Before You Go to Barcelona...

I didn't do one of these for Ireland, Portsmouth, or Munich, mostly because I wasn't really surprised by much. I was very surprised by a few things here.

1. Not everyone speaks English

Even more than Italy, people in Barcelona don't speak English, or don't speak it much. Not even in the McDonald's near my hotel. Or at the airport when you need directions to the other terminal when your gate closes in forty minutes. (I made the flight, with time to spare, but I was pretty panicky for a while.)

2. Everything is really far apart

I got a hotel near the Sagrada Familia, but the problem was that there wasn't a short, easy, or quick route from there to places like the beach or some of the ramblas. I got there over the day and a half that I was there, but it was a lot of walking. I probably should have just gotten a train ticket, but walking around was a lot of fun.