Barcelona, Spain, Europe

I had a really nice time being back in Edinburgh for a few days. It was good to see a bunch of friends and family while I was back (Paul, Jo, Keith, Hayley, Ross, Graham, Grum, Richie, Emma, Bec, the Preachers, and the Melville staff), and it’s a shame I didn’t have more time to get to see everyone. I guess it’ll just have to wait about nine months until I get back.

I got all my stuff packed up at Paul’s flat, left some cold weather clothes behind, which lightened my pack dramatically, and set off this morning at 10:30am. I went to the bakery to see the guys again before heading off, and then caught the bus to the airport. I flew with Vueling Airlines today and they seemed really good. I had never heard of them before, but it was a cheap flight from Edinburgh to Barcelona so I thought I would take a chance and see what they’re like. I wasn’t disappointed. They seemed to be a mixture of a normal airline and low cost airline. Everything went really smoothly and I had an entire row to myself, which is really nice.

I’ve been playing with my new 11″ Macbook Air for the last few days getting it ready to go travelling. It. Is. Awesome. I’m so happy with this purchase. It is going to be so much better for me to use than my last netbook was. Apple really do make a heck of a product. The flight flew by and I arrived in Barcelona at 6pm. It was perfect timing to get to my hostel, get settled into the dorm lifestyle again, and then get out into the city. Of course, I was already here for my birthday last year, so I didn’t feel the need to get out and see loads of stuff, but it’s a nice city to walk around.

I went to the main street called the Ramblas for dinner and had some chicken paella. It was excellent. It was nice to sit on the promenade and just watch all the tourists walking by. My hostel was having a little shindig for the World Cup game between USA and Belgium, so I came back here to see that. I also had to do a bit of research on where to go next. I was so busy when I was back in Edinburgh that I didn’t really have any time to plan what I would do when I got to Spain.

I figured out that I am going to get a bus to San Sebastian in the morning, and then I’ll figure it out from there. A few people have told me that it is a city that I can’t miss, so I’ll check it out for a night, and then either move on to Bilbao, or stay for another night. By the way, I decided all this while watching USA put in a great effort against Belgium, but lose 2-1 in extra time. They did well to make it to the final 16, but this year that is as far as they’d get. Ah well.