Relaxing into the moment

The travel here was uneventful, which is what one wants when traveling 17.5 hours across the world. Minimal turbulence, no obnoxious neighbors, and in general, just a decent travel day. That being said, I did hear one story worth repeating, but I'll hold off on that for another day because it's not my story, not a very uplifting story, and it involves Shanghai.

My travel, on the other hand, had been pretty damn uplifting. At least, for me it has. If I were traveling with several of my friends, they may not feel quite the same. You see, today I learned why the idea of traveling solo appealed to me so much.

When I landed in Barcelona, there were two things that I knew that I needed to do: get a SIM card and get my bus pass and Montserrat vouchers printed. When I got off the plane, I honestly had no idea where I was going or what I was doing, and that was okay. I kept reminding myself that it was 9am and I couldn't check in until 2pm, so I had a lot of time to figure out everything else. I had no time table except my own, and I was not in a rush.

So, in typical Roana fashion, I wandered back into the airport and walked to see what I would find. And remarkably, I found exactly what I needed. I came across a small shop that sold SIM cards, and while waiting for him to charge me for it, I noticed that his shop also had a printing service. Yay! So, I paid the overpriced printing fees (1 euro each copy) to have it take care of there. The guy put the SIM card into my phone, and it rejected it, saying the phone wasn't unlocked. It is, of course, as I unlocked it back in the states, but I refused to get too worked up over it. Wi-Fi is ubiquitous, and it's the excuse that I need not to rely on a smart phone to find my way around. In short, I'm just not going to worry about it. *shrugs*

I took the printed docs over to the appropriate kiosk to get my Barcelona travel cards, and asked for directions to the Placa that I knew my hostel was near-ish. She gave me incorrect directions, which I followed to a T. And when the bus that I needed drove past me, I adjusted. No big deal. Another bus would be coming along soon enough. And guess what? It did.

Despite my seemingly unconcerned air about the lack of a smart phone, I did plan ahead. I took screen shots of the mapped directions to the hostel in case the map didn't work once I left the airport's Wi-Fi. Sure enough, I needed those directions!

The point of all of that, though, was that I know that had I been traveling with certain people, my complete lack of concern for time-frames, having things done in a timely manner, or worrying about where to go when would have driven them insane. Because I was on my own, I was able to just wing it, trusting in my intelligence and knowledge to get me where I needed to be when I needed to be there. And it worked out, minus any drama or stress. I just.. did the thing. Moved along. Relaxed into the moment. I mean, worst-case scenario was that I ended up at the airport longer than I wanted. Oh well. I would eventually get downtown, no question. I would eventually get to the hostel, no question. I would eventually work all that stuff out, no question. And I did.

Score one for traveling alone.

Once I made it to the hostel and dropped off my not-so-light backpack, I headed to the Mediterranean. It's only a few blocks from the hostel, though I didn't walk far enough to find the beach. That may be my tomorrow morning; we'll see. I didn't see some beautiful sailboats and yachts, as well as a cruise ship from George Town (one of the islands, not South Africa).

My first view of the Mediterranean

A replica of one of the ferries that regularly transports people and cars across the Mediterranean. This actually shows how many people, buses, cars, and semis fit on the ferry.

Unlighted Nadal tree on the pier

My first meal in Barcelona - a hot dog with mustard and mayo. I don't even know why but I was hungry and it was good. Like, really, really good. I may have been really really hungry.

I honestly have no idea what that tower was for. It had cables running from it to another tower closer to the sea, as well as to the hill in the background with cable cars running along it. No clue why.

There were two of these in the bay. No idea what they are, but maybe I'll walk down to see them at night and see if they light up in some way.

All-wooden sailing ship. *swoon*

Off-set mast, where the main mast is actually tilted backwards, and the sail is oddly shaped and attached.

Very cool view of the anchor and the walkway that is used to throw the lines to moor the cruise ship. I have other pics of the cruise ship if anyone is interested.

Then I walked down Las Ramblas, a big market area on the weekends (where pickpockets run amok), and then headed down a small street/alleyway back toward the hostel. There I found a really cool Gaudi building that I'd read about called the Palas Guell, and an extra treat thereafter.

Palas Guell by the famous Barcelona architecht Gaudi

Okay, this is a story worth telling. I'm walking along, and I notice a huge neon sign for a restaurant that stopped me in my tracks. I had to get a picture of it, so of course, I did. A lovely local lady watches me with a quizzical look, glancing up at the building and back at me to figure out what I'm taking a picture of. I laugh and cross the street to her, and point out the name of the restaurant. She looks confused. So I translated it into Spanish. She blushed, and then laughed. I laughed to, and headed on my way.

I made it to the hostel, checked-in, and took a much-needed three-hour nap. I'll post later about my evening. In the meantime, here are some pictures to enjoy.

Weird giant lobster on the boardwalk

Living statue of a gargoyle. I'd stopped to take a picture of a couple with him, then took this shot of him myself. And yes, I then paid him a euro for the privilege, as is only appropriate.

Another living statue (and another euro)

The odd little street that I randomly chose to go down.