You've got a friend in Me(d) - Pre-trip *updated 22/8*

[Scruffette]

With a week to go, I thought I’d share our daily plans. Like most dibbers, I love a plan! However, as always there is some flexibility. Where possible, I’ve tried to book attractions in advance to help with budgeting and to avoid standing in long queues in the August heat.

Daily plans

Day 1 – Travel to Salou, Chill day

We have an early flight today at 6.30am, so we are aiming to be parking the car at 4am, ready to be at bag drop 2 hours before the flight. We booked airport parking with JetParks when they had 10% off a couple of months ago (although they seem to offer this most of the time!). We’ve always got taxis/public transport in the past, but this was a really good price at around £30. We’ve booked the ringway as it was slightly cheaper than the main one. (On a side note, if you’re travelling in rush hour, the amount of time it must take the buses to get through the traffic to Jet Parks 3 and + is ridiculous).

We’re only planning on getting to the airport 2 hours before, so not sure what we’ll have time for breakfast wise.

I will do what I do best on the plane and nap. (If you’ve read any of our other reports, you’ll know I can fall asleep anywhere…. Great Movie Ride, Voyage of Sinbad stunt show, Terminator to name a few…)

Once we land (around 10.05am local time) we’ll get a bus to Salou and check into our hotel. The day will be spent relaxing. Yes you read that right – a relaxing part to the holiday! I think we’ll need it after the early start.

Now, I’m not sure if Salou is quite my cup of tea. In my head I have visions of it being full of Brits who do nothing but lie on the beach for two weeks getting sun burnt and drunk. The only reason we’re visiting Salou is for Port Aventura. However, I’m going with an open mind and am hoping to be proved wrong about Salou!

We’ve looked on Tripadvisor to find some restaurant suggestions for lunch – we do this a lot in Europe and we’ve found some gems we never would have eaten at before. We will dodge all the restaurants that advertise ‘real British food’ proudly – if I’m in Spain I want vaguely Spanish food please!

Dinner is included in our hotel stay. The reviews seem reasonable and apparently house wine is 1,30euro a glass. All this will be f`ollowed by an early night!

Day 2 – Port Aventura

It will be a bright and early start this morning. We’ll eat breakfast at the hotel (meat and cheese filled croissants makes up my European holiday breakfast staple).

Then it’s onto the bus to Port Aventura to get there for opening. We’ve pre-bought our two day tickets from Attraction tickets direct for £35 and have them to print at home.

Ollie’s been here twice before, so I’ll be following his guide on which rides to head to first. I will be avoiding anything particularly scary looking with any loops. Like this…



Or this



Lunch will be fast-foody in the park, and dinner again at the hotel.

Day 3 – Port Aventura and travel to Barcelona

The day will start out like yesterday - breakfast, park, rides.



Late afternoon we’ll head back to the hotel to pick up our things and get the train to Barcelona. We’ve booked these in advance for 8,8euros each and get in a 7.35 pm.

Here we’ll probably use the metro (buying the T10 cards I think works out most economical) and check into Hotel Gaudi.
For dinner, we’ve picked out a few options on trip advisor that are all fairly nearby to the hotel.

Day 4 – Barcelona

Today is an action packed day – with only one day in Barcelona we want to see as much as possible!

I visited Barcelona on a school trip just over 10 years ago and Ollie has never visited, so we’re fitting a lot in.

After stocking up at breakfast (included in our hotel), we will make our way via metro to Sagrada Familia. We’ve pre-booked tickets for 9.30am including going up one of the towers and audioguide (29 euros each). We didn’t know which one to pick and saw recommendations for both, but picked Nativity in the end because it faces the sea (I think!).



After the Sagrada Familia, we’ll get the metro and then walk to park Guell, where we’ve also pre-booked tickets (7€ each). I visited 10 years ago and remember it being pretty. This was back in the days when you didn’t need tickets, but hopefully with the ticketing system it won’t be too busy.

After Parc Guell, we just want to see as many of the significant architectural buildings as possible, but we’re quite happy seeing them from the outside. We also want to check out La Boqueria market near Las Ramblas.

We’re using the metro for a lot of our travelling around. It seems fairly straight forward and we can buy a 10 journey pass that we can both use.

For dinner, we’ve looked on trip advisor to find some recommendations and will hopefully eat at one of these.
If we’re still awake, we’ll watch the magic fountain of Montjuïc in the evening.