After graduating university last spring, I wanted to see more of the world while I had the chance. I saved up from a few summer breaks spent working but I couldn’t find any friends to travel with at the time I wanted to go. And so I booked my first ‘solo’ trip – I found a 19 day Contiki tour of Spain and Portugal where I would be travelling with 50 strangers between the ages of 18-35 from across the world on a coach bus.

I had no idea what to expect – I couldn’t speak much Spanish and no Portuguese, I didn’t know if I would be able to make friends, and I didn’t know much about Spain and Portugal except what I learnt watching Spanish TV and movies (I’m an especially big fan of Spanish horror films). This turned out to be the trip of a lifetime and I made so many memories and amazing friends and discovered a love for Tinto de Verano.

And of course I had to take along my trusty Suntone point-and-shoot film camera. For a camera that cost me $2.50 at a thrift store, it does the job, albeit not without some glitches. But I have embraced its imperfections.

After I spent two days alone, wandering through the streets of Madrid, I met up with my tour group and we were off to Bilbao! On the way up we stopped in Burgos to see the cathedral and the castle ruins.

We all bonded quickly in Bilbao by getting stuck in a huge rainstorm on our way to our group dinner that night – no one had umbrellas or any rain gear so we had to run through the rain and ate as the water dripped from our hair and clothes.

The next morning we stopped by the Guggenheim.

And then it was a quick stop in San Sebastián on our way to our first special stay in Pamplona.

And from there it was off to Barcelona! After some brief site seeing and checking into our hotel, we spent a fun night out at some of the clubs.

The next day we had a free day – a whole day to spend in Barcelona without having to get back on the coach. I got to see Sagrada Familia to which my trip roommate said as we were trying to take photos, “it’s too bad it’s under construction,” before she realized that it’s famously been under construction for over 135 years.

And that’s when I ran out of film because my poor planning meant I only packed one roll and I couldn’t find affordable film anywhere, especially with a language barrier.

Part 2 – where I explore my favourite stop of the trip – is coming soon!