Podcast solo spain trip intro. (Like if you want more )

Transcript

So last year around October time I decided to take a solo trip to Spain. I was starting Barcelona for five nights in a nice hotel and then I would drive down to Salou for the remaining 11 nights and stay in an apartment on the beach. So when I take the flight everything was fine.

I get off and it's 36 degrees heat like I was sweating my tits off. I had to try and find out where the hire car basically depot was to go and pick up my car. I should probably add at this moment I cannot speak a word of Spanish and I cannot understand a word of it or read anything as well.

Eventually I found my way to the hire car and I checked in and to my amazement they tell me they've given my car away. It turns out if you hire a car you have to turn up on time otherwise they just give it away. Well I learned something new that day.

I was not impressed. It turned out it was a very popular time and they only had two cars to choose from. Of course they were going to be ones that cost more money.

It ended up costing me an extra thousand euros to hire a car that I would literally be using for two days. One would be driving to the hotel and the second one would be driving from the hotel to Salou. I wasn't planning on driving around Barcelona or the town of Salou mainly because Spanish drivers are fucking crazy as anything.

But in a way. So I go in the car and I find out that my phone is also cut off. So I can't tell anyone that I made it to Spain okay.

It seems that because it's my work phone they basically shut it off because I didn't notify them I was going to a different country. So that's the first part. The second part is the sat-nav is in Spanish and I made my way back to ask if they could help me and they were too busy they basically just shut me down.

Which is pretty much annoying because I just gave them an extra thousand euros. So I try to figure it out without the use of Google which I'd probably usually go to on my mobile phone and I type in the hotel name it comes up and I'm pretty sure that's fine. So I get in the car I learn all the buttons and gizmos how it's gonna drive and try to remember that I have to drive on the other side of the road.

At first I was literally crapping myself being in a new country and also not knowing where I'm going hoping the sat-nav will guide me. And so I started on my journey and it said about 40 minutes away on the sat-nav. It didn't click to me right away that when I mentioned the hotel it says it's 15 minutes from the airport I just assumed that they just kind of blagged it a little bit to make it seem more appealing.

So anyway I'm driving on this, I get on this motorway, I'm driving along and I'm in the left-hand lane thinking that that's the right thing to do and I'm having lorries come up against me bibbing, I'm having people yell at me, wave at me, swear at me. At this point I was literally crapping myself. I was trying to gee myself up saying that it's gonna be okay Anthony, keep going.

I don't have a phone, I can't contact anyone, if I get done by the police etc I don't know any Spanish so I am pretty screwed. But all I kept thinking to myself was if I let this get to me I am literally just going to end up into curling into a ball and probably crying. So I sat there in the car squeezing the steering wheel tight, kept talking to myself, just literally motivating myself, Anthony you can do this come on, just keep going, it's gonna be fine, all will be okay.

And then it got to like 35 minutes in and the sat-nav was still saying there was over 30 minutes to go and now I was really freaking out because I was thinking to myself that I'd get to the hotel, I could try to sort out some internet service so I could basically contact someone, say I'm okay. But it turned out that the hotel I was staying at also has a second hotel in Spain with pretty much exactly the same name, well it looks like the same name in Spanish, so at this point I was really in the shit, I had no idea where I was, I didn't know where I was going, I was on a bypass that was doing a hundred and twenty kilometres an hour so I was getting places fast but I had no idea where I was going. And then I think to myself, okay so what I need is Wi-Fi effectively because I can't do anything else.

So the next port of call was let's find a truck stop or some kind of just cafe or something that has free Wi-Fi or at least Wi-Fi of some sort and thankfully after about 15 minutes there was signs up for a pit stop and I pulled in and it was almost like seeing the gates of heaven. I pulled up into the car park and there was a petrol station and I was thinking to myself, okay I can go to the petrol station, ask for directions or at least ask for help, hopefully someone can speak or understand English. And then I turn into the car park and there's this big coffee place, sell sandwiches and stuff like that for people that are stopping on the motorway and a big sign that says free Wi-Fi and I literally cannot tell you what joy I felt at that point because even now at this moment my eyes are getting a little bit watery because trust me I was so fucking like scared, I had no idea what I was doing.

And you know what, sometimes when you're in those situations you can get through it, you are really strong but as soon as you get through it or you literally just cave, it all tumbles down on you. Like I remember when I finally relaxed everything just come to me of how much I went through mentally and I knew that I slept for about 10 hours that night which I never sleep more than four. So anyway, back to the story.

I go into the place, I picked out a sandwich, some crisps and a drink, I sat down, I got my breath back together, I went on the Wi-Fi, contacted my family and said everything is okay, I just managed to go an hour out of the way of the hotel and my phone's been cut off so I need to try and get that sorted out. That's the big thing for me because if I don't have my phone then I pretty much have nothing. It's amazing how much we rely on our phones right? I don't think I can put my phone down now.

I wish that wasn't the case but it is. So I go on to the internet and go to Vodafone which is my network provider. I do a chat and ask them if they can unlock my phone because I'm in a foreign country, I don't have no mobile phone.

Tell you a lie, I did have a second one which was pay-as-you-go but they cut that off as well because it was after a certain time period which I always keep that phone for emergencies. Never really topped it up but anyway let's get back to the to the main story. I was speaking to someone in chat and constantly they were going, we're sending you a code please verify this code and constantly as a reply I was going how can I send you a code when I can't even access my phone and I mean how many times you have to say it to someone to actually get them to understand you cannot have the code if I can't access my phone.

I was very very close to literally swearing through a chat which I would never do but at this point I was meant to be at my hotel about 40 minutes ago which I truly wish I was at that point. I had people messaging me, finding out everything was okay and I literally just wanted to get this sorted so I'd get back in the car, drive back the same way I just came, a whole hour just to get into town towards where my hotel was. Thankfully it all got sorted out.

I spoke to my family and friends and stuff and updated some information. I had my phone, I went to satnav, I changed it to English now I had my phone I could go to Google and ask it how to do that and I just packed my car full of crisps, sweets, drink, everything. It was fully fully loaded just in case I literally just fucked something up but I get back on the motorway and things just seem to just start to go right.

I stayed in the right-hand lane this time, I kept my speed up and I was a little bit more relaxed so everything just kind of went better like when you're stressed and you're kind of anxious and stuff you go very slow, you're not very quick to react and your mind can literally just want to try and save yourself from losing your fucking shit but I get on the motorway and about 40 minutes in I start seeing the main center of Barcelona. I start driving in, again cars were bibbing me and getting angry because I had no idea where I was going and then there was this whole fiasco about parking like how do you park, where do you park? So I literally pulled up on the curb after finding the hotel because they don't have their own car parking space and I find there's a little parking garage just across the road from it but you have to have this special Low Emissions car that has this badge.

So it took me about half hour, well I'd say half hour but maybe 10 minutes I was exaggerating to find this badge to make sure I could go in this area and I pull up and I don't know where the entrance and exit is, there's no signs it's just there's just an entrance and exit and I don't know which one's which. There was two Spanish guys, one was sweeping up in this garage and the other one was just listening to his music and I assume he was a friend of the other guy and just basically there doing nothing. I could be completely wrong.

I get out and I speak to them, the guy who was sweeping was very kind, he understood me, he tried to help me and said that way. The other guy however was not helpful at all, he basically berated me for not knowing any Spanish and didn't want to help but thankfully for me the other guy did and he told me which way was the entrance so I drive in and there was a woman at the kiosk to get a ticket once I parked up and to my luck she was someone that was new and I basically purchased a ticket online and she didn't know how to do that so she had to phone her boss so I was waiting another 20 minutes for her to basically get that done. Thankfully it was all sorted out and I left my car there until I went back to drive to Salou.

As I walked out of the garage the guy was still sweeping and so was the friend next to him. I decided to repay the guy because you know he didn't have to help me so I walked up to him and gave him 50 euros. His face was quite a sight and his friend was quite interesting too.

I just said thank you even though he wouldn't like to accept it I just said please just take it. Honestly the gratitude is so much to have someone that can help me I know I'm in the wrong for not knowing any Spanish but I can't help that like I really did try for months up to that period my life is so busy and the information I have to take in every single day it's hard enough to add more things like Spanish words and a whole new language but I learned some parts but not really enough to to help me and to be honest throughout the whole trip there was like quite a few people that were very helpful and a lot of them did speak English as well but there was one or two that didn't and they were a little bit not aggressive but like agitated at certain points. I remember this one point as well I went to get sun lotion because my sister was like don't take English sun lotion go and get Spanish because it's better like it's it's stronger or whatever I don't know I just did as I was told and I went into this it's like pharmacies to get some sun lotion I walked in at this point like people were still wearing masks as well which is quite strange in certain areas and to get into the point I walked into the pharmacy and the guy literally jumped up off his seat and he was shouting at me pretty much to get out of the pharmacy and I was like okay I have no idea what I've done and then he comes out and he basically points out the fact that I need to wear a mask and I was trying to to basically understand it because obviously I know that the rules had changed pretty much everywhere else and he explained to me that because he's a pharmacy some people go in there that are ill so it's advised that if you go to a hospital or GP or pharmacy etc to wear a mask because people could be ill they could have COVID etc and you might catch it and you might have COVID as well so it helps in that way too which I understood it's fine so that was all good but anyway back to the point of after the garage I walked into the hotel the hotel was truly stunning by the way like the floor was full on marble they had marble pillars it was literally all sparkly bang then there was artwork everywhere so beautiful and modern and I basically my room I had a balcony like at the very top so the view was truly stunning as well and I couldn't really have picked a better time to be honest like the weather was incredible everyone kept saying it's like it's a freak to have the weather that nice at that time of year so I go into the woman at the checkout or check-in rather and one of them doesn't speak English so she passed me on to someone else I have to pay my 1500 euros and I get my key card I get in the lift I go up to the fourth floor and I find my room I check in and I'm gonna sound stupid now but this is like a new thing for me so I get into the room and I'm like pressing the light switches and nothing's coming on and I have no idea what's going on why is nothing working no TV no power so I'm like whatsapping my friends and stuff and one of them was like you do realize that the key card you're given is the electric and I was like what do you mean I'm looking around I see beside the door there's like a card holder slot so I walk over and just put the card in and it clicks and then everything just comes on all the lights come on the TV comes on everything and I'm just at that point thinking to myself damn I'm really stupid because usually I pick up on pretty much everything but also relieved that I now have power and everything is hopefully just going right so I spend the next hour just literally looking around the room looking at the bathroom all the marble tile and humongous shower with waterfall showerhead by the way which for everyone that uses or has used a waterfall showerhead they know it is truly amazing experience in comparison to the normal electric or just standard mixture shower and it was massive as well the bathroom was ginormous the shower gels and shampoos and stuff was neatly arranged the soap was neatly arranged towels were completely folded up nicely I looked in the wardrobe there was a safe a kettle complimentary chocolates and sweets and drinks obviously there was a mini mini bar fridge and all that stuff as well so I had a bedroom a balcony a bathroom and a living area living room kind of place and I remember I sat on the bed and laid down just looking up to the ceiling and also looking out the view of the balcony thinking to myself I can't believe I'm here I can't believe I come on this trip my own the last time I did a trip on my own was in my early 20s and it was only literally a flight on my own I was flying to Canada to visit my brother that's now lived in Canada for about 14 years and that was that was a surreal experience but this was just completely on my own I didn't know anyone I didn't know the language I didn't know what I was gonna do and I remember at that point I laid there and I was thinking that exact thing what am I gonna do I don't know anyone like what is there to do and I wasn't so sure but obviously I have dating apps like Bumble, Tinder and all that stuff I wasn't sure that they would literally just switch over to whatever country you're in and be in travel mode or whatever and I remember I was laying there and I was thinking to myself okay so I'm gonna have some food I'm gonna have should I have some room service and by the way let me just say this hotel's food was incredible I had room service pretty much every day whether it was lunch, dinner or just a midnight snack as well because the menu was insane but anyway Bumble came up and there was this woman and she clicked yes and to be honest I was a little bit surprised because she was truly truly stunning I mean she's technically an Instagram model but she was so beautiful and I had no reason to believe why on earth she would swipe right on me but you know at this point I really couldn't care like I was talking to my friends at home I'd rather talk to someone that at least is local maybe they could give me some tips advice like where to go or to see I already had ideas I wanted to go to like the Cathedral and the Gaudi house and all that stuff I love architecture and the beach obviously beach is one of my favorite places coming from Brighton I love where I live seaside so yeah I start speaking to her and I think we only speak for about 30 minutes to an hour and she's like let's meet up like you're pretty local etc and in my mind I was thinking to myself should I?

what if she's not who she says she is what if she's a mass murderer or something like that I'm in a country I have no idea what goes on but you know what I was just I was a little bit tired such a stressful day getting there and stuff I thought you know what fuck it why not I made sure we met someone pub somewhere public by the way there was a park I will not try to pronounce the name of it because I will get it completely wrong and offend so many people but basically it's the park where Barcelona Zoo is situated and it was dark as well obviously I used Google to find it and when I was messaging her we traded numbers like to WhatsApp and she kept saying come and meet me here even though I said let's meet in the park where it's open she wants to meet like food truck or something like that and I was just adamant I wasn't gonna do it because yes I'm a man but you know being in certain situations being in a place where you don't know anything I mean you could be held up with a knife a gun I just don't know to be honest it dreads thinking about especially at that point but anyway after about 20 minutes of her moaning she eventually did come into the park and I couldn't believe it she actually was exactly like her picture she was beautiful and she had this really sweet voice as well like it was it was just sweet it was cute to listen to so basically walk around this park and this park had so many beautiful features like statues wooden like carvings of like a mammoth and they also had this I don't know what they call it but it's like there's this waterfall and this like massive kind of I don't know what to call it like there's steps that go up to it it's almost like a stage kind of like area but it at night it's all lit up and it was so beautiful the waterfall tripping over and we walked to it I took some pictures and filmed it kind of thing and then we sat on the bench by this like little lake bit where people would row boats together and all this stuff I remember her face there was a bat that flew past and she literally freaked out I can still remember her face so clearly right now but we sat on this bench and we literally talked for probably at least two hours all random stuff like our dating history she was actually Swedish and she didn't speak that much Spanish either which was quite interesting it was good in a way because her English was very good but it was also bad because I was hoping that I could meet someone that could help me around in the town like knowing what to say and stuff but hey sorry that did not happen but anyway back to the point we was on the bench talking for two or three hours and it got really late it was 1 2 o'clock in the morning and she pretty much implied and said straight away I'm getting cold and I was like okay like should I walk you home and she was like no how about I come back to your hotel and listen I'm not someone that would literally just meet someone and take them home etc that's not me I don't have one-night stands contrary to what people might think because of my stories and and all them other bits but basically this is gonna sound really bad like I struggled to say no anyway but in my mind I was questioning who she actually is it's gonna sound terrible when I get to the point of what I thought but basically I said okay there was different points of what she was saying that she lives with people and all these different things and she's hungry and it was late so most places are closed but um room service would be open so we walked back to my hotel which is thankfully only like 5-10 minutes away from the park and here in and I think it must look like a mismatch anyway because like I said before she was really beautiful and we walk in God knows what the people on the check-in and the stuff for the fact that I literally turn up one day in a.