Day 22: Introduction to Barcelona

My train from Lourdes was at 521am, so it meant I woke up at 430p I went down and left in the dark. It was quiet and the train station seemed a lot closer than the night when I came in during a downpour.

My train ride to Toulouse was two hours long but it was fifteen stops so it was difficult to sleep. I didn't  eat the sandwich I had bought the night before because I forgot to buy anything to drink.

So it wasn't until I had my quick 30 minute transfer in  Toulouse when I got the chance to get some drinks and I settled into the longer, more comfortable ride in one of Renfe's high speed trains.

I slept a bit because I found myself tired, yesterday was an amazing day, how was a train ride through southern France compare? 

I had looked up how to get to my hotel since Renfe was going to let me off in Barcelona Sants and the directions I could find had me walking 1km to a bus stop and riding that for 54mins then walking another 900m. I knew what 500m of walking with about 30lbs of weight on your torso, but a kilometer? 900meters? No, I wasn't going to do it. 

When I got off the train, I stood around trying to get my GPS to work, my metro app to work to find a better way to get to my hotel near the airport.

After Barcelona, I'm flying to Lisbon on a very early flight and the hotels by the airport have a free shuttle. I knew it wouldn't be near anything and I had read the reviews that there was nothing around the hotel.

So I saw a sign for a train to the airport, my Eurail pass would get me there for free. I figured that the airport was close to the hotel and I'll figure out how to get there. When my internet did start to work, I found out that there was a free shuttle so I got the information on where I would need to go and pick up the shuttle.

The ride from Barcelona Sant to Terminal 2 took about 45min. That was after I had jumped in the first train that showed up, asked someone if the train was going to the airport and I was told to get off because I was on the wrong train!

I'm glad I don't have any pride about asking for directions.

When the train finally arrived at the airport, it was T2 but I would need to pick up the shuttle at T1 terminal. So I had to find another shuttle to take me to T2. No big deal right? I thought it would just save me some walking. 

It took 20 minutes of the driver driving high speeds to finally get to T2. Did they put the terminal in another town?

When I finally got to T2, I had to walk to the parking lot to pick up the shuttle. Another 30 minute wait for said shuttle and another 15minute ride to the hotel.

By the time I got to the hotel, it was 2pm and I was starving! Knowing the food choices weren't going to be great at an airport hotel and I no long have an expense report, I had stopped at an airport convenience store to grab some water, coke and maybe a sandwich. 

I got a 1liter bottle of water, a combo deal of Cheetos, 16oz water & a sandwich, and two 16oz bottles of coke zero. It cost me €13! It was an airport place, there are always jacked up prices.

By the time I finished eating, I decided that I wasn't going to Barcelona, I had one full day tomorrow that I can devote to it. Today I had to take care of a few maintenance issues.

I got a nice room with a double sink and a bathtub! The t-shirts can be washed in the sink, but I could wash my jeans in the tub.

Remember when Lucy and Ethel from "I Love Lucy" were stomping grapes? That's what I looked like stomping on my jeans in the tub. I hadn't washed the jeans since Vienna, I wear the jeans, even though it's hard to wash, because its protective gear. Who knows what corner I'll run into or bump up against.

I basically spent the day relaxing in my room cleaning out my phone by backing my photos on a share drive so I can clear out some space for more photos, I still have three more weeks to go!

I know I'm short changing myself on Barcelona, I had so many places I wanted to visit, but I also knew that I couldn't continue my pace without giving myself a break. Today was that day.

Tomorrow, Barcelona.