'Travelling' as opposed to 'holidaying' certainly has plenty of ups and downs; especially with a seven year old, and especially on a budget....
Today we packed up the car in France, put on pretty dresses and nail-varnish and thought we could arrive at our hotel for around 2pm in order to casually stroll the streets of Barcelona looking and feeling great!
We drove four hours to Barcelona, and tried to find the 'hotel' which we booked on 'booking.com'...... after a couple of hours of not finding it, we parked up and tried looking on foot. Too many people told us it was an apartment, to be careful, that it would be hard to find... and sure enough, we did not find it. We gave up and spent another hour or so driving around asking hotels and hostels if they had 'una habitation libre?' Finally at 10pm (we set out at 10am) we found a hostel where we could share a single bed for 30Euro..... Parking is dodgy and I have to move the car before 8am or from what I can make out, it will be towed.... But at least we have a bed. Parking is so difficult in Barcelona, and we had such a rough day that I think we are both eager to get out of the city and head for Valencia area first thing in the morning. I tried to play it by ear last week in Bize, France, where even the camping was fully booked, and hotels were hard to find and had early check in limits... so we tried to book ahead..... This hasn't worked either; so maybe a combination of the two; so tomorrow we drive until we find somewhere nice, and find a hotel; but we start the search early so as to enjoy the day. We are determined not to repeat todays wild goose chase.
One final thought; travelling with a seven year old may seem difficult to some, but today when we were both a little stressed but extremely supportive of each other, I tried to picture various friends and ex partners in the passenger seat. Although another adult may have been practically helpful, I could not think of anyone I wouldn't have fallen out with in that situation. She really is my true travelling buddy :)
