Our Globus tour was cancelled and with such short notice, we could get no other frequent flyer seats to Spain at all. One other tour fell into the same dates but it was also cancelled due to lack of people. We were going to spend time in Madrid on our own, then pick up a tour. I am soooo disappointed. I've been participating in Madridman's message board for months now, and I feel like I was already on my trip. It's quite an adjustment.

I need an icon with a truly weeping irate traveler, not just a frown face. I just wanted to thank everyone on this thread for talking with me at such great length. I've enjoyed everyone's comments and appreciated all the info. Thanks.

Your cancellation is truly a blessing in disguise.

I took 2 tours of Europe in 1999 and 2000 with Trafalgar and Insight. It didn't take me long to get extremely tired with sitting on a bus with a bunch of tourists following a flag around the monuments. In fact, by the second day of the tour I'd tell the tour director to just tell me when we were leaving an area and I'd go off on my own. Even then, my flexibility was extremely limited.

Last fall I planned my first trip to Spain totally on my own with alot of help from this board and the Fodors board. I will never take a tour again!

I could actually have a 3 hour lunch and not worry about missing anything. I could stay out until 1 a.m. and have tapas, dinner and go out for an after dinner drink with locals. I generally stayed in small, intimate hotels that didn't have 150 tourists in the lobby trying to get into the elevators at the same time every evening when the buses pulled in. I could go on and on.....

You don't mention when you'll be leaving so I don't know how much time you have to plan or how many days you'll be visiting Spain. If you need any help at all be sure to do a search and also make some postings. You'll get all kind of suggestions and have a terrific trip.

Prez,

if it's not too late, my advice would be to go anyway. Look, you say the tickets are frequent-flyer, so there's no out of pocket expense there. You were already planning on spending some time in Madrid on your own, so how about, instead of getting on the tour at the end of your time in Madrid, renting a car and heading out. Given that it is the summer, I would head north rather than south; Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and maybe the Basque country. The cost may actually be less (possibly a lot less depending on your level of accomodations/food) than the tour, it should not be as crowded as the South (except for some beach areas) and it is fairly easy to get around by car. Look at MadridMan's Galicia itinerary. Even a trip to the south wouldn't be too hard. If you do not want to drive, a combination of trains and buses, especially for the bigger cities, can also be worthwhile. I wouldn't give up on going to this great country unless you really see no alternative.

Prez,

I agree with Cathy & Cooter. You can go it alone, and end up spending less. With the resources available through information at this site alone, you know enough to rent a car in advance, make sure you have an International Drivers license (get it through AAA), and can even go so far as to book accomodations in various areas prior to leaving. You can also leave gaps in the reservations so you can do a little exploring on the side, and take in local points of interest between points.

As far as reading a Spanish road map, ain't no different than a US map, and you can rest assured, not that much more difficult as long as you pick up the rules of the road, and how Spanish drivers act on the major thoroughfares.

You can also travel north by train or bus, from Madrid, and rent cars by the day, when you want to reach out beyond the cities you may be staying in for day trips. Also... there are reasonable day tours to specific sites in the north, from various cities. You can take advantage of those as well, and since they aren't part of a nationwide tour, they spend more time at each venue. Pick and choose the ones that interest you.

Personally, I'd rent a vehicle that I could use during my trip, but I'd make it a point to arrange to pick it up after I spent my time in Madrid, and would use it until I returned to Madrid, then use public transportation while there since it's fabulous. It would also save money on parking expenses, and for days of usage, where you wouldn't need the car.

Of course -- try to book your accomodations throughout Spain in such a manner as to make driving easier. In other words, search out accomodations that are easily accessible for parking, and for public transportation, since you'll be using both in these areas.

Above all, go north. It's beautiful, and it's cool enough so you won't feel like you've been dumped into a french fry vat at Mickey D's.

You don't need the tour. Not after visiting this site.

Wolf

Go! You won't regret it. Our MadridMan friends have not misled you. Count yourself fortunate, one of the ways in which not to visit a country like Spain is to go on an escorted tour. You are at the mercy of the dastardly schedule, and seeing the same folks day in and out.
The itinerary can be the same as the tour, or, as our MM friends above have advised, search this site and see other itineraries.

if you are worried about accommodations and prefer to stay in hotels I would advise you to go to Bancotel and book your hotels online.
Even if you do not speak Spanish, you will be surprised at the number of Spaniards that speak English. Also, for general information, there are the wonderful interent cafe's. In Madrid one of the best ones is Bbigg . There you can check train and bus schedules in English and contact your hotels as well.
Good luck!

Thanks for all the encouragement! I can't convince my spouse to go it alone, and he thinks we should save our frequent flier miles for something else now. We had planned a good deal of time alone (sans tour) in Madrid, and with this Board feel like that's a piece of cake, but my spouse really doesn't want to do the rest of it without a tour. At this point even if I just went Madrid - Seville - Granada (for Alhambra) I'd be happy. We don't want to drag our luggage around on trains and driving a rental car is not an option (long story). I do feel after all the Spain Board Immersion I'm acclimated enough to give it a try.

By the way, your responses cheered me up. It's nice to know people are out there listening and cared what happened cause I was feeling pretty lousy yesterday when nothing was working out.

Prez:
If you've ever traveled to Europe before Spain is not difficult to navigate around in by train and bus. It would be really easy to have a simple vacation going from Madrid to Sevilla (via Cordoba) then also spending time in Toledo, Segovia & Salamanca. However, if you're husband's mind is set on a tour....

Question -
Did you check out dates for Trafalgar, Insight, or Petrabax tours? You may be able to find dates that coincided with your Globus tours and the prices are usually comparable.