Barcelona - Hello Blog

I thought it was about time I started a blog of some sort but I was especially inspired to write about my recent travels. Before this year I had never travelled alone, and I got to a point I just needed to get away from the daily grind.

Earlier this year I eventually found a chillout holiday and booked a week in Lanzarote on a whim. I had a lovely time and enjoyed the unusual landscape, of course the sun, and friendly locals and expats. This break gave me a lot of peace and I felt great! On returning to London I had real post-holiday blues which were hard to shake.

I was so busy after that I almost forgot that I also had a salsa holiday booked in September.

I threw myself into work for a bit and then before I knew it September was here!!

As a somewhat high maintenance lady I start my holiday shopping about 2 weeks before any trip. This in itself got me excited about going to Spain again and the pictures and blurbs online could not have prepared me for the amazing experience I had. I did not think I was really into architecture but I loved the architecture there, so much history, I wanted to know more about the old neighbourhoods I walked in, I absolutely loved Gaudi's buildings... as I'm sure the hordes of other tourists who flock there did.

I have been salsa dancing for 3 years and now dancing has become one of my top passions in life. I searched for a salsa holiday ages ago and found only one company in the UK who seem to specialise in dance holidays. I booked a weekend of Salsa dancing in Barcelona and for me this is quite an adventurous thing to do as I was again going on my own and is quite a specialist holiday, so I was thinking I hope I can keep up - the itinerary looked jam packed!

I tried to read up on my destination beforehand and went into Stanfords travel bookshop in Covent Garden on a rainy night after work. Browsing this shop always makes me dream of going everywhere. I love shopping in general but they sell all these lovely accessories, like travel notebooks and the best range of travel guides I have found.

I am going to be filling up this blog as I came back from Barcelona positively brimming with glee. I was a bit weary of pickpockets as it seemed a heavy theme in all the guides I read. Luckily it didn't happen to me. I enjoyed this weekender so much. I have probably been driving everyone mad by going on about it so much! I am so happy right now. I felt that Barcelona had everything to cater for all my tastes, I love food and the food was GREAT, the music and salsa were great, I am learning Spanish and found the people so heart warmingly friendly. Yes, everwhere I went, people just smile at me, and say Hola, and they look like they mean it. When I got back to London I couldn't help but miss this city.

I recently bought a new camera, a snazzy looking Lumix, and tested it out in full on my trip. I enjoyed taking pictures and wanted to capture everything. There is something about wondering round a new city/country that is just so liberating. I loved travelling alone and cannot wait to do it again. It was good to get away from the usual and be a tourist for a few days. I took about 400 pictures. My poor old Mac is having trouble processing all this huge photo files, so I am going to look for somewhere I can print or edit them all. I love looking at my holiday pictures, lol. I see them looking good on a huge poster or one of those posh coffee table tombs..

to be continued..