La Ramblas

On our last full day in this wonderful Spanish city called Barcelona the jury is still out on today's activities , with the list as long as my arm of destinations still not visited this will be a tough decision on today's activities. With the sun well and truly up there is still no sign of the retail warriors ,one big day pounding the pavement seems to have cured the need to shop till you drop (maybe) . Las Ramblas wins the vote for the first activity of the day, Las Ramblas is a very wide tree lined avenue some 1.5 ks long running form the city to the waterfront, can you imagine a farmers market this long. We meander all the way down to the waterfront, wow this place is something else and on arrival at the big retail outlet I spot a bloke selling a self drive experience in the latest F430 Ferrari. Wadda is so excited at this offer he cannot refuse, I stumble to the counter like a slobbering wreck to book this bad boy offer. My slobber soon turns tears when they ask me for my current license, the rules require you to show it before they let you loose on the streets of Barcelona,and it's a long way back to Australia to get it. Plan B is to be driven through the streets of Barcelona by a pro,which I finally agree to. As I slide into the finest leather wrap around seats 20 year old Migual is parked behind the wheel with a cheeky grin from ear to ear, as he slowly caresses the accelerator of this beast I begin to worry This beast looks fast just standing still , the only thing that was gentle was the takeoff and parking at the end . The thrill of speeding around the streets of Barcelona was something I'll never forget this as long as I live ,more retail therapy . Arriving home to an empty apartment we grab a cab and head to the Barcelona casino where there were winners and losers, our last night in this wonderful city will be spent cleaning out the fridge . Some will have strawberries and cream other will have tomatoes on toast and hopefully all the beer is gone, we have a 1220 flight to Croatia for the next leg of this fantastic holiday.
                                                     WADDA
Ps . Maybe some photos tomorrow ( hopefully)

Busy Barcelona

Today we will endeavour to see some more of the wonderful sights of this beautiful city called Barcelona. The big red bus will again be our mode of transportation around this very busy city, and with yesterday's cold snap behind us it's game on. As the sleepy heads slowly muster at the breakfast bar  to put their two bobs worth in regarding today's activities WADDA is plotting the afternoon session for Jack and himself. This W.F.A------- wives free afternoon will coincide with the ladies having some retail therapy ,where by Tom&Wadda will head for Camp Nou the home of the Barcelona Football Club  . This club is absolutely amazing with its a membership nearing 970 thousand worldwide, eat your heart out EDDIE. The tree lined streets throughout Barcelona are just so beautiful and so well kept we Aussies could learn a thing or two about streetscape. Camp Nou is the life and soul of Barcelonas football following faithful, this is the holy grail of Spanish football .With access to some of the inner sanctum of this amazing place the hairs on the back of your neck stood up as we wandered through the bowels of this fantastic stadium. With our raid on the souvenir shop now complete we cool our jets in an outside bar and just watch the world drift slowly by. This is what I call living the dream in what is a very very beautiful city , as we snap back into the real world wondering how the retail raiders are going.  As we head back to city central we plan the next phase of a great day ,FOOD and lots of it and this will be no aircraft style of eating yes this is to be a full on smorgasbord all you can eat for the grand sum of 13 euros, the lovely ladies finally arrive . With our bellies full a our clothes bursting at the seams we waddle home. This has been a great way to spend a day with some great people in a fantastic city called Barcelona, gotta go and catch some beauty sleep as tomorrow I leave this wonderful country and head to Croatia..........WADDA

Melbourne to Barcelona in under a day

We leave Melbourne under cold wet and windy conditions heading for Singapore on the first leg of our adventure. 22hrs later we arrived in cold wet and windy Barcelona, but back to the trip later ,on leaving the Singapore travel lounge we are soon escorted aboard some sort of flying machine with our names written all over the business class section. With our minds numbed by cheap alcohol we flop into those very comfortable leather lounges, the passing parade of flight attendants bearing food and drinks soon win us over . With the gourmet food flowing this will only end in tears if we continue to pig out , 8hrs later we hit the Singapore flight lounge to taste some of Asia s best food and hospitality,more joy to this happy group. As we file back aboard we begin to ready ourselves for Singapores second longest flight of some 6400 miles to Barcelona. 14 hrs later we arrive in a wet and soggy Barcelona and the temperature is a cool 8 Celsius. We fire straight into a big red bus tour organised by big Tom. We are cold wet and miserable on arrival back at our place of rest so Wadda and Tom decide to check out the surrounding area for food and drink ,this mission takes a fair while because we had to assimilate ourselves with the locals . With the women on the verge of collapse we call an early night so we can fight another day,and with the sun going down and the cloud clearing we will be ready for some Barcelona sunshine tomorrow, so now it's lights out from this crew until tomorrow............WADDA

The dream begins

Today we embark on our long desired European holiday ,so it's up early for the last minute preparations . With the weather changing for the worst here I can't wait to get to the northern hemisphere to test out there balmy early summer. Our day will be start out by catching the train to Melbourne then the bus to Tullamarine,after checking in we might just slum it in the Singapore lounge for awhile before catching our flight out of a cold wet and windy Melbourne The flight heads to Singapore then to Barcelona , with 22hrs of flying ahead of us I'm sure we can lap up the the service that our business class ticket affords us ,so see ya in Barcelona............WADDA.    

PS  Our time spent in the Singapore lounge was not to be missed, the feeding frenzy began on arrival. Once fed and watered I slowly drained my last chard and waited for my boarding call. The way to Barcelona will involve much more eating and drinking and sleeping. So hoo roo for now

Our lucky day we met 2 lovely ladies at Tullamarine airport 

Time to dust down the samsonite suitcase

With just a few days  to go before I depart on this long awaited trip of a lifetime it's time to get my luggage ready. Gone are the days of just chucking stuff in my battered suitcase ,this is like performing surgery, packing and unpacking will be performed with strict military precision. Usually I pack my bag until the lid won't close,then you have to sit on this family sized coffin to close it . As you scan the room you spot stuff you have failed to get into the family coffin, as this now dangerous piece of travel gear has to be reopened we drape ourselves across the lid ready for release. Wise heads prevail and a total repack is deemed necessary this process will be carried again again and again . We are now almost ready to secure this living breathing monster,yes it is alive. With the safety straps tightened and some duct added we lift this other form of life off the bed. With the  cargo luggage now ready we move to the carry on luggage, my next big decision is do I take my backpack or my man bag . I've decided that the pack safe backpack looks to be the likely winner, it feels like having a family member  strapped to my back . This will be my third trip to the northern hemisphere and so far I've not encountered any problems but you can never be to sure, also smartraveler has kept me up to date regarding my personal security, so hopefully things will be fine. As the days go by very slowly i take a few minutes to reflect on my traveling companions Tom and his wife Cheryl last but not least my wife Miss Denny , the 2 women are of sober habits and very stable,the 2 gents I'm not so sure. I suspect some high jinx will occur during this 37 day fun filled holiday, unlike some of my outback adventures where we have had a pretty loose rein , I'm sure the little ladies won't be so generous . But  with a pocket full of euros and the wind in our hair Wadda and big Tom will try our Aussie best to keep the dream alive  see ya later.................WADDA