Couchsurfing Community

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This time in Spain has been tremendous, scary, lonely, and frustrating. I have loved all of it, even the worst parts, a real growing experience. The best parts have been the new friends I have met here in Spain. I´m part of a community of couchsurfers all connected through couchsufing.com. I have spent time in Rota, on the Bay of Cadith with Navy guys based there, thanks Kevin and Jamie. I have recently spent a few days with an expat U.K. couple, near Nerja, who are living out there retirement in Spain, Brian and Jane. The people that I have met have provided me with a wealth of information that I would have never asked to begin with. These are the locals who are able to guide your trip to make it more economical in both time and money. Kevin and Jamie introduced me to so many people in the few days that I was there and Brian and Jane showed me some of the smaller sites in the area were just as impressive as what I have seen so far. These are but a few of the wonderful people who are on this website. Look at it to get an idea....I have loved the experience. I have had only one bad experience travelling alone. It was actually in La Linea, but so far, really no problems.
The only problems that I have had on a whole has been looking for street signs, there are none. There are small placards on the walls of buildings and an occational dirrectional sign posted, but nothing like the states. The best way of getting to know a town is to take the bus. I first find an information booth and ask for two things, un planeo de la ciudad (map of the city) y un planeo de los publicos (map of the public buses) find a circular route and hop on it for a few turns. Busses here are really cheap and at the Tobacco shops you can buy bus cards. The cost is around 5€ for ten rides, about half the cost than paying the fare on the bus. The first hurdle is finding the information booths without a map. Head for el centro (downtown) and find the Cathedral--there usually is an information booth there. I have had only one location that provided maps in the bus stations upon arrival. That little bit of information upon arrival has been great.
I hope this answers some of the emails that I have received.
Bye for now--Christine

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