Brilliant Barcelona
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2002
1
70
74
Trip End
Sep 11, 2007
Barcelona, Spain
Friday, August 26, 2005
With a good friend of mine Young Miss Katie, visiting her parents in Madrid for a couple of days over the last of the UK Bank holidays, it was an idea for me to perhaps swing across and meet her in Barcelona - easy.
Being me, I thought I would over complicate things by suggesting that perhaps we get the return leg of the flight from Lisbon, yes Lisbon, Portugal. And whilst I was on a role, I suggested that perhaps we hire a car and drive across and to complete this little excursion in just on 8 days.
So with this knowledge and these few points:-
1. 1244 miles as the crow flies, is the approx mileage from Barcelona to Lisbon
2. Katie does not have a license
3. 8 days and 36 degrees heat is a little bit silly...
It all became a little too hard and with new news arising that The La Tomatina Tomato Festival (yes, that tomato fight thing in Spain that happens each year) was going to happen, smack bang in the middle of our trip, we changed plans very quickly.
Unfortunately the flights from Lisbon were already booked and paid for, so this still made for an interesting trip! So kick back and enjoy another little tale to entertainment and feel free to laugh at my expense!
"The High Mile Club"
Oh you are paying attention now aren't we!! Sorry to inform that I was not a participant of this little activity.
Not sure if it is me that attracts "these" type of people or it happens to every Joe that travels, but as I boarded my Easy Jet flight (accidentally wearing a bright orange T-Shirt, which made me look like on the Air Hostess staff!!!) I find that there are two seats next to me spare.
Yes, in the back of my mind I hope that perhaps two young, single and prepared to settle down with an "Aussie Guy" super-models will sit next to me, but noooo I get a "fondling and grouping" couple.
As soon as their bums hit the cloth of the seat, their lips did not cease to inter-lock for the next 2 hours! I have got no problems with that at all. Just starts to get to me when his elbow and arse keeps knocking into me as he attempts to mount his "girlfriend" / "prey".
So, into Barcelona and as I have already had the privilege of being here before, I feel an air of confidence as I walk through the airport "hola-íng" the security guards like they are my long lost mates. As the train slows into the city area and I alight to work my way my hostel, I take a moment to thank my "other self".
Just as I was leaving the office in London to catch my flight, that little voice in my head said:-
"Hey, Jay have you got directions and the address to your hostel in Barcelona?" I choose to ignore this little voice for some reason until the last minute, ran back to my computer and spat out the directions and map.
And thank god, because here I am with directions and map in Barcelona and have still have NO IDEA where I am. After about 40 mins of wondering aimlessly I stumble across this residence which I will begin to call home for a couple of nights.
Next morning and hear the familiar Aussie female del-tones of someone who has just caught a night train from Madrid to Barcelona, Katie. All greetings completed and coffees ordered, we hit the Barcelonan Streets! As it all comes back, you release what a great city it is. The vibe, the people and especially bars that don't close at 11pm!
One of the things that were not expected on this day out in Beautiful Barcelona was rain!!! When it came down it really came down and like the travel gods were looking after us, they led us into a amazingly cool tapas bar, so we could:-
1. Drink fine red wine until the stock ran out
2. Watch the people outside get saturated and laugh!
3. Eat some of the best and freshest tapas around!!!
Brilliant!
After a few days in Barcelona it was time to move on and as mentioned earlier the purpose of this trip originally was a trip across the country, but since finding out that the Tomatina Festival was on the 31st August, our priorities changed. Unfortunately this meant we had to stay East of Spain for a lot longer than expected. This would then hurt us later. So from Barcelona, we were off to Valencia with a night staying in the sleepy town of Castellon.
