Barcelona, Spain; Day 1

We departed the Portuguese capital of Lisbon this morning for Spain.  Both countries are, of course, European Union nations and share currencies, open market trading bloc objectives, and other diplomatic advantages.

One of these advantages struck us soon after arriving in Barcelona.  The process to proceed from the plane to our taxi outside was simple, through a jetway (not seen since Bangkok), and enabled through technology.

We presented a QR code at a Spanish health kiosk before baggage which had no line of fellow passengers.  After 5 quick beeps acknowledging that our test results and vaccination information had been successfully uploaded and accepted, we went to collect our bags.

That wasn’t the best part.

After collecting our luggage, which sat lonely on the carousel waiting for us, eager to be transported via a luggage cart (which cost nothing and was simple to procure), we headed toward customs and immigration. There was no line there either. In fact, no customs agents or any reason to prevent us from leaving with our baggage. Which we did. We were now with our baggage looking for ground transportation within 20 minutes of hitting the jetway.

And that wasn’t the best part.

We caught a taxi which delivered us to our downtown Barcelona address for not much more than a Metro fare. And that wasn’t the best part.

The best part was when we opened the door to the Barcelona apartment and found a new Adventurer!

Tiffany’s sister Aunt Tracy had taken a red-eye flight from Cincinnati and will be joining in our Adventures for 2 weeks!

We were all eager to spend time with someone new and we all competed to tell her stories, jokes, new songs, and summaries of our Adventures. She admitted to following the blog and found some of our stories had been told already. Regardless, it was wonderful having a new face along the way. We hope to see others during our European leg of the Tour.

We visited a nearby park and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine. It’s entrance is the Arco de Triunfo de Barcelona built as the entrance to the Universal Expedition in 1888. We never realized how many remnants of World Fair/Expeditions were still standing all over the world but since we went to the Expo in Dubai our attention is heightened and we see them everywhere.

We walked around the gorgeous park al la NYCs Central Park and had a lovely beverage while the kids played in a playground. Then we found a restaurant for a more complete meal (including sangria).

Hopefully we can have Tracy join as a guest correspondent on this blog. Maybe she can stir up more participation from the kids too!