The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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Top 9 Day Trips from Madrid, Spain

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You can visit so many amazing cities by taking day trips from Madrid

As of three weeks ago, I’m officially a resident of Alicante, Spain! Which I think means I’m an “Alicantina” now. 🙂 But I’m still working on getting to know the city, especially now that the matter of finding an apartment is settled, so more to come about my life in Alicante. For today’s blog post, I wanted to share a topic that I’ve been meaning to write about for a while, from my days as a “Madrileña” — the 9 best day trips from Madrid, Spain.

All of these are day trips that I actually took while living in Madrid. Some of them are so quick and easy that you could be back in Madrid in less than an hour, while others are probably better suited to being a two-day trip or more. However, all of them are absolutely doable as day trips! So, here are the 9 best day trips from Madrid, Spain. (Listed in order of shortest to longest distance.)

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Why It’s So Difficult for Digital Nomads To Find an Apartment in Spain

digital nomads apartment in spain

Less than a week after arriving in Alicante, our new home, we’re officially settled into our new apartment! 🎉 While it took a lot of hard work — scheduling appointments, running around town for visits, and speaking Spanish with all the realtors/landlords — I’m glad that it paid off. However, it was a little more difficult than I anticipated in some ways. It turns out that it can be really tricky for digital nomads to find an apartment in Spain.

If you’re a digital nomad in Spain searching for an apartment, keep reading. Not only have I experienced the housing search here in Alicante, but I also went through the process in Madrid a few years ago.

So, now that I’ve gone through it twice, with two totally different experiences, in two different situations, and in two different cities, I feel like I have enough knowledge to share that could be helpful.

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Why We Decided To Move to Alicante, Spain — Without Ever Visiting It

alicante, spain

Hello from our new home in Alicante, Spain!

Three and a half years after moving back home to Kansas City from Madrid, I’m finally back in Spain — and the best part is that Matt is with me now, too. 🙂 While our first few days here have been a whirlwind of adjusting to the time zone, looking for an apartment, and even having our TIE appointments bright and early on Monday morning, I’m ready and excited to start sharing our adventure with you all.

Of course, once we got approved for the Spain digital nomad visa, there was an important decision we had to make: where in Spain did we want to live? We talked about different cities for a while, but in the end, we decided on Alicante… a place that neither of us had ever visited before!

It was definitely a little bit risky (but so is moving to another country at all, lol). In the end, there were five main reasons we felt like it was going to be a great fit for us. So, without further ado, here’s why we decided to move to Alicante without ever visiting. [Read more…]

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Trusted Housesitters Review: Why It’s Too Good To Be True

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I’ve had this blog topic sitting in my “drafts” folder for more than six months, and now’s finally the time to write about it! However, the review I’ll be writing is much different from the one I was planning on. If you’ve ever heard of TrustedHousesitters, an app that promises to connect homeowners in need of a house/petsitter with travelers who are looking for a free place to stay, it may sound like a match made in heaven.

I imagined how Matt and I could travel around Europe after moving to Spain, and we could spend time with people’s pets and watch their houses while also getting free lodging. I mean, what’s not to like?

But it may be too good to be true. Here’s what prospective sitters on TrustedHousesitters should know. [Read more…]

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Spirit Airlines vs. RyanAir: How Do They Compare?

spirit airlines vs ryanair

Originally Published on December 26, 2023

This past weekend, I got to experience one of the coolest things ever: a Pakistani wedding in Orlando, Florida! An old co-worker of ours got married, and we were SO honored to have been invited! Between the wedding lasting three days, culturally “appreciating” some traditional South Asian dress, and learning a few group dances before the big days, it was an unforgettable experience that I’m always going to cherish.

But, you know, it was Christmas weekend. And it was also Orlando. While I couldn’t have cared less about shifting my family’s Christmas celebration to a different day, finding flights around Christmas — specifically to and from Orlando — was not the world’s cheapest undertaking. Which meant that, in order to make it more affordable for us, we undertook another “first” experience: flying on Spirit Airlines. [Read more…]

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30 Years, 30 Countries: Complete

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Back in December of last year, on my 30th birthday, I announced that I was setting a personal goal to visit my 30th country at age 30. Considering that I’d been to 25 countries at the time, it meant I needed to visit five more this year.

And today is my 31st birthday, so I’m happy to say that I met my goal! 🎉 (Actually, with 3 months to spare!)

For my first 25 countries, I shared what they were as well as a snippet about my experience there. So I decided to do the same for the last five. Enjoy this quick recap of the five new countries I visited this year: [Read more…]

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City Review: Porto, Portugal

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I visited Porto, Portugal, for the first time in January 2019, and it ended up being one of the most magical weekends of my life. When I was living in Madrid, a friend from the U.S. was planning to come visit for a week, and we were going to spend a girls weekend in Porto, exploring and drinking port wine. However, she ended up getting sick and not being able to travel. Unbeknownst to me, another visitor was on his way — Matt, my former friend/co-worker/summer fling and present-day fiancé. 😉 After he surprised me at the airport, we spent a whirlwind weekend in Porto and it felt like something straight out of a movie.

After we got engaged this summer, and knowing we were heading back to Europe to apply for our digital nomad visas in Spain, I knew I wanted to go back to Porto and take our engagement photos there. Plus, it was a great opportunity to spend an entire week there instead of just a few days. I feel like we really got to know the city better! So here’s my city review of Porto, Portugal. [Read more…]

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How To Pack for Long Trips in a Backpack + My 2-Month Packing List

long trips in a backpack

This is how my REI 40L bag looked for two months. 😉

We recently spent two months traveling around Europe while applying for our Spain digital nomad visas… and it was certainly a very busy two months! We spent all of August in Sevilla, sweating away the 112F/44C degree days, as we worked on our visas and tried to enjoy the city as best we could. And September was a whirlwind as we traveled to five different countries and I achieved my goal of visiting my 30th country while I’m 30 years old! On top of that, we took engagement photos in Porto, Portugal, at the end of our trip.

And we did it all while only traveling with our backpacks.

Keep reading to learn my secrets for packing for long trips in a backpack + get my packing list for this trip.

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7 Reasons to Visit Ljubljana, Slovenia

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When we visited Ljubljana, we showed up with zero expectations. All I knew about it was that my university had offered a study abroad program there, which I assumed meant that it had enough going on to be interesting. But the main reason for our visit to Ljubljana was that going to Slovenia helped me achieve my goal of visiting my 30th country at age 30. 😉

It turns out that Ljubljana was an amazing little city and it didn’t take us long to fall in love with it! So if you’re looking for somewhere off-the-beaten-path to visit during your next Europe trip, here are 7 reasons why you should visit Ljubljana. [Read more…]

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City Review: Ljubljana, Slovenia

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We did it, Joe. This past September, I finally achieved my goal of visiting my 30th country at age 30! After spending five weeks in Spain as we applied for the Spain digital nomad visa, we set off on a month-long trip through five more countries. First was Croatia (country number #29) and next, finally, was country #30: Slovenia. Specifically, we went to Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana.

Ljubljana may seem like a random place to visit. Matt hadn’t even heard of it, and neither had anyone at home when we told them we were going to Ljubljana. I only knew about it because in college, my school had a study abroad program in Ljubljana. I was always curious about it, wondering why in the world Ljubljana had been chosen as an exchange partner.

It turns out that Ljubljana is a beautiful city and I can totally understand why students would love to live there! Here’s my city review of Ljubljana, Slovenia. [Read more…]