Travel lessons and my 1st (real) hostel

I made it to Valencia today and immediately realized that the place I had booked for my 2 night stay was not anywhere near anything. I had thought, when I initially looked at a map, that it would be closer to the beach and that would be better than the town center. WRONG!

So, I made a game time decision, pulled out my lonely planet guide and found a hostel (ironically the purplenest hostel) with great reviews. Within an hour I was checking in at my very first hostel. I am sitting on a terrace doing laundry (which happens to be a great way to meet people I've discovered) and tonight the hostel will be playing the Spain game with free tapas for each drink you buy. I can definitely handle that and, hopefully, I'm not going to feel sad and alone tonight. Phew!

I think tonight I'm going to go to the City of Arts and Sciences and then come back for the game and tapas. Tomorrow will be a beach day and then I'm off to Barcelona on Monday!