San2
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Hi Andrew, You just need your passport. And despite 9/11 in Spain ther is no such paranoia related to travelling and more. Here are some geenral tips you might want to consider being underage or not...;o)
The laws in Spain are like in many countries, 18 yeard old to drink however the attitude towards driking and the enforcement of the law is quite different. First, In spain they never ask for Id in clubs or bars. I am spanish and they have never aske me even when I was 14.
Although now the minimum alcohol purchasing and drinking age is 18 I have not heard of anyone who has been asked for an ID. You can drink in public even though it is against the law but it is a law which no one observes. We have a veru unique system of social disobedience consisting on so many people breaking those laws that go against our traditions or even logic that the only way to enforce for example the drinking laws would be to through the whole population of Spain in jail. Drinking, like traffic tickets, which no one ever pays, is a general custom and for us it is somethiong healthy so no one respects unreasonable laws. Also the Cops have more important things to do. Only watch your belongings because ther is certain amount of petit crime and theft .
The largest cities are in this order Madrid, Barcelona,Valencia, & Sevilla, all of them have a lot of young people and action all year round and even older Spaniard like to party too. All these cities and other like la Palma, Tenerife, o Ibiza, are full of bars, discotecas and night clubs were you can have a great time. One thing to keep in mind that our tolerance towards alcohol is due to the fact that spaniards even when very drunk do not get violent or do specially stupid things in general since our culture considers that if you drink you must know how to drink and it is not manly or womanly to lost your personality because of drinking. Drinking in Spain is never considered an excuse to do anything stupid. The alcohol in bars, discos and stores is really cheap and the dosis are generous, just make sure they do not give you "Garrafon", or famous brand alcohol bottles refilled with cheaper alcohol. You can avoid this drinking beer, wine or Spanish alcohols like brandy, rhum negrita or, gin ginebra larios, or even old spanish whisky named Dyc. Also there are carajillos- coffee with rhum or brandy and if you want strong stuff there are excellent firewaters or aguardientes of many flavours or straight wich can be up to 120 proof. Also ther is anisette and chinchon like Machaquito that are 120 proof, delicious and strong dry and/or sweet wines, 21 -23 degrees, are quite cheap like finos, manzanillas, jerez etc
The hotels are so many that you do not need to worry since usually the quality of Spanish hotels is much better than in many other countries at least in a quality/price relation. You can look up in any search engine
+"spanishlocation" +hoteles +online and you will be able to "visit the hotel" virtually and know where it is located and if its convenient for you. From two stars on hotels, and or hostals are good enough and they are quite cheap. You can find places from 20 to 50 euros a night qthat are decent enough and well located.
You do not need a lot of money, it depends what you want to do and spend. As is aid Alcohol is dirt cheap, bars too and clubs quite cheap. You can also eat well for not much if you avoid tourist places, and go into the places you see more spaniards. Calculate at least somewhere from 25 to 50 euros to eat, drink and baring/clubing, basically. Tips are custommary and they do improve the service very much especially if you want to repeat same place or thing other day. A tip of 5 -10 % of the bill is enough for any service.
The beaches and mountains (skiing resorts) are all very good just try avoiding infront of huge hotels or tourist beaches and resorts since they will be more expensive and quite crowded, also quality is lower. Instead of beaches better go to a Cala instead of a playa, Calas are smaller and generally less known even though any map will mention a good number of Calas as well as Playas.
Do anything you want, only thing U might get in trouble from is drinking and driving, If you drive at night from a disco really drunk,so drunk that police stops you or you are unfortunate to run into a police check point which are quite unusual. Drinking and driving is something stupid and remember drinking in Spain is no excuse to do stupid things.
You can do many things even if they are forbidden since a) spanish do many forbidden things since that is our custom, if we feel a law is not good we do not comply, just check how people park and how they drive. Yet being a foreigner is a plus since Spain depends so much on tourism that usually police will not bother tourists unless they themselves are bothering others really bad.
Dont take a lot of money with you to the street since as I said petty theft is not uncommon and you might also avoid it by not looking extra touristy. Even though Spain is not a place famous for its crime so most people have no problems there.
If you drink you can get very drunk while you maintain your manners and pose, if there is something clear in Spanish culture is that neither alcohol nor drugs are an excuse to be a jerk, so as long as you are polite you can blow your mind away.
Finally do not give money in advance to anyone for any type of deal, first you see whatever you want to buy, legal or illegal, test it and if you like then pay, but never, I repeat, never in advance, since you will loose your money.
People are quite tolerant and young spanish people will be able to recommend you or indicate you where to go, buy , eat or get whatever you want without getting scandalized etc. In spain everybody asks other people in the stree for infor and they will provide you detailed info, even walk you to nearby places in the city to show you. We say "preguntando se llega a roma" meaning "ask and you can reach Rome" or you can get what you want by only asking.
Just be open, friendly and polite and you will have access to everything you want or need. Try to avoid touristy places since they will always be more expensive yet not better.
Have fun and do not worry, but be civilized and no matter how much you drink maintain your pose
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