London to Barcelona

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Geo: 41.3879, 2.16992

We arrived at Gatwick in London and found a place to have some breakfast. The terminal was very busy, but it seems that the reason is that all passengers are confined to the shopping area until 1 hour before their departure (the departure boards do not publish gate information until 1 hour before departure). When the gate info is finally published, there is a mad dash for the gates! This may be our new least-favourite airport (replacing LAX).
We flew to Barcelona with Monarch Airlines. Another no-frills airline, but a nice new, clean plane. Just as our plane was being pushed from the gate, the air traffic controllers in France launched a strike and, as we are flying over France, our flight is delayed about 30 minutes until they are able to get someone to take over air traffic control duties.
Once in Barcelona, we checked into the Tryp Aeropuerto Hotel. Nice clean hotel. Our first home exchange partners have conveniently left their car at the hotel for us.

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