Kuala Lumpur – Totally cool

        As I stood barefoot on the warm bricks, in the middle of a lightning storm, staring up at the crystaline masterpieces that are the Petronas Towers, I couldn’t help thinking that this was the most incredible thing I’d ever experienced.   At that second, I knew I was in love with Kuala Lumpur.

       This is a city that welcomes you with open arms, beginning right at the airport when our pre-arranged transfer didn’t arrive and not one but three complete strangers went out of their ways to help us out, making calls, translating, and one man even squeezed us in with the group of tourists he was transporting to deliver us right to our hotel.  Whoever you are, thank you, you’re awesome.  And our hotel, the Trader’s, was equally amazing.  I’d booked it because the location was good, the rooms were great and the price was right, but after seeing the location in person, I’d go back, regardless of the price.   Connected to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (home of the great new Aquaria aquarium) and linked to the Suria KLCC 6-story megamall (woo hoo!) by a tunnel, everything you could want is at your fingertips.  Oh, and did I mention it’s directly facing the Petronas Towers (which are atop the mall), separated only by a gorgeous landsacped park, complete with Las-Vegas  style dancing fountains?   The views from the rooftop bar and the business centre are unbelievable.  I kept taking more pictures.  When I got home I think I had nearly thirty pics of the towers alone, taking from every possible angle in every possible lighting condition.   It was like an addiction, really.  I need Petronas Towers rehab (and if it involves going back to KL, I’m okay with that)!

                 For a quick meal we spent a lot of time at the Suria KLCC food halls, where they had a huge selection of cuisines, from Malay, Thai and Indian to Itallian, Lebanese and McDonald’s.  The food was excellent, the portions huge, and you could get nearly any meal you wanted for RMB$10 (approx. CAD$3).  Plus, there was a perfect viewing window out to the dancing fountains.  Prices were consistantly good throughout the city, too.  One night we went to a movie (sadly, the animated Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms – I love that! – was not out yet, but I would have totally paid to see it!), and got dinner, the movie, caramel corn (they didn’t offer any un-caramel corn anywhere) and drinks for about CAD$10 per person!  Plus, they let you preassign seats at the movie theatre, just like on airplanes, so there’s no worry about rushing in to get the perfect seat, it’s already printed on your ticket.  Are you listening, Cineplex?  This rocked.

              Taxis are plentiful, and unless you get an official metered one, remember to agree on the fare beforehand to prevent being taken for a financial ride.  But I much preferred the monorail or underground systems, as they were dirt cheap, well marked and super-efficient.  On hot days, escaping into a nice airconditioned station was the best way to travel.  Regardless of how far it looked on a map, we discovered that nothing in central KL is that far away.  It didn’t take us more than twenty minutes to get anywhere by taxi, and quite often, though it looked to be a huge distance away on paper, attractions were only a (maximum) ten minute walk away.   A few stops on the train and  a short walk got us to the KL Tower (think CN Tower, but slightly lower), with it’s great 360-degree views of the city.  It only cost RMB$7 to enter, and we chose it over the Petronas Towers’ free viewing deck as it’s higher  and you don’t have to line up at 8am to get one of the limited tickets they hand out each day.  Well worth the expense.  A few more stops from there took us right into the heart of the shopping district, with mall after mall, from low end market-style to shiny exclusive high-end Guccis and Pradas, all ready to part you from your Ringitt.  Sweet.

               The one attraction that’s definately taxi-distance away (though at max it should only cost RMB$30 – CAD$10 - each way) is the Batu caves, a massive Hindu shrine in a (you guessed it) cave.  You’re greeted by a giant 140 foot tall golden statue of Lord Murugan, and behind him are the 272 stairs that you must climb to enter.  They’re conveniently numbered to let you know how much farther you have to go.  The view from the top looking back at KL is spectacular.  This place is really, really cool.  But not literally.  I recommend going early, as we were there at 9am and it was already “Oh-my-God-you-want-me-to-exercise-now?” hot.  No wonder at the top there’s a souvenir stand stocking little more than cold drinks.  And I was dressed for the exercise in shorts, a tank and trainers.  All around me the faithful were climbing barefoot or in ornate, layered saris.  I don’t know how they did it.  But the stars of the caves are the wild monkeys.  They’re everywhere, totally unafraid of humans and so freaking adorable.  You can get within a foot of them, and all they do is yawn and look bored.  We had been warned by our taxi driver that the monkeys won’t bother you unless you were carrying a plastic grocery bag, as they know that offerings of food for the Gods were carried in those bags, and they’re always looking for a free snack, and they weren’t concerned with us at all.  There are some great souvenir shops at the bottom, too.
       The central market was another favorite haunt, also just a few train stops away from our hotel and a short walk from the huge Chinatown night market.  It housed some of the best handicrafts, some good clothing and nice bathrooms (though they were squat toilets, it cost you RMB$0.50 to enter and you have to bring your own toilet paper).  I did some serious shopping there.  It also housed the Cute Fish Spa.  The first time I saw “fish spa” on a sign I thought it was where you take your fish if they need to de-stress, but upon closer inspection I discovered they’re actually these pools filled with six-inch long, toothless black fish, and when you put your feet in they “kissed” you, sucking off all the dead skin.  Seriously.  I kind of liked my first option better.  Why would anyone do this?  But then the lady said it was RMB$5 for 20 minutes, so for that price, what the hell.   Oh my God it tickles.  You never quite get used to that feeling.  By the time it was over my sides hurt from laughing so hard, but wow, my feet were softer than ever and stayed that way for the next two weeks.  If you ever come across a fish spa (especially one that says it’s Cute), do it, it’s worth it.  Just google “fish spa” you get some good videos.

            Between the attractions, the incredibly friendly people (oh, and did I mention almost everybody speaks English?  They learn it in school.  Most of the signs and billboard ads are in English, too) and the ease of exploration, Kuala Lumpur is awesome.  Honestly, if you go to see the towers alone (and take the prerequisite thousand pictures of them) it’s worth it, but when you add in all the rest that the city has to offer, it’s spectacular.  So go.  Now.  You’ll love it.  And if you can, grab a bootleg copy of Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms for me.

Tags: Batu Caves, BlogSherpa, fish spa, friendly people, Kuala Lumpur, lightning, movies, night market, Petronas Towers, public transportation, shopping

Singapore – the perfect cruise stop

          There are some places – cities, countries, whatever – that are built for exploring, worlds of such endless possibility that just walking down the street continuously uncovers hidden treasures.  I can aimlessly wander London for the umpteenth time, still finding new monuments to Great Lord Snuggly Pants for the Battle of the Hundred-foot long Slip and Slide, eight-foot wide houses (this one’s real, in South Kensington) and new newsagents to buy my wine gums at.

                Singapore is not one of these places.  Thus, I christen it the perfect cruise stop: where you arrive in the morning, have your eight hours to see what was number 1 on your to-do list, and sail off into the sunset the same evening.

             This is mainly due to Singapore’s sheer geographical (lack of) size.  Any country who, top to bottom, is fewer kilometers than my daily commute only has so much room to pack things in.  Don’t get me wrong, what they do have is great.   The Singapore Flyer ferris (oops, sorry, I mean observation) wheel offers some spectacular views and an interesting narrative overview.  For you bird lovers, the Jurong Bird Park has a fascinating menagerie, as well as the world’s largest indoor waterfall.  The Singapore Zoo and Night Safari are world-class.  Chinatown’s night market is a ton of fun.  The National Orchid Garden will blow your mind.  And the Asian Civilizations Museum is very comprehensive and really well presented.  All very highly recommended.

             It’s the in-between-sights part that lets Singapore down.  With most signage in four languages (English, Chinese, Hindi and Malay), and nothing distinctly “Singaporean” setting them apart, it feels like Asia’s bus stop.  All these different cultures got on, but none bothered to get off again.  I got the feeling that I could have been anywhere.

             Oh, and it’s expensive.  Freaking expensive.  Land at a premium combined with the fact that they have no natural resources (even their water is imported) means your standard McDonald’s meal (yes, I’m reverting to the Big Mac scale, here) can cost you SGD$12 or your regualr CD $25.  And don’t even get me started on hotel prices.  This is the only place in the world I didn’t want to shop – anywhere.  I’m a 26-year-old woman.  Think about it.  That’s huge.

            All told, Singapore is a great place to visit.  I enjoyed it immensely.  Clean, polished and Utopian perfect on the outside.  Your few hours there will be jam-packed with one of a kind sights before you get back on your boat. I just wish it had more of a personality of it’s own to share.

Tags: BlogSherpa, cruise, Jurong Bird Park, languages, money, museum, National Orchid Gardens, Singapore, Singapore Flyer, small, zoo

Babies are not luggage.

          Cruises are awesome.  You get on and unpack once, they give you craploads of free food, nightly entertainment, children’s programs, and you can wake up stress-free every morning with a new city to explore.  But yes, it’s true, every person in your cabin has to pay the same price, regardless of whether it’s a 400-lb man who eats his body weight in lobster every night or an infant who gurgles, coos, and rapidly expels whatever food it does consume.  I know it sucks. But doing this (and charging an insanely high price for a Coke) has kept cruise lines afloat for decades and will continue to do so.  There’s no way around this.

              Babies cannot be classified as luggage.  Stop laughing, I have been asked this more than once by very serious, loving parents.  Yep, they’re small, can weigh slightly less than your standard suitcase and have to be carried everywhere, but that doesn’t mean they let you stuff them in overhead compartments on airplanes, either (that would probobly violate the liquids in the carry on rule, as people are what, 80% water?).  Trust me.  I have actually called cruise lines to ask this.  And, judging by the bored-sounding “no” I keep getting, I am clearly not the first person to inquire.  I’m sure there’s some safety rule about having to know the correct number of bodies onboard at all times, and this rule doesn’t apply to suitcases.

             But really, would you rather pay for your baby to travel with you, or watch as they get a barcoded sticker wrapped around their handle and are thrown on to the luggage truck?

Tags: babies, cruise, luggage

Weird at work newsflash: Cuba is an island!

          She walks into the travel agency and asks for the best all-inclusive vacation deal.  At this point she seems like another perfectly normal bargain-hunter.  No problem, whatever.  Little did I know that five minutes later I would be tempted to excuse myself, walk into the back room and bang my head repeatedly against the wall, screaming expletives.

          On this particular day the best deal happens to be in Varadero, Cuba, so I show her the hotels, she makes all the excited noises and says she’s ready to book.   Inside I’m doing the happy dance that happens every time I sell a trip.  But then she asks, “How long is it going to take me to drive there from Florida?”  

              Excuse me?  Drive?  Florida?  Where did that come from?  I’m trying to keep the totally perplexed look off my face as I explain that Cuba is an island, and that you can’t drive there from anywhere, especially not the USA.  Hell, you can’t even fly there from the US!  She then asked if it was a long highway or a bridge, having totally glosssed over everything I had just said.   

            After the second repitition of the ”you can’t drive to Cuba” spiel, it becomes very apparent that I only have one option:  the Sesame Street method.  “Cuba is an island.  It is completely surrounded by water.  You know, that blue wet stuff?  Well, you can’t drive on water (unless you have a very special car, but I wasn’t going to complicate things and tell her that) and there is no bridge, so you have to fly to Cuba.  You know, in a plane?  With the wings and the engine?”   Of course I said it slightly nicer than that (not by much, though she  – oooh, shocker – didn’t seem to notice) and I even got out the atlas (or, as she’d describe it, the heavy book with all the pictures of places in it) and showed her a map.  Finally she nodded, pushed the atlas away and booked the trip.   I even did something unusual in a sales job and actively tried to talk her out if it, but she insisted.

            Booking was an equally nerve racking process, as every time I asked for her name as it appeared on her passport she started giggling, not something that makes me confidant she comprehends yet again, but we managed.   Then, three days later, she calls to see if she could change her non-refundable (she had this in writing, I made sure) vacation to Mexico, as she still can’t figure out how to get to Cuba.  No.  Just no.  Period.   And, in case you’re wondering, this woman spoke perfect English, so there was nothing lost in translation!                

            So for anyone playing along with the home game, let’s summarize: 

1 – Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean, completely surrounded by water.

2- You can’t drive there from anywhere.

3-If you’re a US citizen, you can’t even visit there (with the exception of the people with some very long and technical government paperwork in their posession).

4-If you see a woman wandering around Varadero wondering how to get from her resort to Disneyworld, please accept my sincerest apologies and steer her back in the direction of her lounge chair and coconut umbrella drink

              Call me crazy, but before I spend thousands of dollars and get on a plane to somewhere I can’t leave immediately if I discover I don’t like it, I like to know where I’m going.  Maybe that’s just me!

Tags: cuba, island, travel agent, travel problems, weird

Spain reloaded 5:the finale – Hasta Manana

            A full day of doing nothing but being a tourist!  Happy dance, happy dance.  Yawn, stretch, this is the life.  Of course, on this trip the full day of boing a tourist involved a 6-hour guided tour of the nearby cities of Reus and Terragona, but without a hotel inspection, it was fantastic.  I am such a city person.  Give me a town with a really cool attraction (monument/temple/hundred foot gold ball of yarn/whatever) that also has a supermarket, at least one McDonald’s, mass transit, a Topshop, public washrooms and a stock of wine gums, and I’m in my element.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot to be said for getting away from it all, but with my attention span (see Spain Reloaded 3), it doesn’t take me long before I want to get back to it all again.  Both stops today fit my criteria nicely.

           Reus was up first, only ten minutes’ drive from Salou.  This is the birthplace of Gaudi, and, more importantly, it’s just an adorable city.  Our guide took us along part of the Ruta del Modernisme, a walking tour marked out on most tourist maps that outlines all the funky architecture and history in one convenient package.   We saw the Placa de Prim (home to the “statue of the guy on the horse” and the “statue of the guy just standing there because he wasn’t special enough to get a horse”), Gaudi’s birth house (home to the statue of a young Gaudi playing with his balls.  No, seriously, the boy is sculpted playing some sort of game with six balls on a wooden bench), the main cathedral and the central Placa Mercadal.  Here we broke for a two-hour shopping break.  I ended up in the town hall (free public washrooms), and when a couple of us paused to get our pictures taken in front of this pretty marble staircase, the guard gestured that we could go upstairs, regardless of the velvet rope pointedly marking it off.  Next thing I knew we were alone amongst all the paintings of the past great Reus leaders, and even in the city council chambers.  Stepping out onto the balcony off the council chambers, I found myself staring down at the square, where my peons were all hustling about doing their daily errands.  It took everything I had not to break into ”Don’t cry for me Argentina”!

            Then onto lunch (there’s that food fixation again, but this time it’s totally deserved).  We had asked our guide if she could recommend a good local place to eat, and she suggested “Grandma’s Place”.  All I knew was that it was in a church, but you cannot imagine my surprise when we drive out to the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but hazlenut groves, and pull up to the most picturesque stone church, complete with a brightly-coloured wildflower garden and geese wandering around.  That postcard in your head?  Think even cuter and you’d get this place.  A giant table was set up for all of us in some sort of cellar, and we were then served the most incredible three-course lunch (OMG… so much food… but so insanely good… try the stuffed peppers), all for only EUR$11!  All I kept thinking is that this would be the perfect place to send someone for a destination wedding (assuming I could ever find it again), as you could get married in the adjacent chapel, then have a reception here in the cellar with the best food ever.  And after lunch we toured the chapel (from it’s quaint exterior you’d never expect the modernist, crayola coloured 60’s murals inside), where our guide showed us the perfect accoustics by singing Ave Maria.  Goosebumps.

              Stuffed beyond all function, it was onward to Terragona, home of “the most Roman ruins within it’s municipality outside of Rome”.  And that’s not just a tag line.  At first it seems like a very modern city, until you turn the corner and find yourself staring at the giant stone anfiteatro balanced on a cliff over the Med.  All we needed were gladiators on chariots, and it would have been perfect.   There were a lot of ancient stone walls scattered haphazardly throughout the city center, and every time you turned a corner you had to be careful not to trip over another archaeological treasure.  City hall doesn’t have public washrooms, though, according to the guard who escorted me out.  There’s also a spectacular cathedral, this one reminding me a lot of Notre Dame in Paris, with it’s tiered entryway, each tier supported by a sculpted saint.   Very cool.

          That night I used what was left of my energy to repack, as the next morning we flew home.  The trip had gone so fast, but, as I wasn’t with my loved ones and had visions of minibars and in-room safes floating through my head from all the hotel inspections, I was kind of ready to go home.  I loved Spain, though, and emailed home on that last day in Barcelona that “we totally have to come back here!  It’s awesome, you’ll love it!”  

                  So my souvenirs, tan and I are now back in Vancouver.  Well, not all of the souvenirs, as the smoked meat I bought for the Boyfriend was confiscated by security.  He’ll deal, but it will take time and therapy    This Spanish Flygirl is already making plans, now that I’ve caught the Spain bug, there is so much more that I want to see.   

         Oh, and I did learn a ton of handy stuff for work, too.

Tags: BlogSherpa, church, gaudi, Reus, ruins, shopping, statue, Terragona, tourist

Spain reloaded 4: A-Costa-ed

             Five hours on a bus each way, combined with another jam-packed day of hotel inspections.  It’s no wonder most of my recollection of this day is fuzzy, I was running on fumes.  We all were.  When the people leading the trip start handing out Coke, cookies and chips to keep us functioning like normal humans, you know something’s up.  Not that I’m ever going to argue with free Coke and chips (Spanish Lays come in this great Tomato and Onion flavor, I highly recommend it.  Skip the ham and cheese ones, the flavor is creepily accurate, but there was something about that taste coming from a potato chip that weirded me out.  According to the seafoodies amongst us, the Prawn Cocktail is also really good, but I’ll have to take their word on it).

            From our hotel in Salou in the Costa Dourada, we drove back past Barcelona (I know, the logic of moving to a farther south hotel only to tour hotels in the north is lost on me, too) and up to the Costa Brava.  The scenery is pastoral and fairly uneventful, though we did get a great kodak moment of the jagged Monserrat mountain from the freeway.  This drive went really fast for me, but then again, I was plugged into my MP3 player (practically everyone else was asleep, it was early) and grooving out to some Rihanna and Robbie Williams.

            The first two hotels, the Hotel Blaumar and it’s sister Hotel Blaucel are connected by an underground tunnel.  This tunnel also has skylights that look up into the adult’s pool, and clearly most swimmers forgot that they could be seen from below.  With perfect timing, we look up to see a female body bob past, wrapped tightly around a happy male body.  The look on the sales rep’s face as he tried to just keep talking as if nothing was going on was great.  Naturally, we all squealed like a bunch of teenagers.

            Then the underwhelming Hotel Tropic Park, the very overwhelming Hotel Florida Park (the pool is gorgeous and even has the ever so rare patch of private grass to lounge on), another buffet lunch, the Hotel Neptuno, Apartmentes Neptuno, the Best Western Las Palmeres (guess what?  It looks like a Best Western) and finally the Hotel Kaktus Playa (my favorite hotel name, just seeing Kaktus spelled like that makes me snicker).

         More Coke and chips, two and a half more mp3-filled hours on the bus and we and our numb bums were back at our hotel in time to hit the buffet.  Hmm, it seems I was hungry on this day, as the main things I remember involve food.  Ooh, I miss gelato…   Focus, Holly.  Anyhow, after dinner a couple of us wandered down to the beach to burn off some buffet calories and officially dip our toes in the Med and hit up all the tacky souvenir stalls.  And these are a new standard of tacky.  I got a great keychain of a guy wearing a barrel for my best friend, and when you lift the barrel his spring-loaded bright pink penis pops out.  It’s awesome! We gotta get us some of this crap at home.

Tags: BlogSherpa, chips, costa brava, hotels

Spain reloaded 3:PortAventura soaking

          I wanted to cry this morning as we left Barcelona.  I didn’t want to leave, there was so much more I wanted to see.  Damnit, make me come back again on my personal vacation, why don’t you?

          An hour and a half drive got us to the Costa Dourada, where we toured the Hotel Cala Font (great ocean views from the pool), Hotel Las Vegas, H10 Salou Princess (conveniently located beside a doctor’s office, in case of emergencies) and H10 Europa park.   We had now officially entered beach-and-buffet land, and it felt like another planet compared to the old world charm of Barcelona.  Here it was pool noodles and sunscreen during the day and karaeoke bars and British/Dutch/German pub food at night.   That is, if you weren’t filling up on your hotel’s free buffet breaky and dinner (all the hotels here offer that).

             We stayed at the H10 Salauris Princess.  The hotel was fine, our room was directly over the nightly entertainment stage, which wasn’t a problem as long as I was awake until 1130pm, and the pool was funky with a big flashy waterfall. 

             This part of the trip is not my usual cup of tea, as I am way too pale to sit at the pool/beach and lounge, plus I have the attention span of a gerbil, so after ten minutes of that I’d be all like “okay, so what are we doing now?”  Luckily, a short ten minute walk from the hotel is the PortAventura theme park.  Now this I like.  As the resident Disney specialist in my office, I feel it’s my duty as a responsible agent to visit every theme park I see (plus, I really like rides and more cheezy souvenirs.  What can I say, it’s fun to occasionally act my age).  I recruited two other agents and, with our swimsuit-clad coworkers thinking we were crazy, headed up.

             This place is total fun.  It’s actually a Universal park, with Woody Woodpecker and Betty Boop everywhere, and it’s only 10 years old, so everything’s still in perfect condition.  The themed lands (Mediterranea, Polynesia, China, Mexico and the Far West – the US southwest) are really well done, and I particularly loved China, with it’s great wall, forbidden city pavillions and dragons.  Started off on the Furious Baco speed coaster, and it rocked.  This is my type of coaster, freaking fast, but with no major drops. 

           Most of the other guests were in their bathing suits, which I thought was just because this is the Spanish Costa and that’s what they do.  Nope.  It’s because if you ride any of the three water rides, the Tutuki Splash,  Silver River Flume and Grand Canyon Rapids, you get “wring your underpants out” wet.  And in 35 degree heat, it felt awesome! 

          China is home to Dragon Khan, the largest roller coaster in Western Europe.  No freaking way.  Uh uh.  No thank you.  I stood at the bottom and held everyone’s stuff.  My coworkers even talked some french guy, who was scared stiff, and his girlfriend to go on with them.  They all had a great time.  I got some great pictures, and am just as proud of myself!   There’s also a very innocuous-looking teacups ride undoubtedly geared for children, but that doesn’t limit how fast you can spin your cup.  With three adults pulling, we had that cup flying, and when the ride ended I couldn’t walk straight.  I was so dizzy I accidentally locked my coworker into the cup as we exited, because I missed the door in my nauseous stagger.  Get this, I can handle the launching of the Furious Baco, but the kiddie teacups will cause me to loose my lunch

        We closed down the park at 9, cheering, and in the end probobly got as much sun and just as wet as the people at the hotel pool, but we had so much more fun doing it!

Tags: BlogSherpa, Costa Dourada, PortAventura, Salou, theme park

Spain reloaded 2: GoCars!

            Started this day off with a tour of the Petite Palace Opera Gardens hotel right on Las Ramblas.  Highly recommended, the rooms are good, the hotel modern and the location could only be beat by the hotel I was staying in.  Then came the part I had been really looking forwards to, the half-day city tour.  I love these things, and try to do one in every new city I visit, as it gives you a great overview of the attractions, and your guide fills in all the cool local tidbits of information you’d never get from a guidebook.

              Headed right up to Park Guell, Gaudi’s acid-trip wonderland, as did every other tourist known to man, apparently.  A highschooler tourist propositioned on of my coworkers by waving a hundred euro note at her and promising he was good. Damn, they learn young in Europe!  She didn’t take him up on his offer, murmurring something about finding out what legal age was in his country as she ran away.  It was hysterical.  The park, aside from having some of the best photo ops in the city, also had great souvenir shopping.

        Let’s just get this out there: I love tacky souvenirs.  I am taking steps to quell this addicion, but in the meantime, please enjoy your Paella fridge magnet.

            Onwards to La Segrada Famillia, where we didn’t get close to it, but our guide did take us to the perfect position for us all to get the stereotypcal ”me and my cathedral” photo.  Then we went into the Barri Gothic, which, because out hotel wasn’t that far away, we’d all walked through every night, and got a picure with another cathedral.

            The last stop was Montjuic mountain and the Spanish Village, which had been the Spanish pavillion during the ‘92 olympics and is a recreation of a traditional (say it with me now) village.  Plus, they have free bathrooms.  Did some more good souvenir shopping, and my roomate spent over EUR$200 on Sangria and olive oil to give as gifts for people back home.  She then had to carry the bags around for the rest of the tour.   I need to warn everyone, olive oil is not a good idea to bring back home, as it can be classified as a “dangerous good” and banned.  Please check with your airline so you can avoid pouring good money and oil down the drain as she had to!

            Woo hoo!  Now we got to finish up our trip to Barcelona with free time.  If you’re ever in the city and want to explore, but don’t want to take a tour (and are ready to giggle like an idiot for a few hours), you have to take a GoCar (www.gocartours.com).  This was wet-your pants fun, and it still makes me laugh just thinking about it.  You get into this tiny three-wheeled car-meets-moped, do your crash helmet, plug in your GPS and go.  As long as you follow one of four pre-determined routes, the car talks to you as you go, telling you about the sights as you pass them, and even telling you when you need to change lanes.  As the car said, “trust me, I’m a local”!  Taxi drivers were laughing at us as they blew past, and behind La Segrada Famillia a group of Japanese tourists ran out into the crosswalk to take our pictures.  Hey, I’m going to be big in Japan! 

            But seriously, if you can GoCar, do it.  It’s worth every penny.  And if you’re lucky enough, you too can wear the helmet with the bunny ears on it.

Tags: Barcelona, BlogSherpa, city tour, gaudi, GoCars, Parc Guell, Segrada Famillia

Spain trip reloaded: Barcelona hotels

        Got back from Spain a day ago and am still overcoming the jet lag.  I swear it hits me harder from Europe with just it’s nine-hour time change than it does with 16 hours in Asia.  I’m falling asleep standing up at this point.  Need caffiene – stat!

          So now it’s time for a trip recap, picking up where I left off:

         It’s the giant “tour every possible hotel and then, when you think it’s done, tour another one” walking tour day.  Starting off at 8am, we hit the Sunotel Central, Century Park, Aston, Junior, Evenia Rosello and the Barcelona Centre.  I would book clients into any of these, the rooms were nice, clean, and the properties were more modern than I had expected for a European city centre.  The Barcelona Center was particularly impressive, all beautiful black and white marble mixed with super-luxurious furnishings (and this is not swayed at all by the free glass of champagne they gave us, because, as a non-drinker, it turned my cheeks embarassing flaming red and everyone asked me if I was okay).  It would be the perfect place for a wedding reception, it would photograph so well.

           By now our feet were starting to feel the mileage, so we stopped for a classic Spanish tapas lunch at the Cervesceria Catalana.  The ambiance was cool, with wine and olive oil bottles lining the walls library-style, but tapas is not my thing.  I don’t eat seafood and am not a huge meat fan in general, so I took one look at the menu and knew I was relegated to eating the smallest sandwich known to man while my coworkers passed around these giant bowls of octopus parts and deep fried heads-on shrimp.  Can you say bill, please?

             Then we were back pounding the pavement, seeing the incredible Casa Fuster (OMG, this hotel is spectacular.  Seriously.  Google it, it’s worth it), right on the Passage de Gracia.  The Gods then intervened and brought a bus to take us to the beachfront to see the Front Maratim and H10 Marina, then finally Catalonia Princessa and Citidines Las Ramblas.  Dinner was an interesting appitizer spread (seafood on sticks, deep fried veggie chips and gummy bears were amongst the options) at the H10 – this was designed as a snack, but I was ready to gnaw off a limb at this point, so I took advantage of the free food and went for it.  I love gummy bears

              The work ended at 830, and I took one look at Las Ramblas and found a second wind.  It was the lure of shopping.  Finally crashed at midnight, exhausted, but with some great souvenirs!

Tags: Barcelona, BlogSherpa, hotels, Jet lag, seafood, shopping, tapas

Naked Bike People!

Okay, so if anyone knows what the hell they were protesting Saturday night at teh Placa de Catalonya in Barcelona, please let me know, because all I know about it is there were Naked Bike People.  From our hotel room just off the Placa we hear a bullhorn and run to the balcony, just in time to see about thirty naked people on bikes waving pool noodles and signs riding past, shortly followed by police cars and tourists with cameras.  Totally got pictures (and we’ve blown them up… yep, they really at nekked), and hope to have some of those posed here soon.  But I can’t help but wonder what was so important a cause that people had to get naked and deal with banana seats up their yoo hoos and police?  My luck, it was national naked bike day or the traditional wave your schlong around day!  Whatever it was, no one else in my whole group saw any of this, and if my Roomie and I didn’t have those pics, I don’t think anyone would believe us.

Welcome to Barcelona!!!

See? Told you they had pool noodles!

Tags: Barcelona, BlogSherpa, Naked Bike People, pool noodles