La Quinta, California: We woke Sunday morning just as Explora II was docking in Barcelona. Somehow Captain Serena wedged us between two massive ships. Don’t ever even think of saying women can’t parallel park. Since we were fairly well organized last night, Dave had time to get in a good workout before we closed our cases and left the ship.
Since we are not the type of cruiser to bring huge cases - which require leaving your luggage in the hall outside your cabin for overnight pickup - we simply walk off the ship, dragging our little carryon bags behind us. We were in a taxi before most passengers had found their bags a sea of luggage.
We boarded a train to Madrid at Barcelona Sants, arriving just in time to check-in to our airport hotel. Honestly, we had a very boring day. It was so windy and stormy outside and realized - from our transit from town to the taxi - there was nothing to walk to near our hotel. No restaurants, nor anything interesting in any way except row after row of airport hotels. We went to the hotel lobby bar to watch the Real Madrid game (I just love Jude Bellingham). Real Madrid won, and as soon as the game was over, we went back to our room and fell asleep for several hours. Yeah, us!
The only thing to do was to have dinner at the hotel. This hotel (Hilton Madrid Airport) is simply massive and is attached to a equally massive convention center. This is the type of hotel were they do not need to be good because their guests are probably only going to stay for a night or two and never return, but we were surprised to find they really put out an effort to please.
My pre-dinner cocktail was a Cosmo - only because I saw the bartender using dehydrated strawberries in the drink. Wow - so nice and it is shocking how much strawberry flavor two little slices of dried strawberry added to the cocktail.
We were seated in the main dining room for dinner. I ordered the chicken and DT ordered a massive salad - we shared.
They also served bread (bread is not free in Spain) with the most delicious and sharply flavored Spanish olive oil - the usual baguette and the unusual brown sourdough.
Maybe because the chicken was grilled over fire, the flavor was outstanding? It came with a bit of mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, and a sauce - it was so tender and flavorful. We really enjoyed our dinners - which is a good thing, because in one month of Mediterranean travel this dinner was by far the most expensive of our trip. More than double what we have paid for a dinner anywhere.
And that was it for our time in Spain. We flew to London/Heathrow and caught a non-stop to Los Angeles. Flying British Airways round-trip Business class (with individual pods on the LAX-Madrid leg), we were surprised to learn this plane had the most awful "pod" configuration for the reverse route. I don't know how to explain it except to say it was not a pod and not private in anyway. To leave her seat, the woman behind Dave had to step OVER MY LEGS if I was laying down. Suffice it to say, I did not lay down - she was older (and shorter) than me. (Read the FEATURED USER COMMENTS about this configuration on SeatGuru. We were on the main/lower deck in Club World.) Plus - there is no place to place your handbag or tote or stuff. EVERYTHING has to go up in the ceiling bin. Who thought this was a good idea says the person who can't even REACH the ceiling bin? NOTE TO SELF: never fly in the AirBus A380-800.
Dave asked me to add something to this report: After settling-in, the air hostess came by, handing out menus for the two meals they would be offering on the 11.5 hour flight. A man behind us asked why/how was necessary to serve two meals in such a short time? The flight attendant gave him a puzzled look, and he told her the the flight was only about 3 hours (left Heathrow at 2:20p, and arrived in Los Angeles at 5:35p). I seriously think her jaw dropped, but she must have heard this before and quickly explained the rotation of our planet... to a 65 year old man. (OMG.)
So while the jet chased the sun for 11.5 hours, I stitched. And stitched. DT read an entire book and slept a bit. We landed in LA to a completely empty international arrival section, breezed through immigration (no one asked to look at my social media) and took a cab to the 4L's. Lisa had a pot of delicious homemade tortilla soup waiting for us - it was Cinco de Mayo - and we had a quiet/short evening with the grandkids. We were beat and they had school in the morning. The kids liked the souvenirs we found for them on the trip!
With the time change and a day of travel and jet-lag, Dave and I woke around 6:30a and hit the road back to our house. We gave the washing machine a good workout, fetched fresh provisions, and are back in business. Though we will lay-low for a few days, I will write a review of the ship because so many people are curious about this new line.
Until my next update, I remain, your La Quinta correspondent.
Thanks Terry
Love your trip
Perhaps we’ll see you in the summer!
💋