# What I Thought vs. What I Know Now: NYE 2027 in Santiago Bernabeu, Spain
There's a version of me, about a year ago, who thought planning New Year's Eve in Santiago Bernabeu, Spain would be roughly as simple as planning any other trip. Book a hotel, show up, enjoy the fireworks. That version of me was wrong about almost every part of it — not dramatically, just consistently, in ways that only became obvious in hindsight. Here's what changed between then and now.
## What I Thought: "I'll book the hotel whenever, there's plenty of time"
