain Travel Book

or cheaper item...

Salad Book

silhouettes

> It is believed

By some. Douglas Robinson makes a pretty compelling case against this.

Even if the paint had caught fire, it likely wouldn't have caused the massive inferno without the hydrogen as fuel. It is a hypothesis, among several.