By way of introduction, I'm Denise, from Ontario, Canada. It's snowing here tonight and the temperature is expected to go to -20C tonight. I'm dreaming of the summer - and a vacation to Spain in September.

I've just started our (hubby and I, 54 and 53 yrs young)planning and have a large Spain map on the bulletin board in the office, Frommer's book on Spain (which steered me to this site, BTW, MadridMan) and a host of internet sites bookmarked.

Our method of travel is to fly to Malaga, rent a car for some sight seeing of Cordoba, Seville, Grenada and Gibraltar. From Cordoba, I think we'll take a train to Madrid and stay a couple days with side trips (escorted? trains?) to Toledo and Segovia. From there, it's a train to Barcelona. Once there, again, we'll do some local sightseeing in the area (Pyranees, Montserrat. etc). Depending on our time, I was thinking of taking a drive to Valencia, with a return trip the next day. Our return flight would be from Barcelona.

WHEW! I'm already tired! We have two weeks to get it all done. I'll be looking for advice on reasonably priced accomodations (nothing fancy, but decent). I'd love to stay in one of the castles/convents etc, but at E206 a night, I don't think it's in my budget. I'll also be looking for discounts on anything of interest, neat places to eat (that don't want my first born son in trade!), the best things to spend our time on, and general info/advice you want to share with me (in other words, spill your guts!).

So far, I've just been reading the forums and learning my way around the site. I'm still confused about hotels vs. hostels (I get the youth hostals - we are a bit too old for them).

This is our real first trip to Europe. We opted for a land trip self organized vs. a cruise or escorted trip. We've done Alaska, the coast of Oregon and Washington and many other trips in the US and Canada (usually tent camping, but RVing too). We aren't fancy people at all. So any help would be greatly appreciated!! I have lots of time to get this planned!!

Denise