Day 10 - Longggg Paris transit to Barcelona

Longest ever transit (for me)
Our flight to Paris arrived on time at 10am. After a very long walk from T2 to T1, we found that there were no left luggage facilities in CDG and our flight couldn't be checked in until 2 hours before our scheduled departure at 4:25pm.


Rabbit-tunnels in T1

So we spent about 4 hours sitting in quite uncomfy chairs in T1. There's no free wi-fi, but 2 episodes of "24" helped me kill a good chunk of time while Mrs Chan slept through most of that.

We were flying Vueling Airlines, so I was very careful to make sure that my suitcases were kept within the 20kg per piece weight limit. As you know, budget airlines are vultures when it comes to surcharges and fees.

The scale read 20.0kg and 19.8kg :)

Grabbed a bite and then went through a slow security check point, followed by more waiting in the gate area.

At 4pm, an announcement said that our flight was delayed by 1 hour due to late incoming flight.... and by that time by stomach and back were so sick of sitting and waiting.

Flight 5: CDG-BCN

• Airline: Vueling
• Flight #: VY5077
• Plane: Airbus 320
  
• Departure Time: 28/4/09, 17:25
• Duration: 1.5 hrs
  
• Seats: 6D and 6E

Our plane

It's "back to normal" (or "back to Cattle Class") big time for us after being spoilt by the previous flights in the J cabin.



Seat pitch looked like 28-29inches only. And I was stuck in that position for the duration of the flight. I nearly passed out due to:
1) almost no food during the day
2) too much sitting down
3) fatigue

Cold sweat appeared and Mrs Chan wanted to buy some sugar (Choc) for me, but it was too late as the flight only had 30mins to go and the "shop" was closed.

I survived the flight and grabbed a panini with Jamon Iberica at the arrivals area of BCN :) 3Euros and it was very high quality Jamon (Spanish ham). Energy regained slowly.

Quite funny that there were a few very angry passengers (or would-be passengers) at the Vueling check-in area. They were yelling, crying, banging on the counter/window.... probably they missed their flight or a sign of Spanish behaviour.

Barcelona Metro


The metro system in Barcelona looked very efficient and extensive. Very cheap too (0.70E per person per ride using the Carnet 10-ticket). The optimissm was shattered when we had to change metro lines. There were NO elevator/lift and we had to walk UP and DOWN through at least 5 flights of stairs and very long walkways. Bear in mind we had 2 X 20kg suitcases, plus 2 backpacks and that Mrs Chan was not strong enough to carry the suitcases.

We were fuming, but nothing could be done.

After the change of metro line, we couldn't dare to try the 2nd line change. So we got out to ground level and walked the remaining 1.2km.

Hotel Comfortel Auditori Barcelona
Hotel is modern and comfy. A soothing bath helped to relax the poor muscles and body.




Supper at 11pm
I was surprised that we both had an ounce of energy left to go for some Tapas at 11pm.

Taxi reached our destination (Tapas 24) fine at only 4.5Euros. The trip was more than worth it as evident by the following.


Prawns, grilled and seasoned with sea salt flakes and olive oil. Some of the sweetest and freshest prawns I've ever eaten.


Black rice with squid - full of natural flavours


Bread with tomato, garlic and olive oil


All washed down with Sangria. I think I had at least 4 glasses

The Bill shocked us a little: 40E, but extremely good seafood. We were both quite drunk as we (barely) managed to find the metro and headed back to the hotel.