Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Spain 2014

I don't know how I do it, but every single trip I take I manage to fall wayyyy behind when it comes to blogging. I wait so long that I can barely remember the details by the time I get around to posting. Anyway, here are our Spain adventures.

We left from Perpignan via rail for Spain. Things got a little bit crazy in Perp because A. we needed to fuel up our vehicle and couldn't find a gas station ANYWHERE. We used our navigation on our phones, but it failed us over and over. Most of the places it took us were not even stations and when we finally did find one, it was closed. Somehow we eventually found a gas station and then headed to the airport to drop off our vehicle. I drove it around the parking lot while Nathan was inside checking it in so that I could say I have driven in France! I'm kind of weird like that. We called a taxi, which was like the most beautiful taxi ever. I can't remember for sure, but I think it was this ballin' BMW. The taxi driver was super awesome and we even conversed in French a tiny bit. He gave us a small history lesson on how Catalonia and yeah, fun ride. Once we made it to the train station, with lots of time to spare, we decided to grab some grub. Luckily there was a Subway on the next floor which served rotisserie chicken flavored potato chips; it was so weird because they tasted just like a rotisserie chicken. Who could have imagined!

Our time at the train station was somewhat eventful. Some poor homeless guy kept sneaking on to the platform and a not so happy looking police officer kept escorting him out. It happened several times. At another point, there were some Chinese girls, who spoke like 5 words of English, who had some mistake with their tickets. They asked me to help them and try and talk to the ticket agent to get their situation figured out. Yeah...that was awful! I had been feeling pretty confident in my little bit of french until that point. I just couldn't convey the message to the agent that the people in Paris had screwed up the date on the girls' ticket. Anyway, we did get it figured out when a German girl, who spoke slightly more French than me, was able to get the message across.

We boarded the train, and headed off to Barcelona. It was such a pleasant and short train ride. I also got in trouble for putting my feet on the seat. What can I say, I'm kind of a rebel!

When we arrived in Barcelona it was pretty late. I know it was around midnight. We made it through the metro over to the stop by our hotel. Right away I knew Barcelona was going to be unique and soooo much fun. Even though it was midnight on a weekday, the whole town seemed to be alive. A drunk guy was shouting from the balcony of a building, there were people everywhere, it was amazing!

Our hotel, which was the Hilton Alexandria, was pretty sweet! One of my most favorite hotels ever! Our room was insanely beautiful with lots of natural light and a great little balcony to relax on and take in the fresh air of Barcelona. Our floor did have little swastikas all over it, but I mean, who pays attention to those minor details anyway?

December fun!