Spring Break 2018: Day 5

Today was a travel day for us, as we made our way from Rome to Barcelona!

We ate breakfast at the hotel, and then after checking out went over to the train station to catch the train to the airport. We flew on Ryan Air for the first time, which is a discount airline in Europe. The plane was fine, the flight was fine, the crew was fine…but the low fares attract a wide range of people, including those who appear to have never flown before. Not knowing they had to wear a seatbelt, not knowing they had to be seated for takeoff, not knowing that on most flights people don't shout at their friends sitting in different rows to carry on conversations throughout the flight…I could go on and on. We had a 20-something guy sitting between us who would not – or could not – sit still and kept putting his feet up on the back of the seat in front of him. The man sitting in that seat had finally had enough and turned around and told him off. At one point, our seatmate's mother came down the aisle and stood beside C for a long period of time to have a very loud conversation in Italian with her son. It's not that I expect everyone to act like Americans when we travel abroad. There are always cultural differences to be expected. But this behavior on the part of our fellow passengers was awful. I could not wait to get off the plane! Thankfully the flight was less than two hours and I slept for some of it! Ryan Air makes Frontier and Spirit seem like luxury airlines and Southwest seem like a private jet. I don't think we will fly with them again unless we do some extensive traveling in Europe at some point and we are just looking for super cheap fares.

Nonetheless, we made it to Barcelona, as did our luggage, and other than sitting in rush hour traffic in the taxi to our hotel, we had no trouble once we arrived!

C once again found an incredible hotel for us (Hotel Arts Barcelona), with a killer view of the city from the 15^th floor. The staff is amazing and our room is beautiful!

By the time we were all settled in, it was after 8:00 pm, so we walked over to a nearby restaurant for dinner. I certainly love pizza. LOVE it. But I hadn't realized how much I had missed Mexican food! Our meals were so delicious! We topped off the night by keeping our streak of daily ice cream alive! We've got a lot of sightseeing to do over the next few days, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of photos to share!

My final thoughts on Rome…it's not really for me. Don't get me wrong. It has beautiful buildings, interesting history, and excellent food. Those are the things I loved. But there were some things I did not love. Three to be specific.

Smoking. SO MANY PEOPLE SMOKING. EVERYWHERE. I've written before about the lung disease my mom is battling and she never smoked a day in her life. I have no patience for inconsiderate smokers. None. If you want to smoke, don't do it near me. Don't do it near children. I saw at least ten pregnant women smoking! Does health information not make it across the Atlantic?!? It really did make me angry!

The second thing that bothered me was how dirty Rome was. Not because the buildings are old, but because the city is not well maintained. Trash and cigarette butts all over the place. Frankly, it was gross.

The final thing that I could have done without? Aggressive street vendors. Regardless of what they were selling (or in some cases, what petition they wanted you to sign), they were incredibly forceful, in your face, standing in front of you and physically blocking your way. I repeatedly overheard how they spoke to women when they were by themselves or in a group without a man, and I was pretty appalled. It was nothing short of harassment. Despite me being with C, and, in my opinion, being able to hold my own, they made me exceptionally uncomfortable.

Having said all of that, I am very glad we visited Rome. As you can see from the pictures in my previous posts, there is certainly a lot to enjoy there. But compared to Oslo, Paris, and Tokyo, I have no desire to return. There are other parts of Italy that we will definitely be visiting in the future, but Rome itself is a "one and done" kind of place for me.

With Rome behind us, I can focus on Barcelona now. As I type this, I am looking out onto the gorgeous lights of the city at night and I can't wait to explore tomorrow!

The highlight of my day was that I was able to FaceTime with Ginny again!

Look at her!
Love, love LOVE!!!

Read about the other days of our trip:

Spring Break 2018: Day 1

Spring Break 2018: Day 2

Spring Break 2018: Day 3

Spring Break 2018: Day 4

Spring Break 2018: Day 6

Spring Break 2018: Day 7

Spring Break 2018: Day 8

Spring Break 2018: Day 9

Happy Tails to you!