Barcelona today!!!!

I am very excited and I checked the weather for while I'm there - 60-70ºs and sunny - thank god.

I woke up, organized all my papers, receipts and brochures from the past few days of tourist activities then starting packing. I managed to make everything fit in my back pack, although it is kind of bulky. I took a few items out remembering that I would need room for anything I buy (spanish Harry Potter is a must).

I got to the bus stop in plenty of time and stood right by the curb because I saw a large group of people also waiting and I know these buses are small. When the bus came I was the second one on, very fortunate. The bus was overbooked. At first there were several people on who had tickets for different bus times (both before and after this one). Once all of these people were discovered and kicked off it was realized that this school group, which had booked 10 seats on this bus, didn't have all of its students on. The driver was not very helpful and frankly quite rude about the whole situation. I realize he's not the one that handles the booking but you can imagine people's frustration when they have a ticket for that time but there are no seats for them. After calling the company and talking to the bus driver of the next bus, making no progress with either - he finally got back in the buss and we left - 25 minutes late. Luckily I had time to spare, my flight wasn't until 5:40 (we left at 2:45), but some other people were cutting it close (as I will be when I go to Dublin in 2 weeks - I hope this does not happen then). We got to the airport a little after 4. Check in and security were no big deal and I had to wait until just before 5 before you were even allowed to go to the gate.

We boarded the plane from outside, going up stairs, which I had never done before, at least that I can recall, and I thought that was pretty cool.

Ryanair planes are general admission seating so I got myself a window seat and had the 2 seats next to me open. It's less plus than a 'regular' airline but is fine for short travel. The flight went by quickly and we arrived 20 minutes early. It was kind of rough coming in for the landing (I guess it was pretty windy) but once we touched the ground everything was fine. There were no long, seemingly endless hallways to traverse to get to customs (0 difficulties/problems) and to exit. The bus was right outside and I bought a ticket in spanish with no problems (I know it's basic but I haven't studied the language in 4 years so I'm incredibly rusty). Got on the bus leaving at 9:15, getting to Barcelona at 10:30.

I was so tired. The last three days involved a lot of walking and climbing and yesterday I was up for over 22 hours and we're going to have long days the whole time I'm in Barcelona. Stacy found me at the bus station right after I got off and we took a bus to her apartment and got to bed as quickly as possibly (which of course was not quick at all).