The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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City Review: Amsterdam, the Netherlands

amsterdam - feature photo

In April, Matt and I took our first big trip outside of Spain after becoming Spanish residents — to Amsterdam! We spent about a week exploring the city and its surroundings, and of course we checked out Holland’s famous tulips. While it was my third visit to Amsterdam, it was my first time staying for more than just a couple of days, and it was also my first time visiting in a month other than October. I was hoping to enjoy some warm spring weather, but it was not to be. 😅 But we still had an amazing time.

Without further ado, here’s my city review of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. [Read more…]

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Tulip Tour Review: How To See the Tulips in Amsterdam

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Tulips in Amsterdam… but you’ll need to go outside Amsterdam to see the tulip fields!

Amsterdam may be most famous for its charming canals, legal weed, and Red Light District, but there was something else that I didn’t expect during my first visit: Tulips are a huge part of Amsterdam and the Netherlands’ culture. Despite the fact that I had visited during October in the past, tulips in Amsterdam had been everywhere — from the Tulip Museum, to the “floating flower market,” to the magnets in every souvenir shop.

When we moved to Alicante, Spain, in January, I decided I wanted to take the opportunity to see the real tulips in Amsterdam. But I had to wait until tulip season, which is typically late March to mid-May. And peak time for tulips to bloom is generally mid-April, when most flowers are at their very best.

Though it’s possible to make predictions, it’s impossible to know how things will actually play out. But we went ahead and booked our trip to Amsterdam for mid-April and our tulip tour for April 19, while crossing our fingers that the tulips would be still be at their peak. 🤞

So, here’s what it was like to see the tulips in Amsterdam and what you need to know to book your own Amsterdam tulip tour. [Read more…]

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A Review of Transavia Airlines: Alicante to Amsterdam

transavia airlines review

After three months living in Alicante and a couple of very quick weekend trips, we finally had the opportunity to take a longer trip: We spent the week in Amsterdam! The main purpose of the trip was to see the famous Amsterdam tulip fields (more on that later), but I was excited to come back to the Netherlands for the third time, and Matt got to check another country off the list. Luckily, it was very easy to fly from Alicante to Amsterdam with Transavia Airlines.

I had never heard of Transavia before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it caught my eye for a couple of reasons: first, we didn’t have to pay extra to bring a carry-on bag; second, it wasn’t RyanAir.

Keep reading to learn more about flying with Transavia and my review of the experience. [Read more…]

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Personal Item Packing List: How To Pack Without Paying for a Carry-On

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My PacSafe bag is part of my personal item packing list

Over here in Europe, gone are the days of budget airlines giving you a free carry-on bag. When flying any of the major low-cost carriers, such as RyanAir, Vueling, and Transavia, you typically only get a personal item for free. And your personal item isn’t the one that goes in the overhead bin — no, it’s the small bag that fits under the seat in front of you.

During our trip through Europe this past fall, we had to bite the bullet and pay to bring our carry-on bags with us on every flight. Which really added up. In our defense, we were packing for two months and needed a lot more than we could fit in a small backpack. But now that we’re based in Alicante, Spain, we’ve been taking long weekend trips to other cities in Europe. And we’ve perfected our personal item packing lists so that we don’t have to pay for a carry-on. (Also, I finally upgraded my backpack to utilize my space even more efficiently with the CabinZero bag.)

Here are five tips for packing for a long weekend in a personal item bag, plus my personal item packing list. [Read more…]

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Spain Digital Nomad Checklist: 10 Things To Do After Arriving in Spain

spain digital nomad visa checklist

My dear readers and fellow Spain-digital-nomads-to-be: I want to warn you that becoming a digital nomad in Spain is not for the faint of heart. I’ve been working through this Spain digital nomad checklist for the past two+ months, as we’ve been going through the steps ourselves, and writing it all down has really caused me to reflect on la locura of the whole process.

I really hope that this Spain digital nomad checklist can be helpful, but there are a few disclaimers I want to give. First of all, I lived in Spain as a language assistant through the NALCAP program from 2018-2020. For that reason, I had some advantages when it came to several items. Not only did I already have a Spanish bank account, but I was familiar with the processes for getting a TIE and empadronamiento. [Read more…]

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9 Big Differences Between Life in Madrid and Life in Alicante

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A view of Alicante’s Explanade, marina, and port — things you definitely won’t find in Madrid

Now that we’ve been in Alicante long enough to feel like we actually live here, I’m able to think about how different life is in Alicante compared to life in Madrid. In case you didn’t know this about me, I lived in Madrid for two years from 2018-2020 when I was participating in the NALCAP program as a language assistant. I loved Madrid, and I will always love Madrid! And I had never lived anywhere else in Spain — until now.

When moving to Alicante, I was super curious to find out which things I thought were “Spain” things, that were actually just “Madrid” things. And after two and a half months, here are the biggest differences I’ve noticed so far between life in Madrid and life in Alicante. [Read more…]

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5 Museums in Alicante, Spain, You Can Visit For €5 or Less

museums in alicante - castle

We’ve been residents of Alicante for just over two months now, and we’ve even had our first visitors! My best friend Hanna came to visit for about 10 days, and then immediately afterwards, Matt’s parents came for a week. Which means we’ve had a good reason to keep exploring our new city and find ways to entertain our guests. Luckily, there are lots of museums in Alicante — many of which cost only €5 or less.

While Alicante may be a typical Costa Blanca beach town for many tourists, the museums are a great way to spend a rainy day, escape the heat or cold, and learn something new. And when the museums are so cheap, what’s not to like?! With that in mind, here are 5 museums in Alicante you can visit for €5 or less. [Read more…]

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Comparing Health Insurance for Expats in Spain + Visiting the U.S.

health insurance expats spain

When you move to Spain, there’s an unbelievable amount of bureaucracy to deal with — and even more so if you’re self-employed and holding the Spain digital nomad visa, like we are. While we’re figuring it out little by little, and I’m working on a checklist for new digital nomads in Spain, one thing that inevitably brings up a lot of questions is the topic of health care.

On the digital nomad visa, my understanding is that we are eligible for Spain’s public health system due to the fact that we’re paying Social Security. However, we still haven’t registered for it. There’s a certain order you need to do things in, and I’m not sure we’ve completed all the steps yet. I wasn’t planning to get a private plan, and I just figured we’d get the public health insurance as soon as we could, but there was one more thing that I was a little concerned about.

What health insurance would we use when we went home to the U.S. for a visit?

[Read more…]

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Everything You Need To Know About Carnaval in Alicante

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Two weekends ago, we got to partake in one of Spain’s most exciting traditions for the first time: Carnaval! While Americans may be more familiar with Mardi Gras celebrations, the concept is similar. With the Christian season of Lent starting on Ash Wednesday, Carnaval is typically celebrated in the time leading up, though the exact duration varies from city to city. Here in Alicante, the main celebration was held on Saturday night. And it turns out that Carnaval is Alicante’s second-biggest holiday, so we were really excited to get to experience it all. [Read more…]

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How To Use Airalo eSim Card When Traveling Abroad

Airalo eSim card

Hi all! After being my travel partner for so many years now, I finally got Matt to write his first guest post for The Girl Who Goes! I’m very thankful he took the time to explore a topic that many travelers have questions about: eSim cards, and specifically, Airalo eSim cards. Let us know what you think! — Cathy

Hey everyone! Matt here. *Spits out coffee* WHAT?!? Crazy I know.

Today’s installment is going to be a little departure from the norm because Cathy asked me to write about a piece of our travels that I have much more experience with than she does.

For those of you who know us well, this might come as a shock because I am almost always the one who is just along for the ride. That usually has more to deal with the planning than anything, but once we are at our destination, I am the designated navigator. I have an innate sense of direction that has only steered us wrong once (maybe twice on a technicality) over all our trips.

With the role of being navigator comes the need to be able to look up directions, recommendations, etc., which requires fast, reliable cell service while traveling abroad. That is where my trusty friend Airalo comes in. [Read more…]