SPRING BREAK: BARCELONA, SPAIN

Hello again! Currently writing to you on a flight from Vienna to Milan because we are traveling on our spring break. While we are fitting quite a few destinations within this trip, I am going to write about each city individually. So today, I am excited to share how we planned for our spring break abroad as well as our 18-hour visit in Barcelona.

Explanation of our travel plans, our visit in Barcelona, and a helpful list of links + recommendations at the bottom!

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While this entire semester has mostly felt like one big spring break, we were blessed with a full 10 days of travelling during the Easter holidays. We started brainstorming and planning Spring Break at the very end of February to get the best deals on flights. Here’s how we did it:
 
1)    Picked a region of Europe that would allow us to travel with short flights or trains in between destinations
2)    Choose the kinds of destinations we wanted to include (for us, we wanted to see a few cities but also wanted to have some beach time at the end)
3)    Put the destinations in order that made the most sense geographically
4)    Researched flights and reordered or added destinations that had the best deals
5)    Booked travel over a month in advance and began researching housing shortly after
 
Here is what we originally planned on:

Madrid  Barcelona (24 hours)  Prague (3 nights)  Vienna (2 nights)  Milan (24 hours)  Nice (4 nights)  Madrid
 
At that point, the flights from Madrid to Barcelona were around 15 euros and the flights from Barcelona to Prague were more than half of the price than flying directly from Madrid. So, since we hadn’t seen Barcelona yet, we decided to fit it within that short window. We had bought refundable tickets for spring break through the app Hopper (great deals, always fully refundable flights) because we weren’t sure if our travel restrictions would change because of the Russia-Ukraine war. A few weeks after we booked our trip, TCU sent us an email with an updated “do NOT travel to” list. Czech Republic was on there. We quickly started to turn to a Plan B. We knew that we wanted to keep our Barcelona flight and still wanted to see Vienna. So, we got refunds for the Prague flight and the train from Prague to Vienna, then booked an 80-euro flight from Barcelona to Vienna. Next, we cancelled the Vienna to Milan flight and rebooked it so that it was a few days earlier. We then extended our stay in Milan and added a day trip to Lake Como so that we could keep the rest of our travel plans (bus from Milan to Nice and the flight from Nice back to Madrid). We lost around 20-euros on this change of plans—not bad at all!
 
Here are our new plans:
 
Madrid  Barcelona (24 hours)  Vienna (3 nights)  Milan (3 nights with a full day trip to Lake Como) Nice (4 nights)  Madrid
 
So far, we have been smooth sailing…fingers crossed that we keep up our track record. Now let’s talk about Barcelona!

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Originally, I was supposed to go to Barcelona with my family when they were here, but after looking at all that we had planned, it would have been a bit overwhelming to have two overnight trips while they were visiting Madrid. So, I was very excited to go even if it was just for this short amount of time. Also, during our spring break we have my sweet big sister, Alyssa Vuillimen tagging along with Lilly, Laine, and me! She graduated TCU this past December and is tackling her first time in Europe with us, then meeting her mom for another 10 days in Switzerland and Italy. Alyssa met me in Madrid a couple of days before our flight to Barcelona, so when it was time to get ready to leave, she was basically over her jet lag. On April 7^th, I met up with Alyssa after class for some lunch. We shopped around for a bit, then went to go grab my suitcase, and headed over to Gran Via to get her stuff. Our flight left at 8:05, so we called an Uber from Gran Via at 6:15 to get to the airport before 6:45. The traffic on Gran Via was CRAZY so it took us much longer to get to the airport than expected (it probably would have been the same amount of time if we had taken then Metro). Thankfully, we made it to the gate with about 5 minutes to spare before boarding. While we were lining up to scan our passes, the cabin had run out of room for overhead baggage space, so we had to gate-check our bags (which honestly was nice not having find space for our luggage in another area of the plane). We were soon in the air and spring break had officially begun! (YAY)
 
None of us were sitting together during the flight, so once we landed, we all started walking towards signs for baggage claim. When I exited the plane, I noticed a sign at our gate that referenced baggage claims 0-15 and found myself walking through the airport for about 15 minutes until I found it. Pretty soon we were all texting our group message about how confusing this airport was. Apparently, there are around 3 different baggage claims in the airport...somehow Alyssa and Laine ended up on the outside of a baggage claim and couldn’t get back in to grab their bags. Lilly was with some other confused passengers who thought that Madrid’s baggage would be in a different claim area. By some chance, I found our carousel, got everyone’s luggage, then loaded it onto a cart to bring it outside (lol). Lilly found the right area just as I had finished loading the cart. After that confusing situation, I was ready to be outside for some fresh air. Alyssa and I made our way to the taxi line and caught a ride to our hostel, Casa Gracia (around 35 euros for the taxi). I totally missed this interaction, but Lilly and Laine were talking to a guy who told them that he had a better rate than the taxis and Ubers from the airport, so they went with him. We got separated again but all made it to the hostel safe and sound. 
 
After we checked-in and put our stuff in the room, it was around 10:45. We had made a reservation at Boca Grande just in case we wanted to go, but at that point we weren’t in the mood for a long sit-down dinner. Laine and Lilly were having a glass of wine at Casa Gracia and Alyssa and I started looking around for a tapas place with some traditional Spanish food. We ended up at Vivo Cocktails and Tapas for a bottle of Albarino, jamon, pan con tomate, and a delicious chocolate dessert. Shout out to our camarero of the night, Pool. He was truly the reason why our dinner was so awesome…next time you see me, ask me about it. It was getting close to 1:00 AM when we had paid the bill. Part of us wanted to go out for another cocktail, but since we had an early start and full day ahead of us, we decided against it. We found ourselves back at Casa Gracia, got ready for bed, and went over our plans for the next day.

Side note: Casa Gracia was an awesome hostel in a great area of Barcelona. It’s within walking distance of the Basilica and Park Guell and has some awesome shopping nearby as well. For only 35 euros a night per person (private room with 4 bunk beds), it’s a steal!
 
Another side note: we learned at dinner that you should not drink the tap water in Barcelona. Bottles only!
 
Before we had left for Barcelona, I made a strict schedule of our day so that we would be able to see some of the best spots but also leave plenty of time to make the trek back to the airport. Our alarms went off around 8:15 the next morning. We got up, got dressed, and quickly packed our suitcases to bring downstairs to the luggage storage room. Casa Gracia had free coffee, so I made a cup to-go while everyone else grabbed a little pastry at the small café next door. We ate and drank while we were en-route to the Basilica. While I wish that we had time to go inside and do a full tour, the Basilica was absolutely stunning from the outside—I have never seen a church look like this! After we took a few photos and admired its structure, we began our 30-minute walk to Park Guell, where we had made ticket reservations for a 10:30 AM slot (reservations are required - tickets are $13 USD). While I did have a bit of a sinus infection at the first half of spring break, this walk felt like a HIKE. I was actually out of breath a couple of times during our walk. Anyway, we finally made it to the park and through the entrance. Park Guell was gorgeous and well-worth the visit. It offers an incredible landscape and a beautiful view of Barcelona and its coast, as well as some unique buildings and mosaics. Our morning was truly thanks to Gaudi, the Catalan architect that designed the Sagrada Familia (Basilica) and Park Guell. 

It was close to 11:15 when we were walking out of Park Guell and searching for a ride to the Cathedral of Barcelona. Cellular service in Barcelona was a bit spotty for us, and we had heard that Uber is not very common in the coastal town. If you exit the park and walk down the street (towards the ocean), you should find a row of cabs waiting to pick you up. We hopped in one and paid a 12-euro fare to the Cathedral. We gazed at the beautiful and impressive Gothic architecture of the church then started browsing the vintage market that was in the square right outside of the church. There were all kinds of items in here; our group ended up with a ring, some postcards, a rubix cube, deck of cards, a rosary, and a Buddha. Our next stop was an infamous sandwich shop near the water, Bo de B. Online, the restaurant said it was going to open at 12:00 PM. We got there around 11:55 after our 5-minute walk from the Cathedral. There was already a line forming at the outside of the store, so we hopped in the back and waited…and waited…and waited. It was 12:15 when we left Bo de B and ran into sandwich place around the corner for a very speedy bite to eat. 

After our record-time meal, we hailed a cab and got back to Casa Gracia, picked up our bags, and were headed back to the Barcelona airport. Our flight left boarded at 2:10, so we planned to be there around 1:30. We made it in plenty of time, however, Alyssa and I had forgotten to check-in to our flight earlier that day. We had to make a stop at the Wizz airlines desk (yes, Wizz airlines). They told us that there were already too many people on the flight with carry-ons, so they made us check our bags (remember this for my post on Vienna). The desk agent handed us our boarding passes and circled the gate for our plane…except it wasn’t our gate. Moral of the story: always double check the screens to figure out the gate. After realizing our mistake we made a swift jog through the airport to our gate, scanned our passes, then boarded our plane to Vienna!

Our spring break had a great start in Barcelona..and it only gets better from here! Follow along to hear about our time spent in Vienna, Milan, Lake Como, and Nice!

Safe travels :)

<3,

Mary Price 

Our Trip to Barcelona:

• Stayed: Casa Gracia Hostel
• Food
• Vivo Tapas and Cocktails
• Bo de B (attempted, but didn't get anything; we have heard it's a must-go)
• Sights
• Sagrada Familia (Basilica) Cathderal
• Park Guell
• Cathedral of Barcelona

Helpful links:

• Link for Park Guell tickets: https://parkguell.barcelona/en/buy-tickets?q=en/buy-tickets
• Casa Gracia Hostel: https://casagraciabcn.com/en/