Saturday, September 17th 2011 – Toronto Pearson International Airport

6:55 PM – So we made it to the airport. What a battle in itself! Last night Shiv and I were on the phone realizing how completely unprepared we were for this trip. We had yet to book our flights and travel within Europe, we hadn’t packed, and we needed to confirm our ride to the airport!

So, late at night we tried to tackle the first issue: booking the internal travels. The horror when we realized that all the flights we looked at one week earlier had actually increased! What?? Don’t they usually advertise last minute specials? You couldn’t get much more last minute than this. Our budget!! It was going to be tight.

So rather than sit around all night and figure it out, we did the mature thing. We went to sleep.

In the morning, after we each spent a good two hours powering through the last of our work emails (SEE, WE’RE HARD WORKERS! OUR BOSSES SHOULD READ THIS) and then continued searching through flights and train rides. The night didn’t make the prices decrease so again we did the mature thing. We decided to figure it out once we arrive in Europe.

We both managed to pack, clean up, and meet at my place in time for my dad to drive us to the airport. On the way over, I very confidently stated we would be flying out of terminal 1. After my dad drove off and we looked at our flight information (something you’d think that two bright individuals would have already done) we realized we needed to be at terminal 3.

A jump on the link train, a bit of speed walking, and 20 minutes later, we found ourselves outside Gate 30 waiting to board our flight on route to our first stop: Madrid.

Sunday, September 18th 2011 – Madrid, Spain

The plane ride to Madrid was very smooth. We arrived on time and the biggest challenge turned out to be finding transportation out of the airport. Due to our tight budget, we were foregoing the taxi ride into the city centre for the express bus downtown (only 2 Euros instead of 25). Since we were taking the train to Barcelona later that day, we didn’t spend a lot of time looking around. Instead we immersed ourselves into the Spanish culture and looked for a nice park near the central station to lie down and sing songs. The singing probably isn’t part of a typical ‘siesta’, but it helped us relax after the long flight.

What was interesting was that we weren’t given weird looks. If anything, lying on the ground in the middle of the day was quite normal. The Spanish, as we have come to realize, take a much more relaxed approach to life. Asking for food “to go” is unheard of! In fact, even when we went to a food court at a mall in Barcelona, it was assumed that we would be sitting down to enjoy our food. Though Madrid didn’t look any different than home, it was definitely calmer and much slower-paced!

Later that day, we took a super fast train out of Madrid to get to our next destination: Barcelona. At 275 km/hr, it took just over two and a half hours, and as fast as it was, we were still able to see some breathtaking sights. We noticed that a lot of the roads do not follow perpendicular patterns as seen in North America. They’re narrow and winding, and definitely not built around two way traffic.

Sunday, September 18th 2011 – Barcelona, Spain

Once we reached Barcelona, cognizant of our budget, we debated figuring out the metro system to get to our hotel. But given that it was now 9:30 PM and we had not slept in a bed for over 24 hrs, we decided to go with the cab.

Our hotel was clean and comfortable. Pleased with the accommodations, we got our second wind and headed to Plaza España for the fountain show that we had passed earlier in the cab. The fountain water, lit beautifully with an array of colours, danced to music both new and old. A lot of people – locals and tourists – were out to enjoy the show, and as we soon discovered, Barcelona is a city that never sleeps. People are out at all hours of the night and most cafés, restaurants, and bars remain open well into the morning.

As soon as the show was over, we decided to check off one of the must-do activities on our list, so we went for some tapas and paella at a Spanish chain restaurant. What’s the difference between Spanish food and North American food? Portion control! The portions were just right and a lot less than what one would be used to coming from Canada and the US. Maybe that’s why the Spanish are so slim!

After filling our bellies with some yummy food, we headed towards our hotel for some well deserved R&R. Of course we got lost, but it was almost a good thing as we were able to take in Barcelona’s beautiful buildings along the way. It is an old city but it has done a fabulous job of mixing modern buildings with its historical identity. It’s also pretty safe because we made it back to our hotel just fine.