Pardon me for getting these out of order – I have not mastered this blogging yet —

            As I wrote in another post, Joseph and I just got home from the vacation of a lifetime!

            We left home May 27 and headed to Atlanta from LA (Lower Alabama).  I believe I have shared with you the foibles of trying to save a little money by driving!  Never again. 

On Saturday, May 28, we headed to Barcelona by way of Toronto on Canada Air. The flight was 20 minutes late leaving Atlanta and then sat on the tarmac in Toronto for an hour and 15 minutes due to problems with the plane attempting to leave the gate where we were to unload. Our 2-hour layover turned into a mad dash for the gate and really unusual procedures. We were the last people on the plane.

Day 3 of our adventure was Sunday, May 29 and we arrived in Barcelona about 9:30 AM. The wheelchair that was supposed to be there wasn’t and they had put my rollator in the checked luggage. We walked about a mile to passport control and got there at 10:30 Sunday AM. There were at least three thousand people in that line. At about 12:30, Joseph finally saw some seating up ahead and made me go sit. This degenerative disc disease I have developed is a killer when standing! At 1:30, (that’s 4 hours since we landed) we finally made it through passport control and head toward the health control. We had filled out the Spanish Department of Health form so that point didn’t take long. Then to baggage claim. Oops- no luggage, no rollator, no clothes. All we had was our carry- ons (medicines and one change of clothes) and Joseph’s breathing machine. We had to stand in line in Air Canada’s lost baggage claim for quite a while, file a report, and were told to check online tomorrow. We got to the Dollar exchange place, and they wanted 30 Euros for getting two hundred euros. Luckily, Joseph’s ATM card didn’t work (this saga goes on and on), so we headed out. I saw a real ATM machine and he was able to get $200 euros for just seven euros fee. Off we went, grabbed a taxi and headed for the Yurbban Boutique Hotel on the Ramblas. We got out of the cab, the people there were delightful and showed us to our room, which had a balcony overlooking las Ramblas. Heaven on earth. We ventured forth a while then started to turn in. No breathing machine! We KNOW that we had it when we left the airport. No sweet dreams for us that night! The machine had been left in the trunk of the taxi!

            Day 4 Monday, – May 30, 2022. And things started getting better. Joseph’s breathing machine magically appeared at the hotel front desk that morning.  We had to have COVID tests that morning- 2 days before boarding cruise ship! They were NEGATIVE! Yay!!!

            Air Canada still had no clue where our stuff is?!?!?! They told us to buy a few things for a couple of days. The concierge told us about a shop just across the street where we could get some inexpensive clothes. We went over there and found a few things- but fat lady clothes don’t fit right in Spain! The only shirts Joseph could find were Hawaiian wild prints, so he got one. I got a T-shirt and some underwear that was a whole size too big. Joseph’s underwear was bikini with no fly. Imagine what that does to a diehard tidy whitey kind of guy! We decided to hope our luggage would come rather that subject ourselves to more of these! Oh, don’t forget the package of socks Joseph got- they were pink, yellow, and grey. 

            We explored the city and loved Barcelona as much as we did 30 years ago- our first visit. We ate tapas and fresh seafood and drank Sangria! Later in the day we checked with Air Canada, and they STILL had no idea where our stuff was.

            We found fabulous art stores – one where I could live! So much beauty in that 5-story store!  We decided that in addition to art stores,  perhaps we should find a better clothing store, so off we went. We found a wonderful place with beautiful, expensive stuff. What a dumb American such as me didn’t understand was that the salesclerks are assigned to exceedingly small sections of the store. I wandered into the expensive part and was mind boggled at the prices. I found a couple of pair of pants and a couple of shirts and called it quits. Since all my hair stuff was in outer space, I decided to get a haircut. Fabulous cut, fabulous expensive! But I did enjoy the hair the entire trip!   BEST HAIRCUT EVER!!!

            Joseph ventured into the men’s department. He loves shopping about as much as he loves a root canal. He just picked up stuff and ended up spending twice as much as me (not counting the haircut). His chief complaint was that the rear pocket of his pants wouldn’t fit his wallet! It was only half as deep as he is used to. He also picked out a linen shirt and was not happy with its wrinkle ability.

            We decided to find a laundromat and get what we had clean. We must have walked five miles through the back streets of Barcelona, but finally found one. Genuinely nice and smart! Weigh your clothes and use washer with matching capacity. It dispenses soap when you run your credit card on the panel on the wall and punch in the number of the machine you are using. No detergent to lug around!!!

            We both got a good night’s sleep- that taxi driver deserves a good spot in heaven!

            Day 5 Tuesday – May 31,2022. Well, things kept getting better! When Joseph went down for coffee, there was a lobby full of black luggage- each with a red strip of duct tape down the front and the back to help identify them from the millions of other black luggage coming through airport baggage claim! There was also my brand-new red DRIVE rollator, all decorated with rhinestone swirls and the letter “E”- just to identify it. (I didn’t see a single other red rollator the entire trip).

            We had spent so much of our time dealing with the missing luggage, replacing items, and trying to FIND replacement items, that we had missed a lot of our sightseeing! We decided to just grab a hop on- hop off bus and see some of the sights. We didn’t even get off the bus, we just rode and rode. Barcelona has some of the most beautiful architecture in the world and I was an architect in some past life!

            After spending the afternoon sightseeing, I wanted to see Flamenco dancing. Our concierge- who was fabulous by any standard, got us reservations for the best show in town. We had to rush to get there, and I didn’t take my rollator. I really felt like an old fat lady by the time we had walked 10 blocks in rush hour! The sidewalks in Barcelona are as busy as the highways here. Wall to wall people- exhilarating, but exhausting.

            The show was amazing! I didn’t know feet could move that fast. There were two ladies and one young man dancing. What really surprised me was the keening singing of their accompanists. They played three guitars and struck the floor with long sticks while they were making that keening noise. It was not what I expected, but very enjoyable.

            You’d think we would go back to the hotel by then, but noooooooo! It was 10 PM and we found a restaurant open and inviting! We had a delicious fresh seafood dinner. I ordered scallops and Joseph ordered grilled fish. The scallops were good, but the fish was delicious, and Joseph was kind enough to swap halfway through! (We do that a lot). The proprietor was very gracious and offered us an aperitif. We headed back to the hotel and told them what a wonderful meal we had and recommended the restaurant. We asked them to provide a taxi to the cruise terminal at 1 pm the following afternoon, then we proceeded to stuff forty pounds of additional clothes into already bulging suitcases.

            I know this is probably boring, but I wrote a 500-page journal- this is the abridged edition. Tomorrow starts the cruise!