Our last minute planning backfired. Again.

Mission: We were in Madrid, but we needed to get to Barcelona for our flight home.

Our hopes to find a train deal online died when we saw the last discounted ticket disappear before our eyes because someone was clicking too slow! Unfortunately, the very cool AVE trains that get you from Madrid to Barcelona were ridiculously expensive at full price, so the search continued. After some more online searching and a trip out to the Atocha train station, we finally decided to just rent a car and drive back to Barcelona.

This was a costly but convenient choice, especially since today the handle on my freaking suitcase broke! Although driving with Adrian was pretty stressful since he kept going 160 km/h (100 mph)! It took us about six hours to get to Barcelona.

We arrived in through the port area, and drove down the Ronda Litoral, the highway that goes along the sea and past Montjuic with its old Jewish cemetery. It was a beautifulview, with pieces of stones and glass glimmering in the dark. We parked up by Port Vell and had drink and some tapas while we decided where to sleep (we hadn’t even planned that even though it was already 10 pm).

Ultimately, we were able to crash at Adrian’s friend’s apartment for a few hours before getting up at 5:30 am to head out to the airport and catch our plane. That was another mission in itself. We still had the car, so we had to try to find where to return it at the airport. After making a couple trips around the terminal, we finally got to the right parking lot, and after much searching finally found the right spot to drop off the keys. Thus began the LOOOONG trip back to Chicago…