42F (Sent March 10, 2012).

I am writing you this email from a quant little patio in Barcelona at the hostel I will be living at for the next 5 days. The air is brisk and it is so peaceful. Let me backtrack. About 14 hours ago, as I was sitting in the LAX terminal awaiting my flight. Every time I fly there tends to be some form of excitement, this trip was much different, everything was going too smoothly. There was nearly no one in the terminal which made for an easy check-in and boarding. As I boarded the plane I looked at the seat numbers and down at my ticket, 42F. Yes, I would be sitting in a middle seat for a 10 hour flight to London. I was greeted with a pillow, blanket, toothbrush, and headphones. The flight attendant, his name was Marcel La Cock, I think I would marry him for his name alone. To the left I had a young girl, about 14 years old that you could tell was meeting a parent in London, to the right, was a man that thought he owned both armrests, breathed heavy, and was not American. In fact, there were probably only about 20 Americans on the entire flight of 400 people. The plane was two stories! I slept for the first half until I was awoken by my best armrest stealing friend, it was then that I decided to browse through the available movies and watch, "The Descendants," good movie.

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is complimentary on British Airways international flights. Mr. La Cock tried to give me wine about 4 times, he kept telling me it would make the food taste better. After one bite of the chicken, I can attest to his statement. Arriving in London could not have been easier. Now, I have arrived in London with that being my final destination and it took almost 2 hours to get through customs, this time I simply walked up, went through another set of security and headed to board my flight to Barcelona. Barcelona is an hour ahead of London so the flight was only about 2 hours. You would have thought I was the only person in Barcelona when I arrived. No one was at the airport. When she checked my passport, she didn't even ask how long I would be staying. It has never been easier to navigate around, find the bus to take me to the city center and find my hostel.

The hostel is very cozy and cute. They have already given me a nickname, 60 euros, because they found out I paid 60 euros for a tour to Tarragona when I could have gone there for 20 euros. It's amazing how much American's get taken for! I thought it was a good price, but I suppose I always learn something new when I travel and this time it was, don't buy tours or things online, you can get them cheaper in person! She immediately showed me a map of the local spots, I am in a really central area with tons of Gaudi sights to see. Then again, Gaudi is pretty much all of Barcelona. She looked at the clock, it was 8:40, she said, you better put all your stuff away and run to the market, they close at 9 and nothing is open on Sunday. I rushed the few blocks to the market, bought some fresh strawberries, what I think was salami or some other meat that looks like salami, fresh cheese (I couldn't tell you the kind because I can't understand a thing I am reading here) and some bread.

I am beat so I am going to take a shower and call this a night. Tomorrow is my first day for sightseeing and I am going to embrace Barcelona and it's awesomeness. I hope this smooth start to my trip is a sign of the remaining 11 days!

Talk to you soon,


Nicole