How losing my card forced me to change my vision of money.
In early June I went for some vacations in the south of Spain. A few days into the vacation away from my friends in Alicante I went to Valencia on a solo trip. As soon I arrived at the Valencia bus station I went for a Bankia to withdraw some cash and the ATM swallowed my card without any information shown on the screen and without returning it.
After a few minutes of panic or asking one or two Spanish people for help that were passing nearby, I realized it was gone. I was going to stay in Valencia with somewhat 7/8 € in my wallet for a while.
I called my Airbnb host explaining the situation and after 30 minutes walking I arrived at the place and he helped me with a hundred euros after I managed somehow to transfer via another that amount.
During the walking phase called my bank to cancel the card and to check my options. I couldn’t transfer money via the internet / app because I had one of the security procedures back home.
I took the challenge to spend only the 100€ in three days while enjoying the traveling. So exactly did I learn during this setback?
Reactive changes happen all the time.
I promised my girlfriend I would buy her a Hard Rock baby bib for her nephew like I usually do. By the time I arrived there I was expecting a five euro or something around it but in the end, it was double. 10% of my budget had just disappeared. The same happened when I arrived at Oceanographic where I paid more then I was supposed to because of the same card I had lost before. I really wanted to see the ocean animals since I love the sea so I had to take the hit and react accordingly to those “money loses”. That leads to.
Priorities
Fine. 40€ wasted on optional and recreational activities/products but using a 60% — 40% might not be a bad choice. The rest was always in my mind to be spent on essentials. From the 60€ pretty much 40 or so spent on food / water because it was essential.
Value/Quality
The most important for me is this one. I would arrive at a small place to eat something and I would think about the amount of food I would need to eat to be satisfactory enough for part of the day. The visit to the Oceanografic was also controversial for me due to the amount of money I was going to spend. So in that case I would have to stay several hours to compensate for the money I had to pay which I did.
Enjoying
It was super fun to walk around slowly with the camera on the hand and enjoy the Spanish way of living. Pretty much all the catholic monuments were free and I entered to enjoy the paintings and its history.
One of the funniest moments I had was asking for a beer to rest on a coffee shop while speaking with two Spanish people sitting next to me about Portugal and Valencia in Spanish. In the meantime, a small Italian kid sat on the chair in my table and tried to talk with me while her mother was on the phone trying to find her husband. Super confusing situation.
Local Tips
I spend some time calling friends that were in Valencia before but the biggest advice came from a CouchSurfing guy where I was gonna stay during my last day. He showed me some of the best places to eat. It was great.
Money is to be spent but the choices are always up to the person that uses the money.
Paulo
