Spain solo trip: Day 4 Lost in Barcelona

What better way to end a trip to Spain with a visit to my favourite city again, Barcelona?

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How I got to Barcelona from Loret De Mar

I took the bus from the main bus terminal in Loret De Mar and purchased my ticket on the day at the bus station. It was a direct service where I had to pick time slots to travel to and from the city and was also was given designated seat numbers. The lady behind the counter explained that it was important that I stuck to my seats and times as it was a busy bus service.

The journey took around one hour and cost €10.90 for a return ticket.

Completely lost with no GPS, I wanted to cry

I arrived at The Barcelona Nord Bus Station to find I couldn’t get a GPS signal on Google maps. Before I knew it, almost an hour of my 6 hours had passed and I was still no closer to resolving the issue. You can only imagine my frustration, so I decided to walk whilst keeping it on in the hope of it picking up my location.

Hooray! It worked well, for all of two minutes, and after I had walked well away from the bus station, I was completely lost!

At this point, I felt so anxious and my mind was so clogged in panic mode that for the next few minutes, the vulnerable child-like part of me took over and I wanted to cry. But then, as always, the more mature and wise part of me shows up to reassure and nourish that vulnerable side of me, and then I was fine.

Letting go of resistance

I often have little moments of feeling anxious when travelling solo. I don’t see them as a bad thing, but rather a chance for personal development, growth, and confidence. In these moments, I have to take a break and think about what my path of least resistance will be. It usually involves stopping for a coffee.

Once I’m calm, my mind becomes unclogged and I’m able to think more logically and find solutions. My conclusion here was that, since I knew the name of the station to get back to, it wasn’t really being lost and I could always maybe get a bus or uber back to the station.

I came out of the coffee shop with the intention of making an adventure out of being lost.

Once the resistance was gone, everything started to fall into place.

Here’s what happened:

I found Basílica de la Sagrada Família

First of all, I came out of the coffee shop and walked whilst enjoying the view. In the distance, I could see the top of a spiked building. As I got closer I realised it was the Basílica de la Sagrada Família.

I didn’t get to go inside since I was limited for time, but I was so excited to see it since I’d never seen it before.

I started to see buses that would take me back to Nord Bus Station

Whilst enjoying my stroll around the city, buses started to appear with Nord Bus Station highlighted on the front. The place I needed to go back to to catch my bus.

Not only this, I started to see several buses with Lorer De Mar highlighted on the front. The place where my hotel was where I was staying.

The truth is, I reckon many of them had gone past me, but in my clogged up state of mind, I wasn’t able to see the apples for the trees.

Google maps started working again

I just happened to try Google Maps in a final attempt and noticed I had automatically been signed out of my Google account and needed to sign back in. I am not sure why this happened. It has never happened before.

Free to roam and find all the places of interest

Now Google Maps is working again. I was able to find the places I wanted to visit. This meant I could revisit the Gothic Quarter.

Last time I was here, I remember feeling mesmerised by this medeival quaint neighbourhood. I had been hoping to revist again on this day. I’m so glad I got to visit again, but after spending around half an hour here, I decided I had actually enjoyed being lost, so I turned off Google Maps and went back to wondering freely.

I couldn’t really tell you where I ended up roaming, but it was so nice to wonder so freely in this beautiful city, and being lost in Barcelona ended up being my favourite part of my entire trip.

Unfortunately, my phone’s battery was low, so I couldn’t take pictures of my adventures, but I can confirm that this is an incredible place to get lost in.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my solo trip to Spain.

Thanks for reading

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Jul 19

Spain solo trip: Day 3 Tossa De Mar, a beautiful medieval town

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Day 3 of my trip was spent in the beautiful medieval town of Tossa De Mar.

Tossa de Mar’s location

Tossa De Mar is located on the coast of the Costa Brava and sits around 103 kilometres from Barcelona and only around 100 kilometres from the French border.

The beautiful town is filled with cobbled streets and is constructed around an incredibly ancient castle. Besides this, the town is surrounded by mountains and beautiful green valleys, which adds to its beauty.

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A bit about the history of Tossa De Mar

It is filled with a beautiful network of medieval paths, passageways with embedded shops and restaurants, as well as ancient houses.

This part of the old town is known as Villa Vella.

How I got here from Lloret De Mar

I took the bus from the main bus station in Lloret De Mar. The journey took around 40 minutes, and it cost €8.20 for a return ticket.

On arrival in Tossa de Mar

I strolled through the beautiful, quaint streets and did a spot of shopping until I reached one of the towers and started the elevated walk.

From here, I walked along the castle walls.

Tossa De Mar Lighthouse

After walking along the castle walls, I made my way up to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was built in 1917 and sits at the highest point of Tossa de Mar. It is the headquarters for the Maritime Museum, where people can learn all about the evolution of lighthouses in the Mediterranean Sea.

The views approaching the lighthouse are stunning!

After the lighthouse visit, I made my way back down towards the beach, where I ate at a lovely beachfront restaurant called Da Giovanni. I would highly recommend it. It is very reasonably priced and has nice, friendly staff.

I spent the perfect end to my day trip with an hour at the beach overlooking the castle.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog today.

Thanks for visiting

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Jul 06

Spain solo trip: Day 2 Lloret De Mar

Comments 15

Lloret De Mar is a former fishing town on the Costa Brava in Spain’s Catalonia region. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Costa Brava. I could clearly see why as I walked around and discovered the area myself.

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It boasts a stunning, lively stretch of beach lined with bars along its promenade, along with hidden beach spots and rocky coves.

As I wandered around the colourful streets in the early morning, I got the feeling this place could become pretty lively. In fact, I had read this was a place of a vibrant nightlife where places to drink are open 24/7 between the months of May and September.

I’m not really one for going out when I travel, (nor at home tbh) so I can’t tell you about all about the bars and clubs, but I can tell you I did see several pretty cool looking ones, from the outside, of course 😉. As well as this, there are plenty of restaurants, coffee shops , supermarkets and shops to wander around in.

Although I was staying in Lloret De Mar, I only got to explore here for one day because I had plans to travel to other places. Therefore, I didn’t really get to explore as much as I had initially hoped.

After wandering around the shops, I began to look for The Parish Church Of Sant Romà, which conveniently for me, was around a 5 minute walk from where I was in the centre.

The Parish Church Of Sant Romà (Iglesia de San Román de Lloret)

After a few missed turns I eventually come to the Church Of Sant Romà, the patron Saint of Lloret De Mar.

The church has two very different types of architecture. The forefront part is in the Gothic style and was built around the years of 1509 and 1522. While the other part is strikingly colourful and influenced by the Catalan modernisation movement which started in development at the end of the 19th century.

How beautiful is the architecture? Unfortunately, I didn’t get to visit inside because I arrived just as it was closing.

If you would like to know more about this place, visit it here.

D’en Plaja Castle

After a visit to the church, I took a stroll along the beach and went to D’en Plaja Castle.

The hilltop Castle is located at the end of Sa Caleta beach and is one of Loret De Mar’s best features.

It’s not a castle!

I never knew this at the time, but since returning home and researching a little more about the castle, I learnt that it wasn’t a castle at all, but a summer home. The home was constructed in 1935 by Girona industrial magnate Narcís Plaja, and an architect named Isidor Bosch.

It apparently caused a fair bit of controversy amongst the locals at first, but has since become one of Lloret De Mar’s favourite features.

The most beautiful coastal views

Once past the Castle, there is a foot path I walked along that took me to the most scenic coastal line views!

The further I walked along the path, the fewer people I came across until I came to a perfect beauty spot to just sit in the stillness and enjoy all the surrounding areas. It was just pure bliss!

The best part about it was it was completely unexpected. I only found it through curiosity, as I wondered what was beyond.

The trail goes all the way to a beautiful town called Tossa De Mar, though it is a 12-km walk, so it would take a few hours. It is said to be an incredibly magical walk that I would have loved to have done had I known. I did, however, visit Tossa De Mar by bus, which I will share with you in a later post.

Thank you for visiting my blog today, its much appreciated.

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Jun 29

Spain solo trip: Loret De Mar Day 1: Arrival & Travel challenges

Comments 18

Hi everyone! Hope your all having a great start to the week. It’s been a little while since I wrote to tell you I plucked up the courage to travel abroad again but, I’ve finally got around to writing the blogs. 🙌🏾

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I was all excited about my trip, that was until the day before, when I started to find fault with everything.

Vaccination proof

Although being fully vaccinated wasn’t required at the time of my trip, I had gone and got a booster so I could travel freely without having to list the location of where I was staying, then be possibly called at any point in time of my stay to take tests. However, I had noticed that night that the NHS had me listed at my old address. I wasn’t sure if when my covid passport was scanned, it would show my address, and if so, if this would be a problem.

I decided I would just have to call the NHS service in the morning and find out if it was going to be a problem. If so, I figured I would just have to go through reluctantly as unvaccinated.

I managed to ring NHS customer services whilst at the airport. I was told the scanned documents might be okay. Not exactly the best reassuring words are they?

Holiday insurance not validated

As if discovering the issues of my vaccination wasn’t enough, I found out I would be travelling on invalid holiday insurance and this wasn’t anything I could fix. 🤦🏽‍♀️

As I read through my insurance policy, it prompted me to ring my new doctors, where I had just recently registered two weeks prior. The receptionist informed me that my registration was still in the process stage, which meant I was not a registered patient yet. And with an hour to go until closing time and a full surgery of patients, this was highly unlikely to happen today. Therefore, not being registered with a doctor invalidated my insurance!

Train cancellation

As I arrived at the train station, I discovered my train had been cancelled. It was a Sunday, so the next train available wasn’t until another hour! Having been advised to get there at least an hour and a half early, this would make me arrive just half an hour before, which panicked me a little. So instead, I decided to purchase a ticket and take a tram to the airport, then I discovered this was going to take more than an hour and I would arrive later than the train!🙄

Travel money card blocked

A few days before travelling, I got myself a travel money card. When I travel, I always take my debit card, some exchanged currency in cash and a travel card for extra precaution. Did you ever read what happened on my trip to Salou? I’ve learnt since my rookie travel days. Well, clearly I haven’t, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog ha.

I think I may have caused my card to block. I was supposed to activate my card at 10am on the morning of my travel day, but me being me, tried to do it before and blocked the card! I rang customer services from the airport and they unblocked it for me and gave me a new pin, but it still appeared to be blocked.

I tried to use the card on the plane but it wouldn’t work. Then again, when I arrived in Spain at my hotel, it wouldn’t work. Also, I was blocked on the card App. Therefore, I couldn’t rectify anything.

Great! Now I had no backup card, I thought.

Everything is always working out if you release resistance

One of the things that keeps showing up in my life, is that everything is always working out, no matter what the situation is…… Here’s what happened when I gave in to all the resistance throughout this travel day.

2. When I realised I was going to be late for boarding I jumped off the tram and took a taxi and arrived exactly an hour and a half early (the time required to get there).

3. On arrival in Spain, the lady took one look at my covid passport and allowed me to walk through and nothing was scanned.

4. Whilst I was blocked on the card app and couldn’t use the card to pay with, I discovered I could withdraw cash from it.

5. As for travel insurance, well, I still travelled with invalid travel insurance and a blessing to me, I didn’t need it, because everything worked out.

Arrival

After, let’s call it an eventful day, I finally reached my hotel at around 6pm. I stayed at the bluesea Montevista Hawaii , a 3 star cheap hotel which provided great value for money…. I honestly don’t like to spend much money on hotels, especially since I’m never in them.

My entire 4 night trip cost me £164 at onthebeach.com, this included flights, transfers and hotel. And get this, the hotel was All-inclusive. 🤣

As I arrived at 6pm, there wasn’t that much for me to do other than take a shower and try out the hotel’s buffet-style restaurant, which was great with a good selection of food and drinks. Not long after this, after an episode of Good girls,I was ready to sleep and that was the end to my first night.

Thank you for visiting my blog today, I hope you enjoyed reading.

Stay Blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Jun 11

I finally plucked up the courage to travel abroad!

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As much as I have been enjoying travelling and exploring the UK, like many people, I had been hoping for the return of the travel industry to open again.

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Location

Everything felt a little overwhelming

I knew from the end of last year this would be the year when I returned to continue my dreams of traveling the world. I began to look for a small trip to book last year for this year. However, with all the uncertainties, everything felt so overwhelming so I didn’t end up booking anything. Instead, I decided to wait until I felt confident enough.

I felt a strong impulse

It was the beginning of May and I had a few days off work coming up and I just felt a strong impulse to book a flight to somewhere. I took this as a sign of being ready to fly again. Within 8 days of booking, I was on a flight to Spain.

I look forward to sharing my solo travel adventures in my next blog.

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Dec 19

Spain Hotel details: Salou

A Day In Tarragona/ Catalonia, Spain

Comments 15

Tarragona is a port city situated in north-east Spain on the Costa Daurada Although, it only sits 100 km to the south of Barcelona, It is by far less known. It’s full of well-preserved medieval and roman charms and is listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO.

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The majority of tourists visit Barcelona and the more popular locations such as Madrid, Seville and Valencia. It’s surprising how many people have never heard of Tarragona here in the UK, especially since it is located only 11 km from Salou, the hugely popular British tourist destination.

Now I have to admit, I had never heard of it myself until I was searching for a city to visit on my 6th day in Salou. I come across it on trip advisor and was completely blown away by the pictures and reviews.

That morning I made the 15- 20 minute journey by bus for €2.50, I was so delighted I did! It was full of wonders!

I got off the bus at Tarragona bus station, google maps directed me to turn right and to walk straight ahead.

After 5 minutes of walking, I arrived at the beautiful port.

I was then lead slightly to the left off the port to this bridge.

I could see the views of the Amphitheatre as I walked further along the bridge.

Tarragona Roman Amphitheatre

This Roman amphitheatre built approximately in the 2nd century sits on the coast just of Rambla Nova. Initially, it was used for battles of the gladiators and fighting and hunting of animals. Later on, it was used for undertaking executions of people who were sentenced to death.

Circ Roma

Directly across the road from the amphitheatre was the Circ Roma (Roman Circus). Circ Roma is the underground open-air ruins of the 1st century where horses and buggy racing took place.

Admission is €3.30, free for children under the age of 16 years. €1.70 for groups of over 25 people, pensioners, students and one parent families.

Inside is spectacular! Full of dark underground tunnels. I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked but here are a few.

I made my way up the building, stopping to admire the contents inside until I reached the rooftop. The views from the rooftop were stunning!!

A 10-minute walk from here is the Roman walls and the cathedral.

The Cathedral

The cathedral is a Roman Catholic Church from the late 11th century and was declared a monument in 1905. The architecture inside is truly astonishing!

More wandering

I found a little people square surrounded by shops and cafes where I stopped to refuel. It was the perfect place for people watching and taking in a bit of the culture, as many locals seemed to be here with their dogs.

After here I wandered into the centre and browsed through the shops, whilst also wandering down the side streets.

I was entirely fascinated by this little cosmopolitan city, it completely took me by surprise! There were lots of little hidden gems everywhere! I could go on and on but then this blog would be far too long. I would highly recommend visiting this place, it’s especially worth visiting if you’re in Salou, Barcelona or any of the other nearby destinations.

Thanks for reading 😉

Nov 29

Salou, Spain: Part 3

Comments 4

My trip to Salou has been far by the most challenging up to date. You can read more about this in my blog Nightmare in Salou part 1 and part 2 nonetheless, I still managed to make the most of the few days where no dilemmas transpired.

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Salou is located in Costa Dorado in the Catalonia region of Spain and is the most popular in Costa Dorado. It has two main beaches Playa Ponent which is the biggest of the two is a sandy beach along Catalonia with a wide variety of cafes and restaurants. The other is Playa Llevant which sports a gym, volleyball and children’s play area. Both beaches offer a number of water sports activities.

Spain’s top theme park PortAventura is just next door, as well as a number of golf courses and a world-class water park.

Salou sets a vibrant pace for nightlife offering a number of bars, clubs and restaurants. And those who want a change of scenery Barcelona is only 90 minutes away via train. Then there’s Tarragona, a city declared a world heritage city by UNESCO in 2000.

This is a tremendous family destination with something for everyone of all generations. But, just how did I spend my time here as a solo traveller?

Day 3

It’s the third day in and the first day I’m actually able to enjoy the holiday. I don’t really have a plan other than to explore the local area.

It’s around 12 noon by the time I leave my apartment. I’m staying at the Salou Pacific Apartments in a self-contained apartment. I would definitely recommend these apartments for low budget travellers.

The sun is beaming down on me from the moment I step outside. It was beautiful! just what I needed! I walked and walked just taking in the scenery. It was definitely that typical British tourist destination. Don’t think I have ever been to a holiday destination surrounded by so many British accents. That being said, it felt rather comforting after everything I’d been through.

It wasn’t long before my stroll brought me here.

It’s was so beautiful and seemed like an endless abundance of palm trees, waterfalls and monuments.

Cambrils

My roaming walk brought me to the small town of Cambrils.

Cambrils is a coastal town, a quieter alternative to its more full-on neighbour, the resort of Salou. It is more low key and is regarded as a foodie place due to its wonderful seafood restaurants and local ingredients.

I enjoyed the quieter beach, the harbour, strolling through the back streets, a fine bite to eat at Denver Restaurant (highly recommend) before heading back to Salou.

On my back through Salou, I come across some interesting architecture but one that struck me the most was the stunning Xalet Bonet.

This wonderful private home was built by Ciriac Bonet in 1918. The architect for the piece was Domenec Sugranyes I Gras disciple and colleague of Antoni Gaudi.

The house is not open to the public but, it is extraordinary just to admire, even if it only from the exterior.

Day 4

This day consisted of more exploring locally around Salou.

Again there were no plans, I just wondered around. This time my wanders took me to Parque Municipal de Salou, a beautiful quiet park in the centre of Salou.

It was such a quiet, relaxing place with only the sounds of the waterfalls and birds twittering away. The ponds had small fish and I’m pretty sure I saw tiny turtles (I think)

The park also had a cafe, a small child’s play area and an outdoor gym, which was pretty cool.

After here arrived at the beach. I walked pretty much the whole way around admiring all the beach bars restaurants, and the beauty of the sea.

On the way back to the hotel I opted to walk on the street that runs parallel to the beach to avoid the crowds. This meant I was walking up the steep streets, which was rather exhausting after a while. Just a few steps ahead was a sign that read Koko Beah Bar, in need of rest I was grateful to see this. I really needed to sit down, my legs were like jelly, I’d been wandering around for so long.

To my surprise, they had the most remarkable terrace with the most incredible views over the sea.

If I hadn’t of wandered down this street I would have never found this place. I was so delighted to have come across it! Not only was it a great place for relaxation and to watch the sunset. It served a great selection of drinks, cocktails and delicious gourmet dishes all at reasonable prices, given it’s the location.

My time in Salou was mostly spent relaxing on the beach. It was a trip with quite a whirlwind of events and emotions, so I needed a lot of time to recharge. Having said that, I did, in fact, make the journey to Tarragona whilst here. Tarragona is an extraordinary place which deserves a blog of its own. I’m super excited to share the place with you, so I will be doing a write-up on this Shortly.

Thanks for reading 😁

Nov 05

My Nightmare in Salou, Spain Part 2

Comments 6

Hi all!! Welcome back!

This blog is a follow up from my last blog Nightmare in Salou Part 1. If you have not read it yet, maybe have a quick read before reading this one.

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So, it’s been 5 days since my awful arrival, I’ve put it all behind me and I’ve been having a great time. I will share these nice few days with you in my next blog but, for now let’s get all the negative stuff out of the way.

Fraud!

It’s the morning of day 5, I’m still lying in bed thinking of how I’m going to spend my day. I pick up my phone to google a place to visit and notice a text message from my bank. The text message read something along the lines of, it’s the fraud team, you need to contact us immediately. I felt extremely anxious!

Due to unexpected expenses and over spending my budget I had nothing but €1 left! I planned to withdraw some more today using my card. This was not something I needed to hear! All sorts of thoughts started to run through my head. What if my account has been cleared? What am I going to do? Panic started to kick in! My first instinct was to check my bank balance, which I did. Not noticing anything had been taken, just absolutely thrilled to see money in it, I ring the bank.

The bank inform me almost £200 had been taken from my account and there were companies still trying to take payments, which they blocked. I didn’t recognise any of the four companies they mentioned. I just couldn’t understand how and why this was happening to me!

The bank had to blocked my card!

The lady from the bank informs me, she needs to block my card immediately. Well, I can not even begin to describe the panic that overcome me at this point. I asked her if she will give me some time to go and withdraw some money. She begins to tell me it’s irresponsible on their behalf to leave an account unblocked, after having knowledge of fraud. I tell her my situation of being abroad, having no money and the card being my only access to money. She starts asking me if I can lend money from a friend or whoever I’m with. After telling her I’m alone, she allows me time to go and withdraw some money but, not without informing me the danger of my account being cleared. She went on to explain, if one of the companies slip under the net, they would not be responsible for any money taken. Great!! Just what I needed to hear!! As if it wasn’t frightening enough!!

One last attempt before the card gets blocked!

In a frenzied hurry I run down to the cash point, luckily enough it’s just outside the hotel. However, in such a poor state of mind I managed to tap in my pin number incorrectly twice!! I get memory block! Now I’m left with one more attempt!! I’d never felt so anxious in my whole life!

I can’t use my card for Cash back in this country. My only option is to try again! I’m hyperventilating and I’m too scared to try again in case it’s wrong. I just want to cry! But given the fact I look like a crazy lady, in my pyjamas with a huge messy afro currently covering the whole of Salou, I don’t want to draw any more attention to myself. All I can think is my bank account could be cleared right now!

I try again

I sit on the wall for a while to try not to think of anything because, to think would make me over think. Instead, I people watch in the hopes of my pin coming back to me subconsciously.

I have the number in my head but, for some reason doubting myself a little. I go with it and bingo! It’s the correct number! Nothing else has come out the account, I was able to withdraw cash and ring the bank to have the card blocked.

You couldn’t write it!

After the fraud incident I was able to enjoy the last couple of days of my holiday but, disaster strikes again!!

It’s the day of leaving, I’ve been told my coach will collect me at 6.50pm outside my hotel. I decide to sit on the wall outside the hotel at 6pm to catch the last bit of sun also, so I don’t miss my coach.

It’s 7.10pm my coach has still not arrived, I ring the transport number. The lady on the other end tells me the coach has already been! I was quick to correct her it had not been. She apologizes saying the driver informed them 20-minutes ago, to say I wasn’t there. Then tells me I will have to find my own way to the airport, then claim it back through my insurance. I was furious! After a few heated words for her to deliver to the dishonest driver before hanging up. I go back to my hotel to ask reception if they knew how much a taxi to the airport would cost. They discuss with each other in Spanish, then say around €25 however, they seem a little unsure. This made me feel uneasy nonetheless, with €30 left, I have them ring me a taxi.

Whilst waiting for the taxi a guy shouts over in a Scottish accent. “Did they forget you?” I nod at him, and tell him I’m waiting for a taxi. He tells me to take the number 5 bus from the top of the street because, it will cost at least €45 in a taxi. I realise he actually works at the supermarket and seems to have great knowledge about the buses. He explained how the last one was at 7.30pm and tells me to run because, it was 7.30pm now. With not enough money to take the taxi I listened and ran to the bus stop.

It’s 7.45pm, my plane’s departs at 9pm, it takes at least 40 mins to get there and there’s no sign of the bus! To say I was frantic, would be an understatement.

It’s been! I’ve missed it! I’m going to miss my plane! I’m going to be stranded! What am I going to do? And just as I was about to go into a melt down, the number 5 arrives! I could not believe my luck!

I made my flight with 2- minutes to go! 😂🤣😂

Although, these bad experiences happened, I’m actually thankful they did and now take extra precautions in the event of things going wrong. I will be writing a blog on these precautions on a later date, hopefully it helps others.

Thanks for reading :))

Have you been through anything like this? Or have you any thoughts? Would be great to hear.

Thank you so much for reading x

Oct 30

My Nightmare in Salou, Spain Part 1:

Comments 6

I went to Salou back in May of this year, it was booked for a relaxing break as I hadn’t been away for a few months. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lovely time but just about anything that could go wrong, went wrong.

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*Disclosure* Please note this is my own personal experience and should not be taken at face value. Click the link above to see the full disclosure page for more info.

I booked my break with Onethebeach.com a month in advance. It was an absolute bargain! £230 for a week! This included a self-catering hotel apartment, flights and transfers, I could not wait to go! However, as the days grew closer I began to look through my documents in more detail and come across a problem. The voucher for my hotel said the reception area closed at 8pm and anyone checking in after this time, must contact the hotel. I tried to contact the hotel but was unable to use my free minutes So, I rang Onthebeach.com explaining the situation. The gentlemen dealing with my call said he will ring the hotel to see what to do and get back to me. When he rang me back he explained the hotel had a sister hotel where I could collect the key which was around a 10-minute walk away. I explained to him I was a solo female traveller, I did not feel safe walking around in an unfamiliar place at 10.30pm. With this, he agreed to change my coach drop off to the sister hotel to collect the key, then I would get a taxi to my booked hotel. Although, this was not what happened!!

Stranded!!

On the day of arrival I was dropped off at around 10.30pm at the Hotel where I’m supposed to collect the keys. I walk around the corner which appears to be the front entrance and guess what? It’s closed and the doors are locked! I couldn’t believe it! I walked around the sides hoping there would be another entrance but, there wasn’t. At this point I’m a little anxious but I’m managing to stay calm because I know it’s not going to help if I panic.

When I return back to the main entrance I notice a guy (Emmanuel) stood there with his suitcase, he looks to be in a similar predicament. I ask him, and he tells me he’s supposed to be staying in this hotel but, doesn’t know how to get in. He said his friend who was meeting him there had booked it online, and he was waiting for him as he didn’t know what to do. At this point were kinda both just stood around unsure what to do, a kind lady comes out and tries to help us but, there’s nothing she can do.

No Internet

I dug out my documents to ring on the beach but, guess what? The line was closed!! I knew there must have been another 24hour line but, it was not on my travel documents. I then decided to search for it online but, guess what?? My internet would not come on!! I felt so stressed out!! After telling Emmanuel he kindly offered to give me his password for his WI-FI, then I was then able to find a number and get through. If it was not for the lovely Emmanuel it would have been a lot more stressful.

After, getting through to On the beach I spoke to a lovely agent. I told her my situation, she was so apologetic really concerned for my welfare. She arranged for me to stay at another hotel which was a 10-minute taxi ride away. She also added a breakfast on for me to compensate for the taxi and the inconvenience. In fact, this lady kept in contact with me until I was where I was supposed to be. She rang me to see if I got to the hotel ok then rang me the next day to see if I got to my original hotel (fantastic customer service).

After getting my documents through email and screen shotting them I left Emmanuel who was now with his friend. Emmanuel was a true gent and kept in contact to see I arrived safely. Both him and his friend went to find another hotel after the realisation they were not going to get in to their apartment.

More Problems

I arrive at The best Cap Salou Hotel and show the gentleman on the reception my screen shots. He begins to speak to me in French, I didn’t speak French and he didn’t speak English. He begins to tell me No! Many times whilst pointing to my phone. No! What do you mean No! I was thinking to myself in a state of panic. Then he points to paper, at this point I realise he wants the paper print for the booking. I show him my original voucher for my other hotel and try to explain I don’t have a paper version for this hotel. He continues to say No and points to paper and tries to explain what he needs from me. By this point I was exhausted, tired, frustrated and I just wanted to cry. But, that wasn’t going to solve the situation was it?

The guy then asks for the email, I then ask him for the Wi-Fi, in which he hands me the password. From here were able to eventually communicate me sending the email to the hotel, so, he was able to print the voucher.

It was a stressful situation, but we got there in the end Haha.

It had gone 12.30am by the time I arrived in my hotel room but, I was grateful for a bed.

You couldn’t write it!

The next day I arrive at my original hotel The Salou Pacific and guess what? The lady informs me there open 24hours!! I went through all that stress for absolutely nothing!!

I have no idea which hotel the guy from Onthebeach.com rang but, it certainly wasn’t this one!

I had a lovely time in Salou for the next few days but, I ran in to more problems. If your interested what happens next, look out for the next blog.

Thank you so much for reading 🙂