There is a fine line between days one and two of my trip. A fine line called "time zones." it has really messed with my entire perception. We left NYC at 5:45pm EST, arrived in Dublin at 5:20am IST (12:20am EST). (This is already a long day for me, since I was up at 8am EST)
Upon arrival in Dublin, we ran to the connecting flights area on the airport, had our passports checked and then went through security...where I was accosted. I went through the metal detector and got flagged. Perfect. So I get patted down, scanned with the wand and the customs officer found nothing. I went back through the detector, again it beeped. This went on for around 20 minutes. Back and forth, taking off necklaces, actually taking off toe rings which I haven't taken off since I got, I was asked more than once if I had any artificial joints...I'm pretty sure I would remember having artificial joints.
Little did I realize, my phone was in my back pocket...but the wand never registered it. The woman finally said that it was my underwire that set off the detector. Whatever. We almost missed our connecting flight to Barcelona. We were the last ones on the plane.
We arrived in Barcelona at 10:10am CEST (3:10am EST). We wait forever on the currency exchange line...Spanish people....not so nice. I'll rank them with the French. Got an expensive cup of coffee, which I couldn't even drink because it was GOD-AWFUL...and then we headed out.
The Airlink bus was literally right outside the exit we left, we got the tickets got on, rode it to the last stop...only 20 minutes...perfect. We get out and the 5 of us are standing in the middle of Barcelona's version of Park Avenue/Union Square East. I def thought I was back home. So by now its around 12:30pm in Spain...and I'm getting grumpy because I'm almost hitting the 24 hour awake mark...and Laura says, "Okay, now we need to take the subway one stop." Fine. Now...to find the subway. There were no signs anywhere. We asked one person, they sent us across the park. We stopped there, looked around...nothing. Asked a cop, he directed us across a street and down a staircase of around 70 steps. Mind you, I am rolling a giant overweight suitcase, which wouldn't roll down the steps properly because it was too damn heavy. So I had to carry it.
We get down the steps, buy our tickets....which was a process in its own and took around 15 minutes, because the machine rejected my MasterCard, AND any €20 I tried to stick in it. Irritating.
We go through the turnstile...up a flight of steps, down a bigger flight of steps, down a long corridor up 3 steps and down 10, and we were finally on the platform...I was dying. Then Laura insisted that we were on the wrong side. I set her straight....mainly because I did not want to go up, down and all around again. We get on the train...it was like an NYC train, but the hand rails were a matte finish...and all I could think about was the germs in the porous railing....gross. Okay, one stop...off the train, up a very steep, very large flight of stairs. Down a corridor that rivaled the Holland Tunnel...FML. Up, down, then up once more. Finally out in the fresh air we walk to a random hotel and ask the doorman where our hotel is located, after pulling teeth he directed us around the corner and we stumbled into the Avienda Palace. It was pretty...but the men at the desk were awful. Our rooms weren't ready...shocker. So we check our bags and we venture out to find something to eat. We walked out of the hotel to the corner and down the block and I see before me: a large park...quite similar to the Union Square-look-a-like I saw earlier...I brushed it off...it couldnt be...then I looked up and I see the same exact signs that I saw when we departed the Airlink bus: Heineken, Samsung, Nike. O M G. So I flipped out a little...all we had to do was cross the park and walk a 1/2 block. Pissed.
After fuming for a few minutes, we begin to walk, go into a random tapas place and sit down. €3.20 for less than an ounce of not-so-tasty pork and I just wanted to get out of there. We go back to the hotel and luckily our room was ready. We barely sat for 2 minutes when we had to run out because we had a City Tour at 3:30. THE WORST TOUR I HAVE EVER BEEN ON. Bad enough I passed the 24 hour mark...that shit was fucking BORING. I literally wanted to stab myself in the eye. It lasted from 3:30 to 7:30 and only took us 3 places. I was nodding off the entire time, we spent an hour in their version of the NYBG...BORING. I have it at home and I go for free...why to I want to go when I'm on "vacation"? Then to the ugliest church I have ever seen...which we couldn't even go into because you had to pay and the line stretched around the block. As we stood in front of it for an hour, Jamie and Laura decide its a good time to go to the bathroom. Then our tour guide decided to move us...so we walked, not knowing where the others would meet us or how they would find us. So we are walking walking walking all around this gigantic awful church and I turn around and Stu is gone. Fuck. Stand with the guide for a bit...she is still rambling on about nothing (in both English and Italian, mind you...I freakin wanted to punch her) and I suddenly see Jamie and Laura...no Stu. You know when you're a kid and they tell you if you're lost...don't move and they'll find you? Well I guess my travel buddies never got that memo, because then Laura wandered off again to see if she could find Stu.
Finally, but at different times, they both meet us at the bus. We get on and make our way to the last, and of course, most interesting stop. "Medieval Barcelona." Not really though...it was 2 blocks of old streets, and a church. It was the best part. so they take us back to the tour office and we ask where to eat, find a little place...cute...whatever its like hour 29, now and I don't care. We site we wait...we wait...we wait...service is very slow. We order, after many questions and much confusion...then we wait...we wait...we wait. We got in there at around 8:30...we didnt get served until like 9:15, ugh. Long wait. Food: gross. Goodbye. We leave, walked the 5 blocks to the hotel and then proceed to sit in the lobby for over an hour trying to get our 6:45am flight to Amsterdam changed. No dice. It would have cost me close to $500. So I got 3 hours of sleep, got up and high-tailed it to the airport at 4:45am. Needless to say. I found Spain annoying and unimpressive. It was NYC on different time schedule.
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