Somehow I made it to Barcelona. My journey with RyanAir was a little more complex than a train would have been, but I missed my chance with the hotel trains by not booking the required 14 days in advance. Plus this way I was able to see an incredibly beautiful sunset over the mountains bordering the mediterranean. So lets go back.
I caught the 17:00 bus from Milano to Bergamo, and watched as the Italian cityscape turned into countryside, and into small northern towns. We reached the airport an hour and a bit later, and I checked my bag and passed through security (where I forgot my swiss army knife in my carry-on, but it wasn’t too big of an issue – the security guard even explained how I could go back to check-in and talk to the people there so I could keep it, but it wasn’t worth the hassle and tight scheduling after my arrival). Once it was time to board, the other passengers and myself descended from the airport and walked across the tarmac towards the jet, with the low evening sun creating wonderful orange highlights on faces and planes and everything else in the area. The mountains to the north were very much the same as at home, and it was comforting.
The flight itself was about an hour and 15 minutes, and I managed to get a window seat near the back of the plane (unassigned seating) – which meant that the wing was perfectly blocking the sun for most of the trip, resulting in a fantastic view of the world below and the colourful horizon. There were no clouds the entire trip, only a faint evening mist.. at times I wasn’t sure where we were, as we only passed over water for perhaps the final 20 minutes.
We landed, the people cheered (as seems customary on euro flights), and once again we walked across the tarmac to the terminal, where the bags came quickly. The Girona airport is basically RyanAir only, so it was very small and very efficient. I bought a bus ticket to get to the city, grabbed a map, found the bus, threw my bag in the luggage compartment, and found a seat. A few minutes later, just after 22:00, I was finally on my way to Barcelona.
We reached the center around 23:30. I had read of a few places where the bus may drop us off, but being my independent self, I decided I didn’t want to ask anyone. Bag on my back, I started walking. I walked some more. I knew the direction of the water, so I knew I had to go that way – the metro closed at midnight, and I would have had to transfer a few times, so I was quite sure I wouldn’t have time.. plus walking would let me get a good look at the city at night, to see how different it would be during the day.
A few looks at the map, and about 50min and a blister later, I finally reached the hostel (via a rather direct route…. large city). I was happy the attendant was expecting me – my original check-in time was estimated at 15:00, and I later emailed to say 22:00.. but 30min after midnight is quite different. He explained a few things, and showed me my room, where I met a girl from California who had been studying in Germany for a year, and two others from one of the Carolinas who were on a short euro vacation. Later, a Kiwi living in London showed up, and said first off that yes, he knows of the Flight of the Concords (a faux band / tv series that a bunch of us from Gruppo5 had watched while in Italy). We all had some laughs, and finally went to sleep.. looking forward to a good breakfast and my first look at Barcelona in the daylight.
I’m so glad I came, and I’m very happy I chose this place to stay (the breakfast was great indeed, and the people are very easy to talk to and get to know, even if 3 of my 4 roommates left this morning). I’m not sure what my plan will be for the rest of the day, but a walk to the beach sounds just about right. Buenas Dias! (Tiff+Dillon, remind me how to speak Spanish! Everything comes out Italian now!)
