Beyond the tourist spots, I enjoy observing how people from a certain culture do things. After spending a few weeks in Spain and spending time with someone who has lived there for more than 10 years, I was able to learn a thing or two about the stark differences of the Spanish culture vs the rest of the world.

What I noticed in Spain in General

• The Outdoor Culture
  • Before anything, you need to understand that Spanish people love to hang out outdoors.
  • Restaurants would usually setup tables and chairs outside of their shops and you would almost, always see people sitting outside, drinking their beer and having tapas or coffee. And there would usually be less people indoors.
  • This also explains the unusual setup of having a big space in the middle of the road just to put seats at the middle of the street (i.e. in La Ramblas).

• When I was hanging out at a roof top, I can see that from the adjacent buildings with pools that people like to have pool parties.
• I started out always choosing indoors to avoid the sun but after spending weeks in Spain, I've learned to love the sun and hang out outdoors. I even leave my balcony doors open the whole day to get some fresh air into the house.
• The Terrace Culture
  • I've only been to 3 homes, but all of them have terraces (I call them balconies in Korea). Spanish people pay premium just to get these terraces.

• In modern day, when you buy a unit, the terrace would most of the time be on a different floor, and you need to go up or down just to access it. People pray premium to get the terrace on the same floor as where they live.
• Usually, the terraces are big enough to put a dining tables and lounges there - everyone hangs out on the terrace by default. When I stayed with my friend, he rarely stays in his room. It seems like he just goes to his bedroom to sleep but most of the time hangs out outside. I assume all Spanish people are the same.
• The Siesta Culture AKA The Work-Life Balance Culture
  • The most popular Siesta culture. Even though I was aware of it, I was still shocked at how much time they spend on breaks. By default, shops close from 4pm - 7pm.
  • What do they do? They eat, drink wine, rest.. Then a lot of them won't come back after 7pm, some would and open the store for a bit (like maybe until 9 or 10pm?)
• In the busy areas, nothing really operates 7 days a week, except for Indians and Chinese which are be open 24/7. Chinese restaurants and convenience stores are the only ones open usually!
• A lot of tourist spots are closed on Sundays. Even the biggest supermarkets like Mercadona are closed. Small towns even saturdays and certain weekdays!
• And in even smaller towns - they only open every other day (real estate agency in vejer)

• I was on a line for lunch in an expo and I overheard an American and a Spanish employee talking about their cultures.
  • The Spanish person said that if they finish their work at 3pm, they go home and do their hobbies like learn musical instruments, go to the gym, meet with friends, and then have dinner after that.
  • Americans (which is more similar to the Asian culture) work until 5pm, go home, cook meals, have dinner and go to sleep.
• The Tapas and Wine culture
  • In Asia - you get the menu, check for food, order the food, and eat the food.
  • In Spain - you get the menu.. the waiter will approach you just to get your drink order - no it's not yet time to order food, they have another waiter for that. I was trained not to buy drinks back at home, so I usually say no drinks. They find it weird if you don't order a drink. As if the point of going to the restaurant is to order a drink?
  • Later on as I look into the tables of the Spanish people and what they order, even if it's lunch time or dinner time - they will just have wine and some small bites. It's like they're not ordering any main dishes and their main dish is the wine!
  • Sometimes I check the bills of our nearby tables and for 2 pax, they have 10 euros as their final bill. We, on the other hand, have the largest bills of around 30-40 euros. That means ordering main dishes is not common, and it's alright to order 3-4 orders of small tapas (usually at 4-8 euros each) without ordering any main dishes.
• The Tipping Culture
  • It's like in Asia - they don't expect any tips. In fact, they don't leave the receipt or any form of tray on your table. I just tap my card on the terminal and they leave.
  • This is great because their service is not tied to receiving tips - they're really just nice in general. Sometimes I do leave tips because the waiters are just so friendly and nice.
  • When I ordered food delivery via Glovo, they just gave me my food and left.
  • I also had a guy change my lights in the apartment - no tips also
• The "Espera" Culture
  • One thing I love here in Spain is that they're not in a hurry. You can spend 15 minutes on your table without ordering anything because it takes that long for the waiter to come to you too.
  • You called the bill? Chill.. wait for it for 15 more minutes, it's okay..
  • People take their time drinking their coffee or beer or wine, socializing..
  • There was once a blackout in Spain - all traffic lights, elevators (I don't know why they don't have generators in the building), subways and even cellular networks - gone! I panicked, went to the supermarket to buy emergency food. But as soon as I got to the ground floor - people were so chill outside. People were still laughing, hanging out outdoors, far from hysteria that I was expecting. That chill culture helped me feel calm.
• The Active Lifestyle Culture
  • Everyone is running, cycling, skateboarding and rollerblading. I always encounter joggers, skateboarders - all kinds of transportation, I like it! I was even thinking of buying some rollerblades on Amazon because it's the only place I saw where I won't look weird ~ I get to finally fulfill my childhood dreams! Unfortunately, I ran out of time. Maybe in my next visit.
  • There are even gyms on the beach just like in the Youtube videos! However, there are also a lot of not-so-thin people.

• The Shopping Culture
  • Amazon takes 2 days to arrive, in the city. As opposed to next day delivery in Asia. I bet people still shop physically. Online shopping is not yet as prevalent. There are really a lot of people outside.
• The Whatever-Goes Culture
  • Food is a bit more expensive here, rental as well. Football matches start from 100 euros + 20 euros for snacks. Really big games are like thousands of euros per seat. I don't know how people can afford these. But my friend said Spanish people live now and save later. He estimates that an average Spanish has only 25k euros in savings. They'd rather spend now for wine and tapas, hang out with friends, than to save.
  • Jaywalking is not frowned upon. If there's no car - go ahead and cross!
  • I also got the chance to drive in Malaga. I was already driving at the speed limit of 80 but different cars are constantly beeping at me. I don't know if I should be driving beyond 80, but eventually I did.
• The Family Culture
  • On Sundays, I see kids on the streets playing soccer. I miss these days back when I was a kid. Nowadays, back at home, people just play computer games but in Spain you still see families hanging out outside.

• The Football Culture
  • Apparently the football culture is super big - fans all over the world know about this. I am just aloof and unaware about it. I wanted to experience the football culture so luckily I caught a game while I was in Spain.
  • It's an amazing experience altogether - walking together with the 55,000 people going to the stadium to watch a football match, and experiencing group chants and an audience wave! If you get the chance to watch, the energy is great and it was an unforgettable experience!
• Start-late Eat-late Culture
  • Restaurants and shops open late here - 11am or 2pm.. but some bars close late too - until 11pm or 2am. Shops close early, sometimes they don't open after siesta so they just operate until the afternoon.
  • The expo I attended starts at 10am, whereas if it were held in Singapore it would've been opened at 8am.
  • My jampacked gym is almost empty at 8am on a weekend, but super packed on weekdays from 10am onwards.
• The No-cook breakfasts
  • Bread, cheese, cold cuts for breakfast?
  • Milk and cereal for breakfast?
  • Sometimes I get the feeling that eating is not as big as drinking here in Spain. Juxtaposed to the Chinese culture of eating congee for breakfast, and rice meal for lunch and dinner.. Spanish people eat bread for breakfast, wine and tapas for lunch and dinner?

Interesting things I found at the grocery

• Yellow Chicken
• The vast kinds of tomatoes
• The fresh orange juice machine
• Slice your own bread
• The vast kinds of cheese
• Everyone brings their own cart
• Chickpeas as emergency food (5-year expiry)
• Expensive Rice at 3-5 euros per kilo - rice isn't as staple as I thought

The Andalucian Subculture

• The Music Culture
  • At anytime, anyone can start singing on the streets and people would sing along with you
• The Open Culture
  • You can talk to anyone, laugh with anyone
  • We were once beside a group of friends, and suddenly my friend started to talk to them and laugh with them as if they were long time friends, but really, they just met.
• The No-Menu Culture
  • This happened to me twice.. no menu, just order what you want. You ask, "what do you have?" They'll say "we have everything a standard spanish breakfast place offers." Tell me about it, what is the "standard"?

It's super difficult to find! Here's my journey in how to find raw milk.

What is raw milk?

Raw milk is milk that hasn't been pasteurized, meaning it hasn't been heat-treated to kill the bacteria (both good and bad are being killed).

Why raw milk, and not pasteurized milk?

Here are the benefits that most resources won't tell you:

• A natural anabolic steroid - builds muscle and tissue, like what protein shake does for an athlete, but naturally
• Improve immune system
• Complete meal - that's why milk is the only Omega3, CLA, probiotics, enzymes, proteins and fats
• Helps you lose weight and improve metabolism
• Ca/P metabolic ratio is improved
• Ca/K thyroid ratio is optimized
• Adrenals are also improved
• Stronger bones and teeth
• Improves blood sugar, can reverse your diabetes (says the raw milk foundation)

Raw milk can reverse illnesses if you can stick to it - drink 2 glasses per day for 3 months, since it takes 3 months to replace the water and blood in your body.

Why is it hard to find now?

Before civilization, we used to live beside farms where we can get milk in its unprocessed state. However, around 1920s, Louis Pasteur focused on how to kill the bacteria in the milk to lengthen its shelf life.

So fast forward to today, dairy companies have been pushing to lengthen the shelf life so they can make more money by extending shelf life from 1 week to now, months or even a year! But this destroys all the good bacteria in the process.. thus, was born the "lactose-intolerants".

With pasteurization (heating the milk), they can also "hide" the sick cows. Cows that are sick leaks pus in the milk that they produce and these are also removed with pasteurization.

That's why raw milk is hard to produce, because first and foremost, the cows needed to be grass-fed, fully roaming free, and healthy.

No one was lactose intolerant before

I'm one of those lactose intolerant. My parents fed be soya milk when I was a kid.

With the pasteurized milk, the good enzymes that break down the lactose is also killed, and not everyone can digest the lactose. So once you kill that, it's up to you to digest the lactose yourself.

Dental health is the start of your overall health

There are studies showing that people with beautiful teeth had access to complete, nutrient-dense meals. It's been generations since we've been drinking pasteurized milk so kids these days from parents with poor foundations, are developing smaller jaws and compromised facial structure.

If you were breastfed well (with the nutritious breastmilk), bones will form well, and your jaw will form well, creating proper facial structure and breathing patterns. This connection between nutrition and physical development has been largely forgotten in modern society.

Dental health is very important because it supports your spine, proper air intake through your nose, and overall structural alignment. Jaw size determines whether you're a nose-breather (good) or a mouth breather (not good).

Proper facial development affects everything from sleep quality to cognitive function. The narrow jaws and dental crowding we see today aren't genetic inevitabilities—they're nutritional consequences.

Raw Milk is the Real Superfood

There's no superfood, there's only the realest, most basic food — and the most basic is milk, but it has to be raw milk. Raw milk contains the complete nutritional package our ancestors relied on: living enzymes, beneficial bacteria, complete proteins, and bioavailable fats that support proper development from infancy through adulthood.

It's not just about taste or tradition, it's about the foundational nutrition that built strong, healthy humans for thousands of years before we started pasteurizing the milk.

Finding a store that sells raw milk

Since raw milk needs to come from super healthy cows, it's a heavily regulated industry.

Any sale of raw milk must be carried out by establishments registered with the General Sanitary Registry of Food Businesses (RGSEAA) and must comply with both EU and national hygiene standards

So I searched online for "Leche Cruda" (raw milk in Spanish) and called several eco-friendly stores like Granja Armengol and cheese stores like Llet Crua, and they told me that:

• Raw milk only comes from the farm, you won't find it in stores because of the super short shelf life
• There are available raw milk in stores but only in cheese form

Luckily, I stumbled upon a farm called Amado Charra that ships out raw milk every week. I also found out that this is how you do it in Hokkaido, Japan ~ you need to get it straight from the farm.

So I had this idea that maybe all proper raw milks are shipped in batches straight from the farm.

Amado Charra - an unpaid review

As of this time of writing, here are the available Leche Cruda / Raw Milk:

• 1 Gallon of 5L in plastic - €45.60
• 2 Gallons of 5L in plastic - €71.10*
• 6 Glass Bottles of 1L each - €65.70*
• 12 Glass Bottles of 1L each - €109.00*

*Shipping is free beyond €60

It says here also that you need to consume it in 3 days, which worries me because we were just 2 people. And it says that they ship out on Monday, so when do I exactly get it?

So I messaged their WhatsApp to get some questions answered, and to see if the business is active before placing the order online. I was only interested with the raw milk, but they also have cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products.

• Can they ship to Barcelona? Yes
• When will it arrive? They ship out on Monday, it arrives in Barcelona on Wednesday
• When is the cut off? You need to order by Friday, to get it dispatched by Monday
• How do I extend the shelf life beyond 3 days? It's written on their website that shelf life is just 3 days, but unofficially, support said it can last on the fridge until Tuesday. So if you receive it on Wednesday, you have 7 days to consume it after you receive it. Beyond that, you can store it in the freezer but on a plastic container and only 80% full because it will expand.

Freezing the milk is like "pausing" the bacteria, so we also try to avoid this during this raw milk experiment.

Our Experience with the Raw Milk

It's only been a few days after we've received the raw milk. So far, blood sugar is maintained, we can feel more energy, and have better sleep! I can also run longer on the treadmill.

I'll check back again in a few months, if the calcium ratios on our hair mineral tests improve.

First time I watched a football match was in Busan and it was really easy to get the tickets as we just bought really good seats over the counter on the day itself.

We finally booked the FC Barcelona (Top 1) vs Villareal (Top 5) game held last May 18, because it's the last match nearest to me in Barcelona.

Finding cheap tickets and good seats

Since I'm booking a few days before the actual game, the tickets from the actual site is already sold out. If you do a quick search, you'll end up with these 3 top websites:

1. Viagogo - displays total with fees
2. StubHub - displays only the ticket price, without fees
3. SeatPick - a consolidator of different websites, so you will be able to find Viagogo and Stubhub inside

Upon comparing them, you will end up with almost the same total. I thought Viagogo was 50 euros more expensive than the other 2 but Viagogo displayed the whole amount with the additional fees so I thought Viagogo was overpriced at first.

Since it was my first football match in this stadium, and there was only a 50 euro difference between the sides and the lateral, I went with the lateral seats. They won't display the actual seats but just the section, so there's also some sort of luck involved.

In the end, I chose StubHub because I was familiar with it and from my search, it has good reviews and some sort of protection if your ticket doesn't work.

I was just taken aback by the substantial fees taken by the platform. From 161 euros per ticket, it became 240 euros! Here's the breakdown:

After a few moments, I received the tickets in my email. The original names of the ticket holders were still in the tickets, but they said not to worry about it.

Some questions I had, which you might also have:

• What's the lowest price I can get if I booked very early? I didn't experience this first-hand but if you were to book on the official website, regular matches costs €30 - €70 while high-profile matches, which is what we watched, it starts from €100.
• If you booked last minute would it have been cheaper? I waited for the prices to go down last minute with the previous event - but the prices simply didn't go down by a lot, even 30 minutes before the game started. It just went down by 30 euros or by 20% and I think if you really want to watch, it's going to be a gamble whether you get a ticket or not.

Are there food and drinks?

First thing I checked is the food since the game starts at around dinner time (7pm) and I will be hungry by then.

Some questions I had and their answers:

• Can I bring my laptop? I usually do, but good thing I checked because big bags are not allowed. They said you can't even bring a regular backpack or a shopping bag. But when I got there, people who brought backpacks were able to go in so I think a big bag = luggage bag. And there are no storage in the facilities so if you can't bring in your bag, they simply won't let you in.
• Do I need to bring an ID? No one checked for my ID, they just scanned the QR code on the ticket.
• Can you bring in food and drinks into the stadium? Just food, drinks cannot. So it would have been okay to bring your own food from the groceries.
• Is there beer inside? Non-alcoholic beer only, which explains why there were people who were finishing their alcoholic beers outside before entering the stadium. Maybe they want to feel tipsy while watching?
• Is the food inside more expensive than outside? Yes, I bought hotdog from an outside vendor for €6, and it tasted better than the hotdog from the stalls inside, which costs almost the same ala carte but it was just a shitty hotdog.

Here are the menu prices when you go into the stadium. If you buy the drinks, they will collect €2.50 for every reusable cup, which they will return when you bring back the cup.

Getting to Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium

We were supposed to ride the bus from the subway station at Plaza Espanya, but as soon as we got out, we see a lot of people in FC Barcelona shirts walking as a crowd.

Take note that if the stadium was sold out, we are expecting 55,000 people travelling from all over so having a bus system that can support this many people is difficult, so we decided to walk with the crowd as part of the experience.

The walk was very scenic, with lots of vendors along the way. You won't notice the 20-minute walk because everyone is walking with you, like in a fun run.

Finding the gates and seats were easy, because together with the ticket, the following map is printed:

My Experience

Our seats were a bit in the middle so if we were late, we needed to go through a lot of people to get to our seats. Luckily, we were about an hour early so it was easy to get in.

• There were a lot of singing and chanting, but in Español so I couldn't participate exactly.
• During half-time, they gave free shirts to those who were nearer below
• I got to experience the wave! And it went around and around for about 4-5x
• There were no scoreboard and replays on the screen. Heck, there were no screens at all! Very old school.
• I had low network coverage in my area so I couldn't check the scores online

It's my first time driving in Spain, second time outside my home country.

I'll be landing in Malaga, so I'm looking to rent a car from April 29 to May 9, 2025 (12 days). I know going to the counter at the airport might not be the cheapest option so it took me 2 days to research what kind of car I should rent, how insurance works and what is expected when I get there.

This is the cheapest hack I can find (€202 with insurance) and this is what I learned.

What to Expect

Coming from my car rental experience in Jeju, Korea, where I think people are just more honest in general, I was shocked to find out that the car rental company will hold more than €1,000 on your credit card during your rental period.

If you don't want them to hold this amount, I also had the choice to pay €86, which they call (upon checking with Perplexity) "Zero Excess" insurance, "Super Collision Damage Waiver (SCDW)", "Full Protection", or "Excess Waiver". You can choose to take this for your peace of mind.

They'll also hold €100+ for fuel, from which they'll deduct your gas you don't return it to the agreed fuel level.

I saw this amount getting deducted from the credit card, while the €1100 was just held, it did not appear on the statement.

You're also expected to have the following:

• International driver's permit
• Your local driver's license
• ID - I brought my passport
• Credit card - not a debit card!

Ways you can get Scammed

I've read a lot of reddit on the subject and here are the ways you can get screwed, and it's usually related to the deposit.

• the car company holds the deposit, you did not get insurance, then charges you for the damages from the previous clients.
• the car company doesn't return the deposit at once, and you end up following up on them over the course of months.
• you book for the car in advance, and you learn that you did not complete the requirements so you want to cancel. but they won't allow you to cancel.
• you get a different car from the one you booked (in our case we got upgraded so there's no complaints for that), and the company doesn't allow you to cancel
• you booked insurance with the agent and the actual car rental company doesn't honor it.
• rude staff members - they'll glare at you for taking videos and photos of the car or push you to get the insurance

Be wary with the bad reviews online though, you will definitely find a super bad review, even with good companies.

I realized that out of the 10,000 bookings, those with a good experience usually won't rave online, but those with the bad experience would. So I take the ratings with a grain of salt.

If there's 1-2 people who give a good review, I would consider that company despite the bad reviews because good reviews are rare.

Comparing Car Rental Companies

There are 2 ways to book online - either through

1. a marketplace - usually cheaper, but not sure if they'll honor the insurance
2. booking directly with the company

So I was torn between booking with the a marketplace and booking directly. Of course, it's safer to book directly, but upon checking the prices it was much more expensive.

Recommended Marketplaces

Here are the marketplaces / consolidators I was considering, check through these for options, I think they're to be trusted as I checked for good reviews one by one:

• Wiber
• Booking
• RyanAir
• Skyscanner

Recommended Companies

I've also checked the common car rental companies and checked for the good and bad reviews. Everyone has super bad reviews, but not everyone has good reviews so I weighed them and have classified them for you.

• Super Good - has the best reviews, and hard to find "scam reviews"
• Good - has mixed reviews but generally good
• I will Avoid - feels generally bad

Recommended Optimal Process

I went around and around, did some repetitive checking because I didn't take note of my initial search.. had hundreds of tabs open..

But if I were to do it again, I'd do it like this systematically, take note of the price with and without insurance!

1. Check the "Super Good" first, directly on their website
2. Check the "Good" next
3. Check the 4 marketplaces for any of these brands

What are we looking for?

This is specifically for me because I'm going to drive around narrow streets.

• Car Type: small - In Europe, especially if you're just 2 pax, you have to get the small car because it's hard to go through the small roads in Andalucia, and also for easier parking
• Fuel Policy: Full/Full - requires you to return the car in full. it's recommended to get this to avoid arguing over fuel levels
• Transmission: Manual - cheaper by 30-50%
• Insurance: Have to get some sort of insurance
• Same pick up / drop off location - I tried to return to a different airport but it was like 2x more costly

Price Check

So given these parameters, here are the prices for my 12 days. I was already booking late, like 1 week before the actual usage.

I did 2 rounds because I only got the total. I went back to check the cheaper ones like Wiber and Centauro for the insurance.

So far, I found Centauro to be the cheapest amongst these brands, so I tried to check for their price in the marketplaces and it was cheapest in Booking.com.

Turns out the car costs €132 and insurance was €120 because I was a Philippine national. Have I been from the UK, my insurance would have just been €63.

So I finally got this idea, the car is so cheap! - what if I bought insurance separately?

To get or not to get insurance?

Since it's my first time to rent a car in Spain and I will be parking my car on the streets.. I wanted to get insurance first.

But, to be able to save on insurance, I needed to understand how it works and see where I can save.

Marketplaces and car companies would sell you the full insurance, otherwise you would need to do the excess thing and have €1,000+ held on your credit card.

If you get full insurance and anything comes up, you don't have any headaches. But if you don't you get deducted from your deposit when you return the car.

As mentioned from the first part of this blog, getting insurance from the marketplace doesn't guarantee full insurance so I'm trying to avoid that too.

I've read on Reddit that Americans have car insurance included with their credit card so they can opt not to get insurance with the car rental companies.

So I explored getting car insurance and found 2 options:

• Getting 1 year worth of car insurance for only €80, but with a not-so-proven insurance company
• Getting 12 days worth of car insurance for €70 under RentalCover, which has very good reviews and an official partner of one of the marketplaces.

If you're a UK resident though, it's cheaper to get 1 year from a reputable car insurance company which is easy to find online. As a Filipino, somehow car insurances are more expensive for me.

Since again, this is my first time, I went with RentalCover.

• Reddit reviews say that it's easy to get a claim on anything. So if I were to get deducted from my deposit, I can easily claim from them
• Buying insurance was as easy as filling out the form with their super modern system
• The insurance policies were also super clear and easy to read!

My Actual Experience

So in conclusion, I booked the car from Centauro via Booking.com without insurance for only €132 and got insurance for €69.59 with a total of €201.59! Compared to the €400 euros most good companies offer.

So I felt pretty good with my hack, but now comes the implementation.

What happened?

From Malaga Airport we needed to ride a shuttle to the office. I kind of got lost, good thing someone posted on Youtube - How to find the shuttle area in Malaga.

I waited for the Centauro shuttle to arrive but was worried because no shuttle is arriving and MalagaCar already did 2 rounds.

So I called support, someone answered and she can speak English! She said she'll call the office. 10 minutes later the shuttle arrives and we got a ride to the office.

I got assigned to a super friendly girl:

• she said she'll hold €1100 euros or I pay €86 euros to avoid the hold - I was listening to how others did it, and also people choose the former so I felt comfortable doing that
• then she said she'll charge €121 for the fuel in case I don't return it in full tank. I said okay.
• then she explained the policies, about the damages and scratches.. she didn't upsell me anything, just like the common complaints in reddit
• then she finally gave me the keys, and said I got a slightly bigger car (which I actually like because I drive a small MPV back at home)

Super smooth process so far! So we head to the car, I took so many pictures and videos to be sure..

drove the car around for 12 days..

extended 4 days for €60 (I had to go back to the office physically to get it extended)..

returned the car in full tank and good condition..

and I immediately got the €121 back and the checker said they'll release the €1100 as well!

So super smooth process with Centauro overall. Good price, good customer service (at least in Malaga), easy-to-reach customer support.. I believe they deserve a very good review!

That's it, I hope you learned a thing or two from reading this. Message me if you like my blog, I will greatly appreciate it as no one ever emails me.. ever..

After watching some Koreanovelas you get an idea that soccer and baseball is big here. So my friend and I wanted to watch a soccer game in Korea.

It was Sunday and quickly did a search if there are any ongoing soccer games in Busan, where I'm staying.

What luck! A game was happening on the same day at 7:00 pm.

I went to Kakao Maps to see how far it was from where I'm staying and I saw it was an hour of commute with just 1 switch.. not bad!

Buying tickets and choosing seats

So I went on to search how to buy tickets. As a foreigner with only a tourist visa, sometimes it's hard to purchase anything online because you need an ARC to verify the account.

Tickets can be purchased from Busan iPark's official website. but in my case, there was plenty available on-site, so you can buy on the spot.

Prices are not bad - ₩10,000 - ₩20,000 per adult, for the best seats.

The seating plan at the Gudeok Stadium are as follows:

Here's how they look like in actual, from the Table Seats.

Finding the Stadium

It was quite easy to find, I suggest using Naver map or Kakao map to find out how to commute from where you are.

There are bus stops located near the stadium. I took the bus all the way home.

It's quite near to Gamcheon Culture Village, and Busan Station.

Is there Food?

Upon arriving, we saw a lot of people, especially those with table seats - brought in pizza and chicken.

Within the Premises

Unexpectedly, there's not much food vendors in the premise, just one coffee stall.

and a vending machine..

During the break, a store will open ~ ramyeon, popcorn, ice cream.. but options are limited:

Outside the Premises

Luckily there are restaurant options like BHC chicken nearby, and CU convenience store right across the street. The chicken takes 15 minutes to cook so good to be a bit early.

Watching the Game

The players were close enough to see, so there were no LCD screens that will show replays of the game, like what you see on TV.

I had fun identifying star players in the team, and figuring out the strategies each team is playing. When I was watching the game, Busan iPark was very good with passing the ball to each other.

The other team failed at that, which was the basics of the game, and even if they got the ball, they were not good at scoring goals either.

Some soccer basics:

• Game is divided into 30 minutes, 15 minutes then half time for 15 minutes
• There was a raffle during half time but I went out to check out the food options so I missed it.
• Game resumes for another 30 minutes and 15 minutes
• Player can get a yellow card as a warning, and a red card after that

Overall I had fun eating my chicken dinner on the table seats, and watching soccer live at the same time! The crowd was fun too!