The journey to Barcelona

I am just back from a five day visit to Barcelona so for the next few days I will be posting up about the trip. It started on Tyneside on 8th December where I live rather than from London (which I visit often as I have a flat there). I rarely drive to London. I let the train take the strain so for me the first leg started at Newcastle Central Station. Once at Kings Cross I took the tube across London to Victoria and then an overground train to Crystal Palace to stay in the flat overnight.



A taxi at 6.30am took us to East Croydon station from where we took a train to Gatwick. We were greeted by the sunrise as we arrive at North Terminal.



We were flying BA so we knew there would be food served during the flight. However, we were not expected to fly until 9.40am so we made our own refuelling stop at the Armadillo cafe, which appears to serve up food of a Mexican nature.



Despite not being a lover of retail and restaurant chains, Armadillo turned out to be reasonably priced and the food of a reasonable quality. Deciding to eat at this point also turned out to be a good move. We boarded the plane and then got stuck on the reserve runway for two hours. Barcelona had a storm blowing and were restricting landing slots. Eventually we took off, headed south and then on the run in to Barcelona we discovered just how stormy it was. I thought it was fun but lots of other people were reaching for their sick bags.



The best way to get from the airport to the city centre was by bus. It cost 5.9 euros each, much cheaper than a taxi. The terminus was in Placa de Catalunya. It took about 15 minutes to walk from there to the Hotel Antibes at 390 Carrer de Diputacio.

And so began our bargin holiday - booked via eBookers for £170 each.