TAKE 97: Day One: Boarding Ship In Barcelona, Spain

All right, then, Typepad. Game ON.

So!

Our arrival into Barcelona was pretty smooth, after the long flight, other than a lengthy delay in receiving our two pieces of checked luggage. (We each checked one and carried on one, paying no additional baggage fees. Go us!) As you might expect, the flight was huge and packed, so there was a lot of luggage to unload from the plane, and ours was among the last. We started getting a little nervous about it, seeing the same pieces going 'round and 'round on the carousel, but finally, there it was.

We easily found the Holland America Line (HAL, from here on) employees in charge of conveying us to the shuttle that would take us to our ship. Our names were on the list - thank goodness, because we did not have transfer tickets in hand. We stowed our bags down below, boarded the coach, and were on our way!

That reminds me: every step of the way, from locking our front door at home to opening our stateroom door on the ship, I would turn breathlessly to Rob and say, "Here we go!" (And each time, he would look at me, laugh, and say, "You're so queer.")

I accidentally deleted the very first picture, of all the black-and-yellow bumblebee-sized taxis lined up outside the B'lona airport, waiting for fares. It was kind of cool. You'll just have to imagine it.

It was easy to get to the ship from the airport (no idea why it's typing underlined like this, but as long as it keeps the pictures in, whatever!). The drive kind of reminded me of living in Miami: There was lots of graffiti everywhere, streets were lined with palm trees, and everything was in Spanish! All right, this post is corrupt, so I'm going to post it and then try and start a new one, picking up where this leaves off! :) Fin.

Comments

[Ruby]

I was wondering what was takin ya so long!