Madrid in Bloom

On my wish list, 10 years ago, I had a very unrealistic wish for that moment: to spend weekends abroad any time I want, without any other specific requests. At the time we had huge debts for our apartment, no furniture, no car, not even TV set. 

Last years, most of our vacations were abroad and over the weekends, because my wish came true, but in a different way than I was thinking when I first wrote it.  The low cost airlines and the internet made it all much easier. 

Here are some of my traveling tricks:

1. Booking tickets in advance (3 to 6 months), using for research some dedicated websites as: http://ro.skyscanner.com/ or http://www.orbitz.com/.  Then, I go for the best offer. With the low cost airlines, if you cannot go, they don't refund your money, so think in advance if the time is fine for you.

2.  I don't usually stick to one destination, I try few from my list and I book tickets for the cheapest.

3. Check different departure and arrival days, and try to come back on Monday, not on Sunday. Morning flights for return are usually cheaper than evening.

4. The hotel I choose by searching the usual websites: my favorite is http://www.venere.com/, but http://www.booking.com/ or http://destinia.com/ are fine, too. I double check with the hotel sites, I had some pleasant surprises.

On the 4th of January I already bought some tickets for this year, so we spent last weekend in Madrid. While home was still snowing and the temperatures were way below zero, in Madrid was already spring. It was our first time there, and we have home 2 great travel guides, because we wanted to see it from a long time, but we forgot both home. But the weather was so fine, we spent most of the time open air, making photosynthesis in the beautiful parks and on the sunny streets.

So, later I'll talk about Madrid, but for now, it's only Spring. 

Sorry for the me, me, me pictures, but I'm absolutely delighted with Bogdan's work. And with that blooming city of Madrid.