In September last year I went to Barcelona, for the second time in my life. The first was many years ago with my mum. You can’t really count those times you know, cause it’s not like you were in charge of anything. You just took pictures and bragged about it.
So September 2013 was the time I was in charge. For me and my cousin both. We stayed at a hotel near La Rambla for 7 nights, but didn’t have much money to spend. Now, I’ve seen Barcelona before, but this was a whole other thing.
I’m the type of person who likes to spend the days as local, not wandering through museums like all tourists. I mean, in my opinion, if I want to see the inside of a museum I just take the virtual tours on the websites, or if I want to learn about the history of that city I can search the web. I’m more into the human side of the city, meeting people, do it like the locals, just enjoying the moment.
So, with that idea in mind and short on money, I went on Couchsurfing searching for recommendations and info. I had the chance to meet there delightful people who offered to help. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to meet them all, but there is always time, cause I plan to see Barcelona again soon. Already did in November 2013, but that’s another story and it doesn’t diminish my love, my time spent in Barcelona is never enough!
So, on this occasion in September I met Jeremy, an English gentleman who moved to Barcelona about 5 years ago. The first time I met him, I would’ve not described like this. He was rude and impolite. I went out with him to a bar near the hotel and it was my name-day (Saint Anne) which he knew about. He tried to make a joke about how I didn’t deserve a rose for being sarcastic too much.
That was it. I hated him. It was only three hours since I arrived in Barcelona and did not have any change in my wallet, because I swear – and he too knows that – that I would’ve left the money for my drink on the table and just rush through the door. He sensed something was wrong and since I’m open I told him he was a jerk and that his joke, no matter the English humor, was rude.
Fortunately, from that moment on, he was the nicest man, a real gentleman. Yeah sure the English humor remained because without that what fun would it be?! He did knew some interesting and subtle jokes too, thank God! We ended the night on a pleasant note and started going out every day, he took me to the movies and we went clubbing (funny thing is that I don’t go clubbing in my own country). We had a lovely time together and got along so wonderful that we decided to try a long-distance relatioship. Well, that ended after some time, but he still remains a dear person to me, that I can’t wait to see again, in Barcelona or any other city of the world.
My time in Barcelona was fantastic, honestly! Me and my cousin went for walks, and to the beach, took pictures and had all the fun in the world. We even took part of their fiesta for Diada Nacional de Catalunya!
The most funny part (I mean now, but not then) was when we lost our flight. We got there two hours before and went to the gate shown on the airport table. Little did we know that El Prat Airport does not announce any changes in the flights’ schedule… So we stayed at that gate, I started daydreaming and looking through the pictures we took, and apparently I was really into them… Because at some point my cousin asks me naively if the plane shouldn’t have arrived, since the flight was scheduled to take off in 10 minutes. It was her first time traveling by plane. We went to check the info and the gate had been changed. No matter how fast did we run, the right gate was already closed.
Our luggage arrived in Bucharest on time, but we didn’t. Guess who helped us out then? Yes, that would be Jeremy. And this is another reason why this person will stay in my heart, no matter what.
Couchsurfing can be a truly amazing tool to experience lovely moments and create wonderful memories!
How about you, any of you tried it? 🙂
I’m really eager to find out stories on this topic, please feel free to get in touch with me on any social network present on my Home Page, upper-right-corner.
P.S.: My face when leaving Barcelona, maybe this ‘helped’ on losing the flight, haha.