Okay, so I’ve been planning this epic trip through Spain and Portugal, and I knew I wanted to do it by train. It just seemed so much more… romantic? Relaxing? Anyway, I started digging into how to actually make it happen, and let me tell you, it was a bit of a learning curve at first.
First, I spent hours just staring at maps. Seriously, I had maps of Spain, maps of Portugal, maps of the train lines, all spread out. I felt like a general planning a campaign! I knew I wanted to hit Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Lisbon, and Porto, but figuring out the best order, and what other smaller towns I could squeeze in, took some real effort.
Next, I had to get my head around the different train *’s so much to consider. I’d say this took me a good few evenings of reading blog posts and forums to really feel like I understood what was going on.
Booking the Tickets
Then came the actual booking.I’ve done that. It took a few tries to find some availability, I found the journey that I needed.
I booked everything separately, piece by piece. It felt a bit like putting together a puzzle. I had to make sure the timings all worked, leaving enough time for connections, but not too much time that I’d be stuck in a random station for hours.
I used a note that I prepared to go through all of the steps.
The Result!
So, after all that planning and booking, I finally had my itinerary! It’s a bit packed, I admit, but I’m so excited. It looks something like this:
- Barcelona: Arrive, explore for a few days, soaking up the Gaudi architecture.
- Valencia:Got train tickets for valencia.
- Madrid: High-speed train to Madrid! More museums, tapas, and exploring.
- Seville: Another train down south to Seville, for flamenco and sunshine.
- Lisbon: Overnight train to Lisbon – that’ll be an experience! I’m picturing myself waking up in a new country.
- Porto: A shorter train ride up to Porto, for port wine tasting and exploring the Douro River.
- Departure: Fly out of Porto.
It took some work, for sure, but I’m feeling pretty good about it. Now, I just need to pack my bags and go! I’ll definitely share some updates from the trip itself – stay tuned!
