Travel Writing Mary

I cruised last October in the Med with Celebrity. However I would never cruise on Costa again after what happened

Please help! I am over the moon that I am booked for Sept 2013 on the Equinox to Italy and the Greek Isles. This has been my dream trip and I'm finally taking the plunge. The one downer for me is flying. The idea of being stuck on a plane for so many hours is making me very anxious. The longest flight I've taken is 6 hours and that was rough. I don't have a fear of flying per se, I'm claustrophobic.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can keep calm on a flight from NY to Barcelona?

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/air-travel/fear-of-flying

Remember that once the airplane is moving forward, nothing bad will happen. So once you've taken off, you're good to go! (This helped me to realize). You are a zillion times safer in a plane than in a car, too.

After leaving E.T., we headed over to the port area, where Carlos took the obligatory family photo:

 

All eyes open? Yes? Then it's a GREAT photo of us!

 

 

 

This is where you can hop onto the iconic Port Cable Car, that cuts across Barcelona’s skyline.

 

 

It looked intriguing, but Too-Tall Taylor has a phobia of heights. I had already been working/consoling/preparing/bribing him for the cable car that we were going to have to endure in Santorini – so there was NO WAY, JOSE he would step foot in this “floating death trap”, as he called it. The cable car supposedly has a capacity of 20 people – but they must have put 20 of the world’s most anorexic models in there while measuring – because that cable car looked PACKED with a mere 12 people or so. And those 12 people looked...average-size. Between the sardine-factor, as well as the heat-factor – not to mention the fear factor – perhaps Too-Tall Taylor was right on the money with this one.

 

We skipped the Floating Death Trap.

 

 

Perhaps Too-Tall Taylor was looking a bit pale from his Close Encounter with the Cable Car…or perhaps we were all looking a bit green from Carlos’s driving…but for whatever reason, Carlos decided that a trip to a hospital was now necessary.

 

Well. In full disclosure, we went as tourists…not as patients. Carlos took us to the beautiful, ancient Hospital de Santa Creu I de Sant Pau…which began in the 11th century and is still open today. The hospital celebrated its 600th birthday in 2001, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

 

 

Now. If you’ve been paying attention…you will have realized, at this point, that we are dreadfully missing something – or someone – that is SO important to all-things Barcelonian. As in the famed architect/artist, Antonio Gaudi. Don’t fret, Dear Readers. I have an entire DAY of Gaudi planned for the next day of our adventure, so we had asked Carlos to skip all-things Gaudi…and after he picked himself back up from the floor from his dead-faint and recovered from the shock, he kindly obliged us.

 

To a point.

 

Not being able to resist showing us at least one-thing Gaudi, he took us to something small…something unique…and something that is normally missed in the standard Gaudi tour:

 

 

The famed Iron Dragon Gate at the Guell Pavillions....

 

Hubby Mike and I had been to Barcelona previously, in 2009…and we had never seen this. Wow. This is really a not-to-be-missed attraction if you are a Gaudi aficionado. Seriously - it is way-cool. For both parents and too-cool kids.

 

Speaking of too-cool kids. Each one of the kids had been given their own camera, so that they could record their own memories of this possibly once-in-a-lifetime trip. I had spent months stressing the beautiful art, architecture, and scenery that we would be seeing, and I had emphasized the importance of capturing the memories...the essence...of all things European. Every now and then, I will post a photo (or two) of what my kids took on their own cameras...so that you, Dear Readers, can see the trip through my kids' eyes.

 

So...without further ado...I will now post a couple of photos taken that beautiful afternoon in Barcelona, by Brainy Brad:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And another one:

 

 

 

 

 

Pigeons. Oh, but not just ANY pigeons. These are Barcelonian pigeons.

 

Sigh.

 

 

Eventually, all good things must come to an end…including my energy and ability to stay awake. I had hit the wall – the kids had hit the wall – and it was time to bid farewell to Carlos and head to the apartment.

 

Let’s talk about the apartment. Finding a hotel in Europe is never easy, but the Internet Gods have made it somewhat less of a pain. However – finding a hotel in Europe for FIVE people…with lots of STUFF…is next-to-impossible. This is where I probably spent a good bulk of my time in the planning; researching, price-checking, etc our lodging options. Hotel rooms in Europe are…um…well…dinky. We could have gotten two hotel rooms, but the cost was looking a bit prohibitive.

 

About the time I was ready to throw in the towel and give up, and convince the family that sleeping on a park bench under the stars in Barcelona would be a really-cool adventure that they’d remember their entire lives, inspiration struck. How about renting an apartment??!! We’d have rooms for all of the kids, with perhaps a living room/salon to relax in…and it wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg??!!

 

Voila.

 

Renting apartments for a night or two (or longer) in Europe is easy, convenient and extremely affordable. When I did cost comparisons to reserving hotel rooms, the apartment always came out on the better end of my budget. And – as a concerned mom, it was a load off of my mind to know that all of my chickadees (or should I say, "pigeons"?) would be roosting under the same roof at night…behind ONE locked door.

 

I secured the apartment last June (2011) with a small deposit, and so, we were set. But…would this apartment meet our needs? Had I made a mistake in not going with a hotel? We were soon to find out as we whisked over to pick up our key.

 

Up next: Our apartment in Barcelona…and our wild & crazy evening with wild & crazy Jo….

Question: What kind of camera did you use for your photos? What size files did you upload here? Thanks.

City of falling angels was great!