We Are Here in Barcelona! (Mary Jo)

Well, Kelly beat me to the blog, but now it's my turn. First off, I want to thank all the people, especially my DIS friends with all their tips and friendships before this cruise we are about to take. It sure made the planning fun!

I also have to mention the passport issue. Nick and Kelly both had to apply for a passport and did so first week of April. Kelly's arrived, but Nick's did not, and we went through a lot to get it. It finally arrived in San Diego at 3pm, and we could breathe a sigh of relief.

So, now I can say...

We are here in Barcelona!! None of us got any sleep the night before, and since I had been up since 4:30am, it was a long day for us. We finally finished packing around 1:30am, and I did leave my jacket at home, and a gift for my little cousin, so I will have to get a jacket here in Barcelona at El Corte Inglés. (I am on a Spanish computer, and am figuring out all the keys.)

The taxi picked us up right at 3am so we could get to LAX 3 hours before we had to go. Well, we found out that the ticket booths opened at 4:45, so we spent a long time in line waiting, but we were the 6th in line, so we were able to check out luggage right away and then get on the airplane. Boy, times have changed. After weighing and tagging the luggage we had to take it to security so they could x'ray it and then load it. But, yea, we were on our way.

Flights were uneventful until we hit Philadelphia and then there was a mechanical delay that put us three hours behind. Just crazy. I got some dinner, and then Nick told me that the airlines gave us $10 to buy a meal. It didn't help me, but others were able to take advantage of the delay. Oh, and there were quite a few people reading the latest Harry Potter book on the plane, including Nick.

It took us 19 hours to get here from Los Angeles, and with little sleep and so much time on the plane, my body still feels like its flying -- funny feeling.

Okay, I have to say... once we arrived in Barcelona, it couldn't be any easier. We showed our passports, collected our luggage, and went out to the taxis ... no customs? The taxi guy was really nice and took us right to the hostal that we are staying at. He warned me about pickpockets, so we are on guard. You should have seen the look on my kids' faces when they saw the hostal. They are used to the Disney hotels and the Dolphin at WDW, and we are in a simple hostal in an older district with really narrow streets. Our room is miniscule, but hey, it is clean, has its own working bathroom, a bathroom, and three twin beds. Plus the guys at the front desk are super nice. Probably helps that I speak Spanish fluently.

I am going to have to figure out how to get wireless for my laptop so I can upload pics and post them.

More later....