I was back at the Frankfurt Airport the following morning and things were looking good. The ground was covered in snow but the sun was shining, I had the entire row to myself on the plane and we were actually pulling away from the gate 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Hold that thought! What’s that you say? The air traffic controllers in France have decided to go on strike? And we’ll need to fly AROUND France? Let’s think about this for a minute….
Yep. Dumb.
Anyway, it worked out quite nicely as my dear friend and colleague, Mandy, landed shortly after I did due to the delay and we were able to meet up at the airport. Unfortunately, Mandy is notorious for her luggage never making it to its destination and wouldn’t you know it, this was no exception. There we were trying to explain to the “Lost Luggage Squad” how imperative it was that this luggage be located immediately as EVERYTHING for our upcoming program was in those two bags….including all of Mandy’s clothes. “They are both very large, bright colored bags with polka dots all over them. You can’t miss it.” Luggage Lady – “Pokemon?”
Well, there was nothing else we could do so off we went to our fabulous hotel – The Hotel Arts by the Ritz Carlton. By far one of the greatest hotels ever – swanky yet comfortable. My room was on the 27th floor with a view of the Mediterranean Sea to my right and a view of the city to my left. I was lovin’ it!
Snap back to reality – I was here to work. Our first priority – FIND MANDY’S LUGGAGE. We couldn’t really do a darn thing without the materials in that bag unless we just started over. Which is pretty much what we did. Two years ago this might have really thrown us for a loop but this wasn’t Mandy’s first rodeo with losing her luggage on a program so we took a deep breath and got going. One late night in the business center was all it took and we were ready to rock and roll for the next day. She borrowed some clothes and makeup and no one even knew of our little “situation.” (Except for the concierge, of course, as we were harassing them to follow up with the peeps at the airport about every hour or so.)
Fortunately, her bag was found that afternoon and we soon learned she was one of the lucky ones. As it turned out, due to storms throughout Europe and the strike going on in France, luggage was being sent all over the place. Thousands of people lost their bags and they never did get them back. Can you imagine?
I’ll skip all of the boring details of the program – just know that it went really well and the clients were super happy with how things turned out. We almost felt guilty because we knew the rest of the girls with DFF were going through hell in New Orleans with a 3,000 person program. And there we were with our 65 people who were, for the most part, low maintenance. And it sure didn’t hurt that we were in Barcelona at such an amazing hotel.
Here’s a fun story for you. So there I am sitting at the Hospitality Desk checking attendees in when Mandy informs me she just ran into Kelly Clarkson in the lobby. My first reaction was: “OMG!!! Kelly Clarkson is in our hotel. How cool is that?!” And after second thought my reaction was “OMG!!! Kelly Clarkson is in our hotel and I’m wearing a coral sweater set from Land’s End (our “uniform” for the day) and a stupid name badge lookin’ like an idiot. Not cool.” We learned the following day that Michael Bolton was also staying there. This is when I realized our Land’s End sweater sets needed to be retired….immediately. Sorry DFF, but they do.
Anyhoo, the meeting ended Sunday afternoon and Mandy and I hopped in a cab to head over to La Rambla to do some shopping and exploring. Such a neat area! We learned from another die hard Dallas Cowboys fan that the playoff game against the Vikings was going to be shown at a little pub at 7:00. Mandy and I were pretty much the only women in this smoke filled bar….and also the only people in there that understood American football. If something big happened, the table in front of us would just chant “USA! USA! USA!” Good try boys, but they are both from the USA; this isn’t soccer. Oh, sorry – futbol. We did make friends with some Vikings fans that showed up later and it was fun talking trash….until the Cowboys got embarrassed and it was less fun.
The following day was again rainy but that didn’t stop us from doing a sightseeing tour all day. The minute it quit raining, we were on the top of that double-decker bus taking it all in. Mandy jacked some towels from the hotel before we left so we were the only ones up there with dry bums. It was cold but so worth it. My favorite part was the Park Guell. It was a hike to the top of the hill and we trudged through some serious mud but again, so worth it. We actually ran into the couple from the night before (the Vikings fans) and learned they were on their Babymoon; one last hoorah before they have their baby in a couple of months. All in all, a successful day. But I definitely want to go back. There’s more still to see.
We finished the night off with room service and a glass of cava before crashing. Mandy left the following morning and it was just me. My original plan was to depart that afternoon back to Germany then leave the following morning for Rome. Unfortunately my flight to Rome was booked before my flight to Barcelona and we didn’t realize at the time what a stupid idea this was. No worries, we were able to change flights around and I ended up staying an extra day in Barcelona then went straight to Rome the next morning.
Barcelona – I will be back! Until then, ADIOS! Vaya con dios mis amigos!
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