Day 1: An Unexpected Journey, Adiós Amsterdam & Bienvenidas Barcelona!

Dear friends, family and you,

This is the first of thirteen travel stories that I will post about my Christmas holiday in Spain. My name is Mirte, I’m 25, and I love to write about my adventures. If you enjoy reading them, we’ll make a good team. I won’t keep you waiting any longer, let’s just get right into it!

Thursday 30 December 2021

You know you have a good friend if she asks you to travel with her to Barcelona. We wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve together, but everything was closed in Amsterdam. Her brother Joe lives in Spain, so the idea was not totally random. Still, my first reaction was “O my god, I am not sure,” but in just six minutes it turned into “Fuck it, let’s go!” Within three days, we were already on the plane to Barcelona. I had just bought groceries for a week, so I had to cut all my vegetables and put them in the freezer, so much for planning ahead.

She ordered a glass of white wine on the plane and I ordered a glass of red. We are very different, Rhianne and I, but that makes us a great duo. She is modest, polite and down to earth, while I am bold, (slightly?) rude, and easily get dragged away. She is a great listener, while I'm a great talker. Her green eyes have yellow in the centre, mine have blue in the centre. She has brown hair, while mine is blond. She works, and I am... well, let's not talk about that. Furthermore, she comes from a town in Britain, while I’m from a little village in the Netherlands. We met each other a couple of years ago during our master at the University of Amsterdam, and we’ve been good friends ever since. 

In the plane, Rhianne was resting from a workday, while I was scratching out the dirt underneath my nails from the night before. I was in the centre of Amsterdam, next to the Dam, when my bicycle chain fell off. Groups of strangers were lurking around. Immediately, I flipped the bike upside down and tried to fix the problem. It was dark, rainy and the wind was harsh. The chain had tangled itself in a strange position, and it was stuck inside the chain guard. I wasn't able to fix it by myself without tools. I felt a pit in my stomach when a group of foreign men approached me. "I'm stuck," I thought, "I can't run on these heels." The moment I wanted to grab my phone to call for help, a police van turned around the corner and stopped right in front of me.

Four police officers jumped out. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

I kindly accepted the offer. "I'm okay, I didn't fall or anything, my chain just fell off."            

Two police officers were very sweet and helped me to fix my bike, at least they had the right tools.

"Are you sure you are okay? There is blood on the bike."

Suddenly I realized that I had cut myself trying to fix the bike. It was almost invisible, because my hands were pitch black from the greasy chain. "I'm okay, really, thank you so much." I put my thumb up when the police van drove away, and I was able to cycle. Thanks for the new bike, sister.

The cut on my hand was bleeding again on the plane. I didn’t mind, because I was too distracted by that fact that my red wine tasted like paper. They served it to me in a paper cup, because it is more environmental friendly than plastic. Usually I support environmental initiatives, but this cup dissolved in my hand. Red wine was leaking everywhere, and it had the text, "Stay Green and Clean," on it. I don't think it was supposed to be a joke.

You know the moment you arrive at an airport and think, “This looks ugly, did I come all the way to see this?” Barcelona gets nice within 10 minutes from the airport. My mouth fell open the moment the taxi entered the city. Majestic white buildings doomed up around us, covered in warm yellow street light. Fat palm trees lined up along the streets.

“Barcelona looks so wide and spacious,” I told Rhianne as we drove on the main road next to the coast.

She laughed. “Just wait when we leave the main road, the streets are actually very narrow and the buildings are high, so there’s not that much space.”                          

The taxi driver tried to make a talk with us, something about “todos” meaning “close”, but that isn’t true, so we definitely didn’t understand him. Rhianne and I looked at each other a bit uncomfortably. We decided to act as if nothing happened, always a great strategy.

Rhianne was right, the moment we left the main road it was as if you entered a tiny coble street meant for pedestrians. The taxi driver dumped us at the place where we would stay for the next four days, Catalonia Port, a four-star hotel. With mouth masks on, we waited in the lobby. The man that worked at the hotel wanted to check us in, but he had an angry guest on the phone. Apparently, something about running water, maybe the toilet or tap that needed to be fixed. He looked stressed and wanted to help us, but he couldn’t seem to please the person on the phone.

He said, “We can’t fix that now, it is midnight. Someone will take care of it in the morning.” He looked up from his computer to us, back to the screen, then to us. “Please, I have guests waiting,” finally, he managed to hang up the phone. “I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.” Poor man, he looked like he was going to cry.

The room was a bit small for two grown ass women, but at least it was cosy. I was hung over from the night before, so I was able to sleep a bit earlier. Normally I am awake until at least 2 AM. Rhianne is used to go to bed early, so for her midnight is literally the middle of the night. I’m not sure who is crazier.

The TV is. I turned it on and literally, the golden title of the film “Lord of the Rings” just appeared. I couldn’t believe how perfect the timing was! At least Rhianne was there as a witness. Even more crazy: I probably told you a million times, but it is my favourite film! Only it was an unpleasant surprise when Frodo’s lips moved and a strange Spanish voice came out. Just imagine Gandalf and Frodo speaking in Spanish, Tolkien would not be pleased.                                                                               

“Mi preciado,” Rhianne whispered a couple of times before she fell asleep. The thing that Spanish Gollum says.                                                                                                  

The unexpected journey had begun, but not just for Frodo and Sam.