Beyond the 'Boro: Three Years After

Research and Random Facts

I’m at a loss for a companion article for the Madrid Metro video, so let’s go over some fun facts and secrets of the Beyond the ‘Boro. Lean some different ones in my NYE 2022 Easter Eggs video.

Locations

1. Both Urban campuses of Nebrija, where I studied, do have dorms close by. With AIFS, the options are an actual apartment in the city with others in the contingent or with a host. Izzy and Emily had the same host, over by Casa de Campo. I had my host with her grandson, a guy from Miami, a guy from Western Michigan University, and Kaisuke from Kansei University in Osaka. The rest were split into two apartments I believe.

2. Cafetería Jazmín - the cafe I frequented a short walk north from Pinar de Charmatin station on the Metro

3. Discoteca Nuit - one of the many clubs in Madrid that was a favorite of Alex’s. About a 500m/1700ft walk from the line 6 entrance at Nuevos Ministerios. I’m not really a night person, but there are a lot of clubs in this area just south of Bernabu Stadium

4. Cafetería Rionegrito & El Labrador - 2 cafes near the “J” Building of Universidad Nebrija. The former is where the “Guzman No Bueno” Meme is set…also the only time I went to said cafe

5. Sol/Callao is treated as downtown. Both locals and tourists will be here all the time

6. Both Zoos are quite far away from Transit. The Madrid Zoo is nearly 1km/2800ft. I could never figure out the Bus Schedule, but its over 1.2km/shy of 4000ft walk to the Valdebernando metro station.

7. The Foire du Nancy is located at the Place Carnot, adjacent to the University of Lorraine, about 400m/1116ft from the former TVR right of way

Lodging

1. As part of my program, we got a weekend in Granada. We stayed at the Hotel San Anton. It’s right on the Genil and seems to be a good deal for the quality at base rate of $65 dollars at mid-week 4 weeks out pre-Easter. Its actually close to the tram line, but far from attractions of interest. There are probably better deals where you get breakfast included over quality-its nice to have one meal already figured out imo.

2. For most bookings, I used Hostelworld looking at Hostels to save money that I could put into mainline carriers and HSR. For Rust and Lyon, I used Expedia.

3. When I spent the night in Barcelona, I had my first hostel experiance at the Room018BCN. It’s near Camp Nou just off line 3 of the metro-so its really good for Real Madrid fans-but you need to bring more of your own than I did at the other hostels I stayed at.

4. In Rust, I stayed at the Pension im Sunnegässle-which is walkable to the park. I would love to stay at Kronasar at some point, but I also would enjoy more of the older/boutique hotels if they are significantly cheaper vs on-site.

5. In Nancy, I stayed at the Hotel La Residance-which was right on the former Nancy TVR line at the intersection of Jean Jaures and La Republique.

6. In Lyon, I stayed at the Campanile right across from Part Dieu-mostly because I would not get into Lyon until around 10pm and wanted to be in bed as soon as possible because I had an early morning to get to Walibi Rhone-Alpes. It had more of a business vibe to it, so I would recommend looking for a cheaper option-even if slightly further from the station unless you can use a benefit and need a quick turnaround like I did.

7. I messed up my booking in Cannes, but we resolved it in the end. It was at the Hotel Carolina. Its very close to Cannes’s train station, but I took the bus from Marseille because that’s what Trainline booked me for (same with the Nancy-Lyon trip).

8. Finally in Sevilla was the U-Sense, roughly 500m/1630ft from the Plaza Nuevo Tram station and 1.3mi/2.1km SE of Isla Magica/Expo ‘92 site and I think was one of the nicer of the two traditional hostel situations I stayed at. It was raining heavy, the noise of the sports fans, and my phone about to die really killed me on that walk back from the park. It said it wasn’t much longer to walk the full way vs a bus-which there are a few options-but drop off 2-3 blocks away.

Production

1. When I did my overnight in Barcelona, I grouped each video by topic: Travel Vlog (Atocha-Tibidabo, Tibidabo-Hostel, Hostel review the next morning?), Tibidabo vlog (which was in between the two parts of the travel vlog-which Theme Park Worldwide has done on longer road trips), and the Gaudi Special (taking a peek at Sagrada Familia after getting to the Hostel, then most of the next day shenanigans paired Parc Guell)

2. A second vlog riding Coaster Express and seeing shows was done, but I deleted the footage before it was imported. There are still some comments and posts on Beyond the Queue’s (formerly SFNE Online) Facebook page and both theirs and my Instagram if you go fishing

3. The plan for Sevilla, unlike Madrid, was to break each video down by day 1, day 2, day 3. However, there was enough material (and a through line) that all signs pointed to splitting the Alcazar and Isla Magica into being separate videos

Research

1. Walibi Rhone-Alpes did promote having their own shuttle from Lyon and the train stations, but either didn’t research enough or was completely blind to it. Yes, its possible to get to this small park in France without a car. Take that Great Adventure.

2. I clearly show I don’t understand football culture in the Alcazar de Sevilla

3. Thanks to Sean Flaherty’s Easter Egg video inspiring mine, I added 30min timestamp easter eggs in two of the final episodes. The points are when Emily says, “Yes, this is the angle” in Segovia and when the magician, Victor, instructs an audience participant on the opening activity of his show. This idea is loosely continued as at the end of the credits, the time 12:50 appears-being the estimated time to binge the whole series without breaks

Miscellaneous

1. There was a student in one of my classes from South Korea, remembering this made me decide to write this.

2. If I knew Plopsaland de Panne was open year-round before I left, I probably would’ve slotted it in somehow in J-term and Port Aventura in the break between J-term and the main semester

3. “The Next, Next Day” is an actual frame from Kamen Rider Revice, the Kamen Rider series that was airing when I was studying abroad. Avatro Sentai Donborthers was the incoming Sentai Series, starting about through my time in Spain

I hope you enjoyed going “Behind the ‘Boro” with my today. Be sure to watch both station reviews over on the YouTube channel as both station were a big part of my time that most tourists probably won’t use.