When life gives you lemons, make a whisky sour.
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We left on Sunday, April 3rd, arriving at around 9:15 for a flight at 11:15 a.m. We didn’t have to take a Covid test to travel to Spain, but the international paperwork we had to fill out wasn’t being accepted online and I was a bit anxious about getting everything right. We had no problems - filled it all out, checked bags, and got through security easy peasy. Kind of. As easy as it can be with 5 people.
All packed and ready to go.
Our plans at the airport included grabbing a bite and getting the kids prepped for the trip, and as we were grabbing lunch, I received a notification that a mechanical delay had pushed our flight back……by 4 hours. With a 3:00 departure of a 2:45 flight, and losing an hour going from CST to EST, trying to catch a 7:15 connection from Newark to Barcelona wasn’t going to happen, so they pushed us to Swiss Air for a 9:50 p.m. connection out of Newark to Zurich, with an hour layover before a connection to Barcelona with a 2:05 p.m. arrival.
It was…not an ideal itinerary. But we were happy to get it.
Plenty of time for a nap.
Soon after we arrived at the airport, T mentioned her head was hurting and her ear started hurting. She took a nap in the airport, and we gave her some meds but were hoping for the best. At about 1:30 p.m. I decided to wait in line to ask about the status of the plane - it ended up being the same plane, and they were waiting for a part. But I found out then that the part was arriving on another plane that was slated to *arrive* at our airport at 3:20. So….the estimated departure was pushed to 5 p.m. I am, of course, getting antsy thinking about what was coming next. We grabbed a meal and hopped on the plane, and the whole way to Newark, I was trying *not* to think about what was coming next. We asked the flight attendants to let us off the plane first, and they did, but when we landed, we had 15 minutes to grab the Zurich connection.
We went the wrong way in the airport, found the right direction, had to take a sky tram to the other terminal (going from United to Swiss Air), had to go through security, I had record-breaking 6 bottles of water in my bag (thanks, slow scoffing TSA people), and we missed the connection by 6 minutes, sitting on the floor in front of the gate as we sucked wind after losing our first “sedentary American” challenge.
So…many…plane tickets.
We took the train back to the ticketing area where we, like other very tired people, queued up to talk with a United rep to find a new flight. It took over half an hour for them to fix the mess. The last person hadn’t canceled any of the legs - only booked me on another few just-in-case flights - so they had to basically deconstruct the itinerary. They gave us a choice of 3 hotels and we grabbed two rooms. At this point, everything I paid for is something that either United or Amex are paying for through my trip interruption/delay benefits. I’m keeping mad receipts.
As we left the airport in an Uber - because the hotel’s shuttle wasn’t working - I texted my friend T. Because if I was going to be in Newark, I might as well hang out with a friend from Harlem. And that’s what we did the next day. Breakfast buffet at the hotel, and then a cab to Manhattan, and boy, did we love it. We had to go straight to a NYC gift store to get a cliche NY sweatshirt because our jackets were in an airport or on a plane somewhere. My friend T met us at the World Trade Center memorial, which was huge and meaningful and impressive. She showed us Trinity Church and the graves of Alexander and Eliza Hamilton and then bought us hot dogs and pretzels from a street vendor.
Staring up at Wall Street, thinking about crypto.
Her husband B swung over from the Finance District to show us Wall Street, the Bull statue, the little girl statue in front of the New York Stock Exchange, and he pointed out how a ton of gold sits quietly under the Federal Reserve. We ended the tour with her sons joining us for a trip to the library and a super fun playground visit before taking a ferry past the Statue of Liberty, to Newark. We grabbed a cab to the airport from the ferry landing and checked-in appropriately, grabbed a seat at an airport, and spend all of our $180 meal credits plus some on steak, wine, exorbitantly expensive burgers, and lots and lots of dessert. When in NYC….
Made our flight, cutting it a little too close, and then settled in for 8 hours across the sea. 8 hours where there was VERY LITTLE SLEEP going on. I kept flinging herself everywhere. T slept an hour and then decided it was time for screens. Z was just belligerent like an old drunk man.
Z made it through his first meal in Barcelona. Barely.
We arrived in Barcelona at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning - which felt like 2 a.m. - exhausted, excited…and without luggage. But we had the bonus of a daughter with pain in her ear.
The next couple of days blur together. I met colleagues in the office Wednesday and Friday and had the chance to play with holograms and robots.
We learned about what pharmacies offer and where to get groceries, and we learned about how thankful we are for healthcare systems that are efficient (seen in 10 minutes) and cost-efficient (35€ to be seen by a pediatrician for an “ear infection” diagnosis with our travel health insurance coverage, which we will be reimbursed for.)
Very quickly into our trip, we and the kids learned that kids demand screen time and they don’t even like french fries abroad, so we must keep an inventory of accessible snacks at any given time in case of refusal of cultural fare. Fruit makes the world go round, but you must have a quality knife to cut apples without risk of personal injury, and grocery stores don’t necessarily carry knives.
The kids were not stoked about whole fried fish.
We learned that the kids don’t like paella, fried sardines, or croquettes. When they are tired and hungry, honestly, they are likely to mutiny and demand dessert. And we learned that sometimes, we start with dessert and are glad they eat something. They can always have fruit, cheese, bread and butter, or yogurt at home. However, T does like Sangria. :)
We visited the Museum of Chocolate and learned about how Europe was introduced to chocolate through Barcelona! We visited a flea market in the Gothic Quarter by a gorgeous church - where the kids happily ate gelato and pizza and I convinced us that her preferred purchase for Barcelona was a totally busted-up Mickey Mouse clock. Which is…fine. It’s fine.
Phenomenal day, on the way to the Gothic Market.
Friday was a gorgeous 70-degree sunny day. The kids went to the zoo and loved it - Barcelona has some of the greatest outdoor spaces ever. Then, they grabbed fruits and cheese and I met them at the beach after work, where the kids were the ONLY people in the water. Z was beside himself having fun. Iris was playing in the sand and T was just trying to keep mostly dry. Z got way too cold and we went home before we ate, at which point the kids took warm showers, and Jonathan and I had bread, cheese, fruit, and wine before I fell asleep at 8 p.m.
My kids were THE ONLY people in the water. It was SO COLD.
T has shared with me the difficulty she is having with the city. She has seen people buying and selling what seem to be illegal drugs. She has observed several homeless people asking for money, and she has no money to give them. She saw a man in a wheelchair pretending to play the violin to get money, but it was recorded music - and she was so torn because that was something that felt dishonest, but that it also felt wrong that he even had to do it in the first place. She told me, “I’m an empath! It’s so hard for me to see them and not be able to help them!” We talked about social safety nets and the cost of healthcare in the US and she shut me down because she couldn’t think about it anymore.
On the other hand, I started looking at the prices of apartments, thinking about retirement. The cost of living is low and I’m loving living half a block from the beach. I adore this city.
More to come.