Dont want to cancel holiday

Watalie

redsquirrel80 wrote: »

Hi Sara,

Sorry to hear that you're worrying when you should be looking forward to your holiday! I think sitting down and working out a budget to raise some extra money is a great idea.

We went to Barcelona last year and there are lots of things to do that are free or cheap (try Googling "free things to do in Barcelona" and lots come up). We spent a day walking up Montjuic where there is plenty to see and great views. The market is a day out in itself too, just looking at everything! Found really good value food in Barceloneta too - the set meals for 10-15 euros were great (we did also visit one of the Michelin-starred restaurants as a treat, I don't think I'll tell you how much that cost! :eek:)

Good luck with it all x

I agree with redsquirrel, Barcelona is brilliant for little cafes and restauraunts with set meals or just cheap tapas - stay away from the food places on La Ramblas (extortionate!!) -

Loads of parks and of course the fountains in the evenings...

Hope you get something sorted!

sara86pink

Thanks all, I know OH is being sensible, I think moving into our new flat has both made us much more money conscious (sp?) which is good!

Luckily we are both on the same wave length when it comes to money, I just really didnt want him selling something he really loves just to go on holiday. Hopefully we can raise some money for the holiday and maybe have some left over to put towards debt.

I stayed on La Ramblas when I went last year and still managed to go on a budget but was tough, what ares would you recommend that are cheaper? Our hostel is south of the city right near Park Montjuic

Watalie

sara86pink wrote: »

Thanks all, I know OH is being sensible, I think moving into our new flat has both made us much more money conscious (sp?) which is good!

Luckily we are both on the same wave length when it comes to money, I just really didnt want him selling something he really loves just to go on holiday. Hopefully we can raise some money for the holiday and maybe have some left over to put towards debt.

I stayed on La Ramblas when I went last year and still managed to go on a budget but was tough, what ares would you recommend that are cheaper? Our hostel is south of the city right near Park Montjuic

Places just down the side streets, not far from La Ramblas are great and as Red said down near the beach is great too - we found a great tapas bar off Ramblas de catalunya (sp?) - we even found an eat as much as you can buffet (although, for the life of me, I can't remember the name) -

Have a great time though and try not to stress too much

Nottoobadyet

Let me know if this is totaly out of order (I dont mean for it to be), but what if you went alone this time? that could take the stress off OH and he wouldnt feel as though he had ruined your holiday. Personally I love traveling alone and often go without OH even when money isnt an issue.

sara86pink

Nottoobadyet wrote: »

Let me know if this is totaly out of order (I dont mean for it to be), but what if you went alone this time? that could take the stress off OH and he wouldnt feel as though he had ruined your holiday. Personally I love traveling alone and often go without OH even when money isnt an issue.

That isnt an option lol. Bless him he would be so distraught if I went without him. He's never been abroad (well 1 night in Paris for a gig years ago) and has been looking forward to this since we first talked about it.

Plus, he has confidence issues due to his ex so if I suggested going on my own it would send him into a downhill spiral.

Plus, will be nice to go as a couple. I did say that if I got more money for my car then I would help him out as wouldnt be fair for me to have loads and him having to struggle.

Wee_Jo

Hi Sara!

I think working out a budget is definitely the way to go, as otherwise you would be losing money anyway by cancelling, would you not?

Barcelona is one of my favourite cities too and there is LOADS to do without spending a fortune. I have been there a few times (I went there for my hen weekend last year) and we managed to do loads for not very much. I can have a dig through and see if I can find any names of places we went to.....

Jo

tazzy2010_2

Hi Sara, just read your posts. Think helping put your OH extra stuff on ebay is an excellent idea and best if you do that asap as it is payday weekend (things tend to go for a bit more on ebay). Clothes and shoes sell reasonably well too so you could check there too. I would definately then do a carboot with the remainder as we got 70 quid at our last one and 120 about 2 months ago Pick the largest local one you can find and get there early.

Maybe you could pick up a cheap lonely planet barcelona from ebay, they have fairly honest recomendations on resturants, attractions etc from budget to exensive. Might make it easier to find the cheaper places for breakfast and lunches.

xx

BigCraigJohn

Try and do some local carboots. Its that time of year so there are plenty about.
Toys and cds/dvds/games/records etc absolutely fly.
This is what my sister does every year, about a month before she goes away she'll just fill her boot with whatever she can find and make £500 in no time.
I make my living as a vinyl dealer, I pick out the rareties and sell them on ebay or specialist sites but take all the junk to carboots and trust me people go mad for the 50p items.

Secret is dont be too attached and accept all reasonable offers.
Actually a bit of a kill 2 birds with 1 stone, you make some much needed money and clear a load of junk out at the same time.

sara86pink

Right, due to unforseen circumstances (car breaking and not being able to get extra money from sale) we have sat down and sussed out the Barcelona situation.

We cant justify going for a week, so we have decided to go for 4 days as we cant cancel flights but pay £1.50 and get them changed and cut down our hostel so it will cost us much less (and we can afford that)

That way, we still get our trip away together but we are not breaking the bank by doing so.

We are going to start a teeny tiny budget (most of the money going towards debt) towards a holiday next year and this time get it all booked when we know we have the money.

Thanks for all your advice guys, we are still going to go through the spare room and ebay / car boot a lot of stuff and any money will go towards spending money

Pee

If you are staying in a hostel, consider cooking there to keep costs down. Check they have the facilities and think in advance what you will eat so that you could take a little black peper and chilli powder with you for instance.

We went mad with lots of raw prawns, which were quick to cook, tasted delicious and were less than half the price of what they would have been here.