Chapter 103: Barcellorca

nerd blog post #110

Spain was unbelieveably fun. It was the first time on the trip that Bronwyn and I were alone and it was also the first time we were going to somewhere new for me. (Not Barcelona, but Mallorca.) So all of those things made me very excited for this final leg of the trip. Not only that, but the weeks where I was finishing my job and moving out had been a bit stressful, but after recovering in Amsterdam, I was ready to put all of my energy elsewhere.

And so we arrived in Barcelona around 11pm after a day of travelling. When landing, we were told the temperature was 24 degrees. We were stoked since it had hardly been 24 anywhere else at any time, and it was nighttime when we landed. From the airport shuttle drop-off, we were a tad confused as to where to go, but navigated well on the metro and then on foot. Finally, around midnight, we reached our hostel.

Barcelona is the pick-pocket capital of Europe and the sketchiness can be felt on the streets at night. Bronwyn and I were obvious tourists (suitcases in tow) and so were very relieved when we got to our hostel. But when we pulled on the door, it was locked! We buzzed and waited, but nothing. Then, a young German named Stefan came out to smoke and told us that the reception had gone home for the night. The website said 24 hour reception, though! Yes, he laughed, the internet said many thing that is not truth. So we went in anyway and asked some Americans if there were free beds and they said yes. We put our stuff there, went out with Stefan for beer and food and squatted in the hostel that night. The next morning, we helped ourselves to free breakie and internet before I went to reception to confess what had happened. I was expecting an apology, but instead got attitude by some chick from "Cali" who was crusty that we didn't use sheets. Oh, I'm sorry! I guess my girlfriend and I should have slept outside, using our passports as pillows. Our mistake. Eventually, though, she softened, and was nicer. We left our luggage there for the day.

In Barcelona, we walked down La Rambla, the sort of touristy stretch that sells cool stuff and has street performers. I had fallen in love with a street performer in Barcelona back in January and was delighted to see he was still doing his thang. We then hit the beach where we chilled for a few hours, stopping only to eat delicious food at a beachside cafe. In the afternoon, we headed to Mallorca.

We decided to treat ourselves to our first cab ride of the trip, from the airport to the hotel. It wasn't far, but we got ripped off. We swallowed it and checked in. For Bronwyn and I, who had been sharing a room on a good night, and a bed on a normal night, this hotel was delux. Our own single bed!? Amazing! The hotel was lovely. We had a buffet breakie and a balcony and pools and daily entertainment. The staff was really nice and we were surrounded by my fave type of peeps: older Germans. We were the only visitors in the 10-40 range.

The days in Mallorca were wonderful. We tanned on the beach. I'd like to note how I much I love that Europeans are not prudes on the beach. Born a nudist at heart, tanning topless is wonderful and normal here. So that's all I want to say about that. We ate at the same cheap beachside restaurant every day that had great seafood. We also went shooting. Henk won, but I got 83, which Henrik said was good. It was my first time shooting a gun. We bought matching obnoxious hats and wore them everywhere. We hung out with a Madridian stag party who bought us beer. We danced at the live entertainment at the hotel. We rented bikes and rode 26 kms, into the capital of city of Palma and poked around there. We also went out one night in Palma where we danced and received many free drinks for being the first in the bars.

Basically, it was the best holiday and I was sad to leave. Bronwyn was the perfect companion, and it was nice to have a girl with me. She was also very brave, trying many firsts, like swimming underwater in the ocean (despite a fear of sharks) and trying a shrimp (despite a fear of new foods).

We had a long travel day back to Paris and stayed one last night at Raffi's before heading to the airport the next morning. It would have been a very sad goodbye if I wasn't going to be home next week. Still, I miss Bronco quite a bit now, having had her by my side for three whole weeks.
So now I'm chilling in Paris. I feel very relaxed and happy to be here, though the thought of being in Toronto so soon is making me very excited!

I hope you are all well. Much love to Canada.

Signing off,
Hincks.