Barcelona – fetch me a Gorbachev and coke – memory loss and facial injuries guaranteed....


Advertisement
Spain's flag
Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona
September 11th 2012
Published: November 27th 2012
Edit Blog Post

Sagrada FamiliaSagrada FamiliaSagrada Familia

The incredible interior, and evidence that we at least managed a little culture on the trip!!
September 2012 brought round my 30thbirthday, and I managed to convince 6 mates to spare the cash and the time to head out to Barcelona with me for a long weekend to celebrate. We'd moved a little more upmarket than previous trips, and after a lot of searching seemed to have found an amazing apartment complete with massive roof terrace that would do the trick.

On arrival we decided to break up the walk from the metro terminal to the apartment with a quick beer – we'd certainly earned it (!). Thus, about 2 in the afternoon we were discussing as a group how we were in Spain now, and we needed to pace ourselves. People only go out around midnight so we couldn't go hard like English tourists and be tucked up in bed by 11!!

These were such wise words, but unfortunately they started to unravel slightly as we headed out to get lunch/dinner in the late afternoon. Given there was no-one eating at that time the restaurant we came across offered us two litres of free sangria and a round of shots if we ate with them...so far, so not so good!! We then got back
The damage done...The damage done...The damage done...

Scars of one too many Gorbachev and cokes. Its healed quite nicely btw...!
to the apartment ready to make the most of our roof terrace with some gentle sun-downers. The beer fairy (Jon) had amazingly supplied a litre of sailor jerry (now forever know as Gorbachev!!!), coke and a sackful of limes to go with the plentiful supply of Estrella that we'd picked up!!

The banter flowed and times were good, right up until the 10p.m. (yes only 10p.m.!!) curfew of the roof terrace when we were kicked out back to the apartment. From there only 3 of us seem to have any sort of memory of the rest of the night, and I definitely don't say with pride that I was certainly one of the one's without. I'm meant to be getting wiser not more stupid as I age!!

Fast forward to the next morning, and I wake up in a trashed bedroom (I'd taken the double bed en-suite given it was my birthday!) with a splitting headache and blood all over the bed . A fuzzy look in the mirror confirmed I had somehow created my own Gorbachev style wound in the side of my head! Moving through to the lounge I see Jon passed out on the couch
Camp NouCamp NouCamp Nou

Most popular museum in Barcelona!
and a scene that can be best described as the Hangover does Barcelona. Unsurprisingly the Sailor Jerry is finished, there are limes all over the floor and enough empty beer cans to create a sculpture of la sagrada familia! I thought that our damage deposit had already gone out the window and that was before I found out what Dan Gent had managed to do to his and Shaun's room (although for the comedy banter it was absolutely worth it!!)

The guys have partially filled in the blanks, but from my perspective I think I made it to one bar (an Irish bar of all places) before people cottoned onto the fact that I needed to be carried to the next place and so really should be carried home instead!! I then decided to pick a fight with the wall of the alleyway just outside our apartment (the wall seemed to have me well beaten!!), before Nurses Alger and Fenwick tried to help as best they could. I'm sure it was the “concussion” rather than the alcohol that gave me the upset tummy – but it probably didn't best please Chris and Mark!!

Its safe to say the next day didn't go so well for me. We headed to the beach (25 degrees in mid-September – amazing!!) and I spent most of the day in the foetal position trying to make the pain go away!! I didn't enjoy dinner all that much either, so I was amazed that after a couple of drinks I was still upright and Shaun had found us a great little bar where they had a selection of shooters! Oh dear! Now I expected to be singled out as the birthday boy, but luckily Shaun was adopting a team approach and making sure we got in rounds of 7. I think we started on something relatively mundane like a tequila slammer, but then we discovered the “red hot chilli sugar” a horrendous collaboration of a shot of pernod, shot of tequila and dash of tabasco all in one glass. Ouch! These just about stayed down and we partied on till closing where the barmaids had one last treat for me as birthday boy. There poured salt and coffee grounds onto a slice of lemon, and after this delight there was a shot of god knows what to follow. I've got to say that using raw coffee grounds as part of a shot is about the most disgusting thing ever!!

Monday was the last day for some of the guys, and so we actually wanted to get involved in some culture. Therefore we were off to the most popular museum in Barcelona – that of the football club!! We followed it up with a visit to la sagrada familia, and after some debate we figured we should wait in line and pay to go inside. It turned out to be the best decision made on the trip (not hard!!) as the inside was absolutely stunning. I've visited a lot of churches and cathedrals in my time, but the interior of la sagrada familia took things to a whole new level. The shapes and lines that were created were just breathtaking, and the quality of the workmanship throughout was just unbelievable. I do hope it gets fully finished in my lifetime!!

For those who were staying, we enjoyed a “hold your breath” night out with a great little restaurant/bar followed by some street beers in the artistic quarter, and ended up drinking cocktails and playing table fussball in a rock bar. I was amazed when we were being kicked out of there at 4.30a.m. or so, as I'd actually seen through a whole night of my birthday weekend!! All that was left was a chilled out day back at the beach and then to safely get our flight home.....

…..that was until Shaun Sahdev got involved!! We'd made it to the airport early enough to actually have one of the worst dinners imaginable in the take away there, and all that was left was to go to our gate. Shaun wanted to get some chocolates for his workmates, and so we waited for him to queue to pay for them. Just like at a bar, or in a coffee shop, Shaun's inability to get served ran true, so we waited....and waited....and waited....but we were reasonably relaxed as the flight still said boarding and not final call. We eventually set off at a brisk pace, conscious of time, but not worried – that was until the flight changed from boarding to closed in an instant and we started running for our gate.

When we got there, we hadn't just missed the flight, the gate was fully closed without a member of staff to be seen. There was that horrible feeling that we weren't going to blag our way out of this one and look back at a “lucky escape”.

We managed to get back to the easyjet customer service office and convince them to reopen and speak to us. They explained that for a €60 “reallocation” fee we could come back the next day, and if there was space they'd put us on a flight. Shaun sprung for a hotel through lastminute.com, and we ended up seeing out my actual birthday in the bar of an airport hotel with a few rounds of beers!!

Shaun and Mark both had to be back pronto so were out bright and early. Adam and I had both booked the day off so we decided to make the most of the gym and pool at the hotel, have a leisurely breakfast and plump for a 2p.m. flight back home.

On arrival at the airport there was another heart stopping moment as the new lady at the check in counter said that there was only a four hour window to re-allocate the flight (from 6a.m. when the desk opened) and now that we had missed the window it would have to be a whole new flight ticket.!!!!

I pleaded with the lady that her colleague had told us that anytime today was fine so long as there were spaces and that (and yes I used these words!) we could never be that stupid to miss a flight one evening, and then not arrive at the airport on time the next day and miss it again....

Luckily she took pity on this scarred, broken shell of a man and let us on the flight!! Its safe to say that for many reasons my 30th birthday will be one that I never forget and will wear the scars of for many years to come!!! Cheers for being part of it guys!!

Advertisement



Tot: 0.23s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 23; qc: 98; dbt: 0.1357s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.4mb