Thursday, July 7: Off to Barcelona, but not so fast...

We got up fairly early and got the car packed and after breakfast said goodbye to my Dad and set off for Brussels. Since Germany was playing that night, I decided to wear my Germany shirt in support of the team. Ben, of course, wore his Spain jersey, since he is a die hard fan AND we were on our way to Spain!!!! We were supposed to arrive in Barcelona at 16:20 pm and thought we'd settle in to the apartment and go out to watch the big game somewhere in the city.

The drive to the airport was very smooth and uneventful. Returning the rental car was a breeze and we were able to find the luggage lockers to store one of our big suitcases until out return to the US. Our flight was scheduled to leave Brussels at 14:15  and we were through security and ready for our gate announcement with a couple of hours to spare.

  We sat around and had some food and drinks, browsed overpriced airport shops,  passed time on phones and laptop. The Brussels airport is very nice and we discovered they even had foosball tables for entertainment.

Unfortunately, the Departures screen soon showed our flight delayed to 17:30, 3 hours later. Then, it showed delayed even longer, to 18:20. We were really bummed, especially since that meant we would not be able to watch the Germany game, if we arrived at the airport at 20:25, and the game started at 21:00. We felt like we were wasting our whole day at the airport with nothing much to do. :( We also had to message our Airbnb hostess several times to update our estimated arrival time. Thank goodness for free wifi!

After the second delay, we began to wonder if we were entitled to a meal or something from the airline, but it was really difficult to even find out, because Ryanair does not even have a desk anywhere at the airport with a real person. It is all online. Another airline called Swissport manages the boarding desk for them. After talking to several Swissport representatives, we were told each passenger would get a drink/ meal voucher worth 5 Euro, about $5.50. We did spend it on some burgers, but would much rather have made it to Barcelona earlier!!







The flight itself was not bad. Because we had booked at different times, Charlotte had a different seat that we did and she had to get in the front entrance of the plane while we had to board through the back door.

  We flew over France and it was very clear, so we were able to see a lot of the landscape down below. We flew over a French town called Carcassonne and realized the terrain below did look a lot like the game board of the game Carcassonne!

The view from our apartment

 Once we got to the airport we got our luggage quickly, and were able to get a taxi so fast that I did not have time to message our hostess again, which I had said I would. The last message I had sent was that we landed and I would update our ETA when we get a taxi. She had also informed us earlier that there is a 30 Euro surcharge for arrivals after 21:00. Well, we made such good time, we arrived at about 21:05, but I thought we would still have to find a way to contact the hostess. There was a cafe down below our apartment, so I walked in there and asked to use the wifi. He let me, but I had to buy a drink. While I was in there trying to message Airbnb, the others waved at me from the street indicating that someone was already there to let us in! What a relief, and it was only about 10 minutes late, so I really hope we don't have to pay the surcharge. The lady, Oksana, showed us in and explained the basics. gave us keys, etc. The apartment is spacious and clean with 3 separate bedrooms, a small kitchen, dining area, and a living room area with a TV.

Our living room

 The only bad part was that there was a distinct unpleasant sewage odor in the bathroom. The way the latch worked on the door, it could only fully close from the inside, so we figured out how to wedge a broomstick behind the door handle to keep it shut with the windows open! It has a whole wall of windows that open to an inside small "courtyard" where all of the other backs of other apartments open up, too, with laundry lines, small balconies, etc.
We did catch the second half of the semi-final game, which ended in a disappointing loss for Germany against France.  :(

After the game, we had to go out and al least buy some water, since Oksana had told us not to drink from the tap. There is a small Super Marcat right on our block, so we bought water, milk, bananas, bread, peanut butter, instant coffee, and a few other things. We walked a few blocks down the road just to get a feel for it, but soon returned and called it a night. It felt good to be here!
We positioned the one portable A/C unit (on wheels) in such a way that it circulated the air to the rest of the apartment as best we could, because it was really hot! It was in the master bedroom and has an exhaust hose (kind of like a dryer), that has to stick out a window, so we could not move it too far, but there are fans in every other room, so it isn't too bad. Luckily, when we woke up in the morning the sewage smell was gone and we never smelled it again for the whole rest of the trip!!!