Sabbatical 3.1 begins!

On Monday morning, we left for the airport to fly to Barcelona for Sabbatical 3.1! Our flight itinerary was Madison-Chicago-Newark-Barcelona. We’ll spend a few days in Barcelona and then board a Disney cruise for 7 nights across the Mediterranean.

This was Ainsley’s first plane ride, Odin’s second, Whitaker’s third, and Liam’s fourth time. Everyone did great in the airport. We arrived with plenty of time and the kids did well going through TSA Pre-Check with Keely while I had to go through with the commoners in the regular line. Boo! The flights were easy and we arrived in Newark ahead of schedule but then ended up sitting on the plane for 45 min because the gate wasn’t ready. After a two hour delay for our Barcelona flight, we were finally crossing the ocean. The kids did the best they could eating and sleeping on the plane. Somehow customs saw us and pulled us out of a very long line to skip to the front and we were off to baggage claim to begin our adventure.

We booked Roman to drive us from the airport to our apartment and he gave us a brief overview of the city and helped orientate us on what to expect. The old city of Barcelona is 2000 years old and the newer parts are just 200 years old! We learned the best and largest apartments are on the lower levels (no elevators in many buildings so you don’t have to walk as far) and the smaller ones are on the top floors. The streets are very easy to navigate but there is a lot of traffic and motorbikes!

Our apartment has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a kitchen and a gathering area which sounds large but it’s tiny! We’d never be able to live here. We unpacked and then we were off to meet up for a tour of the old city and the Gothic Quarter. We had a great tour guide and had people from across the globe in our group - we were the only Americans! The tour covered a wide range of topics from history to culture to fun facts about the city. But it was long! The kids did awesome. We estimate that between walking to and from the tour plus the tour itself, the kids hiked over 6 miles! A gelato stop in the middle was much deserved!

We were fading fast by the time we got so we made a quick stop at the market below our apartment to pick up some bread, cheese, and meat for dinner and everyone was in bed by 9pm. The kids did great on their first day of traveling and are excited for more adventures tomorrow!

Kevin