A Solo Trip to Barcelona

Trip Date: 2/2/2018 – Written: 2/2/2021

I’ve grown accustomed to taking what I like to call Holly-Days: a little trip here and there to clear my mind of life and have a personal refresh. I was working in a cheeky boutique hotel in Center City Philadelphia at the time, and the company was working on expanding our brand to Europe: one of the cities in particular being Barcelona. Spain had been on my to-do list since my Step-Dad had taken my mom to Madrid to visit his family and she came back raving about it. Then my lightbub went off. I would head to Barcelona for a few days. I booked my trip with two weeks lead time, did extensive reading on google, and arranged all the bits and pieces to make it work. My dad even thought that I was joking until I called him from the airport about to board my flight. Little did he know, things like this would begin to become a trend in my life.

How I Got There: A friend I met while living in Orlando swore on Norwegian Air Shuttle, so naturally I jumped on the opportunity to take advantage of their inexpensive transatlantic flights. The flight was about $350 round trip, and $50 or so to take the Amtrak out of 30th Street Station in Philadelphia directly to the Newark Airport. The in-flight experience on board the 787-8 Dreamliner was significantly better than I expected. I slept for the majority of the flight thanks to a couple of pre-flight glasses of wine and woke up 45 minutes before landing. Despite being in a rather tight economy seat, the IFE was great, and the views from my window seat were amazing coming into Europe (Book. A. Window. Seat.) On the way back, I spent the best $145 of my life to upgrade to their premium economy class. This class is like a domestic USA business class on steroids. I drank all the wine, got fat off their meals (so many meals) and had an offensively large amount of legroom. It was truly heaven.

Holly’s Happy Tip: A glass or two of wine before an overnight flight makes sleeping a little bit easier, but don’t overdo it! Hangovers and jet lag are not friends.

Where I Stayed: After plenty of research, I settled on Praktik Garden. It was a very cozy boutique hotel with balconies in mostly every room. It was the perfect size for one person, and super affordable at about 270$USD for 4 nights. I loved the brand so much I booked at another property down the street on my return to Barcelona the following autumn. My favorite part of this hotel was the cute, outdoor garden space that would have been a pleasure had I not been visiting during the rainy season.

Holly’s Happy Tip: Check out social media and Tripadvisor prior to booking hotels abroad. You can get a taste of what other guests experience and see if your expectations for the property are aligned with what you’re looking for.

What I Did: My day of arrival happened to be the only day with decent weather. I was able to walk around, grab a bite to eat, and head over to check out La Sagrada Familia, a huge Basilica in the heart of Barcelona. If you’re not familiar with Antoni Gaudi, he is an architect famous for Catalan Modernism. After a long weekend in Barcelona, it’s hard to be unfamiliar with his work, as it pops out when you least expect it.

My favorite thing about La Sagrada Familia is that is has been under construction since 1882. It’s easy to differentiate the new versus the old, but also the attention to detail is astronomical. These pictures do it no justice.

I grabbed a bite to eat at Spark, a restaurant that was right next to the hotel. I had chicken – which is only noteworthy because I think it was the only time for the duration of the trip that I had something that was not a baked good or flan. (The 2019 Europe Trip was significantly more adventurous in the dining department.) The flan is Spain is similar to creme brulee, rather than it’s gooey counterpart with the same name in Central America. Spanish Flan Rating: 10000/100

Holly’s Happy Tip: A lot of eateries in Spain take a 2 or so hour break between lunch and dinner. Be sure to check the hours of operation prior to setting your heart on a spot for a 3PM meal.

On my second day, I checked out the Museu Egipci de Barcelona. It was three stories worth of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, and my history nerd heart was geeking out. After that, I checked out the exterior of Casa Batllo (long lines, not a fan), and went to Starbucks where they spelled my name gloriously wrong. I then tried McDonalds: Listen…They sell beer, and the french fries are potato wedges that aren’t made of styrofoam. It hit the spot.

Later that night I was meeting up with an ex-pat I met on Tinder (I did not know where else to turn) to go to some pub, The George Payne, to watch the Birds take on The Patriots in the Superbowl at a lock in. If you don’t know what a lock in is, it’s that thing where you’re at the bar till 4:30am watching a football game. It was awesome to experience the atmosphere as well as be able to meet other Americans who were as pumped about the Eagles being in the superbowl as I was. It was even more awesome when they won.

I wasted my third day by sleeping in till 4pm following the football game. Rookie mistake, but I was able to check out El Corte Ingles, a huge shopping center my Spanish Step-Dad requested I avoid. When I left with a new ring and overpriced face plumping lotion, I understood why. El Corte Ingles is a fantastic place to spend way too much money, especially as an American who wasn’t used to seeing anything like it. Similar to a department store, it has anything and everything you could possibly need, groceries included. I spent the rest of my evening roaming the city and taking in the views before eventually grabbing yet another croissant, more flan, and calling it quits for the night.

I spent my final full day exploring the Gothic Quarter, with a side trip to the Picasso Museum. I got too involved in the experience to take photos, but I promise it’s worth the visit. The coolest thing about the Gothic Quarter is how much there is to discover, all while getting lost. I found the most beautiful archways, stunning architecture, and orange trees. Do you know when you find yourself in a situation and say “I don’t hate this”? It was like that, but I knew it was my final day to not hate things, so I just enjoyed the bliss that is not being in a rush to do anything.

Holly’s Happy Tip: Embrace getting lost in new cities, you’ll never know what you might stumble upon.

On my final night, I took it upon myself to return to Tinder to find a local to grab a drink with and speak to in broken Spanish. I settled on a Lebanese-Venezuelan guy who moved to Barcelona a few years prior. He looked like what you’d think Aladdin should look like, so naturally this was my pick. We met up at a bar called La Oveja Negra, or The Black Sheep for you non-spanish speakers out there. It reminded me of what amounts to a wine cellar in a dungeon, which seems right given its location in Las Ramblas. Finding this bar, that I took no photos of, was truly the only time I felt sketched out while walking alone in Barcelona. It was tucked away off the beaten path, but I got to see some cool mural art along the way. Our night was what you’d expect a first date to be like, except we were speaking half English, half Spanish, and drinking beer at a low-key bar. It was the perfect way to end my trip.

Holly’s Happy Tip: As you would in the USA, use caution when meeting strangers on Tinder. Even if they look like Aladdin. Luckily, he was v sweet and I’m alive to talk about it.

My departure day was low-key and slow. I spent some time looking in shops close to the hotel and got tea and one final croissant before heading to the airport for my evening flight back to Newark. This leg of the trip involved my upgraded flight in the Premium Cabin on Norwegian Air. I had ample leg room, a decent selection of In-Flight Entertainment, plenty to eat and drink, and a sizeable, comfortable seat with extra recline. If this is a product you are ever able to fly on for a few hours, the upgrade is absolutely worth it and I found it significantly better than most standard business class products I’ve flown. After landing in Newark, I headed to the conveniently located Amtrak stop to get on my return train, the last of the night, to Philadelphia.

Thoughts: This trip was certainly a learning experience – both for how to navigate international travel in a country that doesn’t use your native language (or a different dialect of a language you may know), and for personal growth while stepping outside of your traditional comfort zone. While I did learn that international travel with a buddy is more my cup of tea, solo trips abroad are not something I would completely dismiss in the future. The trip was brief, informative, and allowed me to open my perspective and have a deeper understanding of cultures outside of my own. I would do this again in a heartbeat.