more Spanish questions

What's Valencia like?

How expensive is (1/2 decent) car hire in Spain?

Isn't Spain one of the countries where there's something fishy about
insurance (or is that only UK insurance on vehicles you drive to Spain,
rather than on rental cars).
How long will it take me to learn Spanish?

 

Five years.

 

Interesting if you already know other places in Spain and handle it to
match the Cheste GP.

No idea.

#define ever (;
void darsyLearnSpanish() {
int anger=0;
for ever {
study();
anger++;
}
}

 

darsy emerged from their own little world to say

I've just booked a car through http://www.doyouspain.com/

Not used them before but they have been recommended. They are brokers so
you only find out who the car is supplied by when the booking is confirmed.
My car is being supplied by Solmar (see below).

From Reus airport, 7 days at Easter, compact with a/c, 131 Euros which
includes CDW, no excess.

Unlike most of the brokers I don't have to pay up front. Additional drivers
are free and you can cancel/change the booking without a penalty.

Holiday Autos from lastminute.com prices were apparently cheaper. However,
a closer look at the T&Cs showed you have to pay a bunch of extra charges
to match the deal I got. You have to pay the full price to confirm the
booking too and there are penalties if you want to alter the booking.

Last year www.carjet.com was cheapest. They seem to have upped their
prices. They seem to own the Solmar car hire business now and quite a few
of the other brokers appearing in banner ads on travel sites. The quote
through the DYS broker is 30% cheaper than dealing direct.

Looks like you should be able to get a Mundano size car for 250-350 Euros
depending on when you are travelling and where you collect the car.

 

I don't really mind who supplies the car, as long as it's reliable. My
one constraint is that I need to pick the car up in Barcelona, and drop
it off in Malaga.

that seems pretty fucking cheap - I'll give the site a go.

I don't need additional drivers, but the free cancellation might be
useful.

thanks - I'll check them out too, just for reasons of completeness.

that's well within my projected budget - thanks for all the info.

 

darsy emerged from their own little world to say

That option is available from carjet.

No probs. I only booked it a few days ago so everything was fresh in my
mind.

 

I like it. Different vibe than Barcelona, all the bits to see are within
walking distance, has an excellent museum and park area, also it seemed
easier to me to find the non tourist restaurants. Had an amazing paella
one evening (although I discovered I don't like snails).

About the same as most places I thought. I booked through Hertz because I
couldn't find a recommendation for the doyouspain place. Keep about £20
for tolls each way.

There are some great castles on the way as well if you fancy a) a break,
b) that sort of thing. It doesn't cost extra overall to come off the toll
road.

Depends on your abilities, and how good you want to be. Getting the
basics sorted isn't that difficult, getting fluent is.

 

me neither, on the snails thing.

The reason I'm interested in Valencia is that we're spending 5 days in
Barcelona, and then 7 about 30 miles from Malaga, and Valencia's one of
the places sort of on the way, and I don't know /anything/ about
Alicante.

 

darsy emerged from their own little world to say

Airport - mostly used by those heading for Benidorm
Villas
Golf courses
Thousands of affluent, retired Brits who consider themselves too posh to
slum it in Benidorm, but too scared to leave the Costa Blanca because
there's too many bloody foreigners elsewhere.

Nice mountains and beaches

Go Valencia

 

smashing - cheers.

 

that is exactly the thing that was at the back of my mind.

That said, I've hired cars in Spain (well, the Canaries) before without
worrying about it.

 

Yep, the stupid fucking Manga club. Even the road signs are in English
FFS. Lost our direction once whilst cycling through there in a group.
The English guide didn't know enough Spanish to ask what he wanted. I said
he should just use English. Sure enough, the first person we asked was a
snot nosed toff who didn't want to talk to mountain bikers.

OTOH the waiter was ecstatic that most of our group spoke some Spanish. We
got extra chips.

Good windsurfing on the Mar Menor.

For city stuff and sight seeing, I'd agree. For beaches and sun soaking,
most places on that section of coast apart from Benidorm.

 

I've never been told to, and I've hired a few cars out there.

 

Bear emerged from their own little world to say

snip bail bonds

my Spanish rental contract says a bail bond is provided where appropriate

http://www.theaa.com/staticdocs/pdf/allaboutcars/overseas/european_motoring_advice.pdf
says "A Bail Bond is no longer a legal requirement and many insurance
companies have stopped issuing them"

 

I think it's included as standard in Spanish insurance. It's only
furriners who need to get an extra bail-bond certificate from their
insurers.

 

That URL sounds like it ought to belong to a scouse S&M site.
--
Please add "imo" to above post.
Champ
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GYASB#0 BotToS#2 BOTAFO(T|F)#35 WG*#1 DFV#8
Team UKRM Racing : www.team-ukrm.com

 

Paella *is* a Valencian dish.

 

Nicer mountains in Valencia?

Em... :-D

 

WTF is a "bail bond", please?

 

If you're 'in country', and you're unable to hold a relatively advanced
conversation within six months, then there's something wrong with you.

if you already speak a Romance language, then you'll pick it up even
faster. My French is native-level, so I can learn Spanish from 'within'
French, which makes it easier.

<fx: asks polyglot SO>
Her answer: 'ça dépend.. pour des gens comme toi, trois mois. Pour les
cons, beaucoup plus.' ('that depends..for people like you, three months,
for idiots, much more').