Spanish Basenoters, please help! Considering a one-week vacation in Spain.

I'm currently considering spending the last week of May in Spain, and would really appreciate some advice from our Spanish Basenoters

The plan is to land in Madrid, spend 2 days there, then fly to Barcelona and stay there for another 2 days, then, on May 30th, fly to Ibiza for a quick tour of the island, see DJ Sasha live in Space, spend a day, then head back to Madrid for the flight back to Cairo. My inter-city transportation is going to be by plane, since this seems to be the cheapest way! I might also extend the vacation for two more days and add Lisbon to the plan.

My goal is to see the most I can, without spending a fortune. I want to keep my spending low inside Spain. I don't care much about residence, since I will be spending all the time outside anyway and will only use the room to sleep for a few hours, to recharge energy for more site seeing. I'm traveling mainly to see a new country and culture, and interact with new people, and not to shop or buy stuff. So I was wondering, can I keep it around 1,000 to 1,200 Euros, for residence, transportation, and food, or is this not possible?

Here are some more questions I have:
1) Should I skip visiting one of the cities (Madrid and Barcelona), and focus only on one? And if so, do you recommend Madrid or Barcelona? I am more inclined to Barcelona, but open to suggestions.
2) What do you think I should see in Barcelona? And what do you think I should see in Madrid?
3) What area of Barcelona or Madrid do you think I should stay in? And are there cheap hotels in that area?
4) How easy it is to find low cost residence anywhere I go, and how are the rates?
5) Are there any interesting events or festivals at the end of May?
6) How is transportation inside the city, and how much does it cost?

Any other recommendations or hints you might have are very much appreciated

Thanks a lot.

What the hell is wrong with me, forgetting the most important question?
Where should I go to smell some interesting stuff, in both cities?

Wow, thank you jacona. Just found hostels with very good rates per night.

I am now that close to booking those plane tickets! I feel crazy.

Hmmmm
I guess each city gets its equal share then.

No problem at all! I'm traveling to see people, and the more people the better, so no problem at all with dorms. Besides, I'll be traveling very light so I have nothing to worry about. 15 Euros a night! I am totally in!

Basteri was kind enough to send me a detailed PM and he strongly recommended Madrid over Barcelona, if I wanted to get a better feel of Spain. I guess I'll check out Barcelona quickly in a day, or skip it completely, to cut on travel costs and instead spend more time in better exploring Madrid.

Guys, I think I'm doing this!

Swine flu outbreak. Should I let this interfere with my plans?
I had finished all my papers and issued my passport, and was getting ready to book the flights before the end of this week, when I heard the news of the outbreak. I'm not sure what to do now. Wait a few more days and see where this outbreak is going? Stop being so paranoid and just book the flights already?

My family is extremely paranoid because of the flu cases in Spain, and are now strongly against my trip.

I know, and I had no problem in traveling.

But in order not to be mean to my family, and even though I know their worries are not justified, I've decided to postpone the trip to after the panic has ended. It's a wasted opportunity, because plane tickets are very cheap now. This tells you something about how most people are reacting to this. I blame the media.

This was almost depressing to me, to cancel my vacation. I had planned the times, flights international and local, places I'm going to be at, etc.. I even bought my travel equipment.