At the beginning of 2019, my best friend and I decided to take two weeks off from our busy jobs & travel around Europe. There were so many places we have always dreamed of going so we spent a couple of weeks sharing our ideal destinations with bright eyes and checking Google Flights to see the price it would be for us to get from one place to the next.
The best part about ideating the trip was that us two natural born over planners decided to book the flights and wing it from there, by taking it day by day in each spot. Highly recommend doing so and following your feelings each morning.
In August we hopped on a direct flight to our first destination: Barcelona.
We didn’t really know which town of Barcelona we wanted to stay in, but we did know that we needed one thing: a balcony just like the ones you see in photos.
We stayed in a hostel that ended up having nobody else in it which meant two bathrooms all to ourselves. Our neighborhood was the cutest little thing ever, this city is so alive with rustling trees on every block and the cutest little benches to stop and take everything all in on. Every single little shop and restaurant was the coolest new discovery.
The best part about our first day in Europe is that after about 30 hours of flying & spending a day exploring the city, we decided that we would only go out if an obvious sign led us in that direction. About 15 minutes later, a promoter for the clubs on the beach invited us to join him and we embarked on that journey in our shorts & flip flops only to wait in line and hear “no chanclas”. Luckily, we were able to sneak into another spot that night. Important detail: we are complete grandmas at home who barely get dragged out to bars, let alone clubs. But this trip, we lived it up.
You never think about how new America is until you see the historic, breathtaking, intricately detailed buildings in Europe. One of my favorite things to do is to go on a tour to learn about the year these masterpieces were built and sit there awestruck, wondering how they’re still kept so beautiful.
It was so fun spending all day just walking around the city and discovering so many sights as we did so.
The undeniable best part of Barcelona was the food. Ordering as many tapas as we wanted at each new spot made us feel like queens. This dinner with 4 tapas and a full bottle of wine was only 30 USD. AND even though we can’t eat dairy / gluten at home, our bodies were completely fine with both of those in Europe! Guess these things are less processed over there than they are at home.
This day we traveled to the beaches and sipped piña coladas. Shannon was telling a funny story to our Moroccan friend from the night before, and laughed so hard she spit it out all over me and the lady behind us. I don’t think I’ll ever see a face more disgusted than that.
After what felt like a full lifetime in Barcelona, we woke before the sun and got on a flight to our second destination: Ibiza.
Salty Bluey 