Leading up to the trip, I was a bit nervous. Normally, I have everything planned out before even booking a trip but this time, I barely even knew anything about Barcelona other than that a few friends had visited and loved it. The more I researched, the more nervous I got...would I get pick-pocketed? Is it safe after everything that's been going on in Europe? Would I like the food? Could I sit through a plane ride for that long?
I had never been on a plane for longer than 5 hours which was my biggest worry. For one, I have a fear of airplane restrooms and try to avoid them at all costs. Secondly, as some of you may know, I have fibromyalgia so sitting anywhere for more than an hour hurts like a motherf******! I asked my doctor for some medication to put me to sleep on the flight and they prescribed Xanax to me...go figure!? Unfortunately, between that and the pain medication I had for a toothache, I still couldn't fall asleep. Luckily, the pain meds helped a little and Air France had screens on the back of every seat with some good options for tv shows and movies. I ended up watching the whole first season of Big Little Lies and the flight went a lot smoother than expected.
Drew had a bunch of SPG points from a work trip he took last year and we decided to use those to stay at the Four Points Sheraton Diagonal for the first 5 nights and then The W for the last 2. The Four Points met my not-so-high expectations but it was perfect for what we needed it for. It was a 10 minute walk to the Glòries stop on the L1 Metro line, which is only 4 stops away from the Catalunya stop (one of the main hubs next to Las Ramblas and great shopping). There were also some great restaurants on Rambla del Poblenou, right next to the hotel and a shopping mall (Glòries) down the street on the way to the Glòries station. The hotel room was a clean, basic, no-frills room. We decided to do the majority of our site-seeing during our time there so there was no need to stay anywhere nicer. My only complaints were that there was no shelf in the shower to put toiletries on and no pull-out vanity mirror in the bathroom. To be fair, they did have shampoo and body wash dispensers on the wall...but I'm sure I'm not the only one that prefers to use my own stuff.
Anyways, as soon as we got to the Four Points, we showered and took a long nap. Needless to say, we pretty much wasted the day due to jet-lag. We only made it out in time for dinner at Mika Milan, which was a 2 minute walk away. We ordered 3 tapas: the goat cheese croquettes in a guava reduction, the Spanish omelette and the prawns in a plantain nest with guacamole. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the most authentic meal, but it sure was delicious.
¡Hasta luego!
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