Boundless Horizons

Travel day – May 19 – flying to Barcelona, staying at H10 Port Vell

As I mentioned in Part 1, we couldn’t get a direct flight to Barcelona on the day before the cruise, so we set off on the 08:10 flight down to Heathrow, it’s only a one hour flight but I selected the 12:55 from Heathrow to Barcelona to give us a longer connection time. I didn’t want to take any chances with missed connections, and I knew there were several later flights to Barcelona if anything happened to this one!

Flight 1 went smoothly, and we had plenty of time to grab a late breakfast at Pilots Bar & Kitchen in Heathrow Terminal 5. We also popped into Boots to pick up a Meal Deal (sandwich, snack and drink) for flight 2, since BA have stopped doing complimentary meals on short-haul flights, and their paid options are limited.

Flight 2 was also on time, and we landed at Barcelona around 4pm. Customs didn’t take long, the line moved quite quickly – we’d cleared customs and collected our luggage by 4:30pm! My sister has been to Barcelona a few times and recommended downloading the Free Now app to order a taxi. A short drive later and we were at our hotel.

For the night before the cruise, we’d booked H10 Port Vell because it meant a short drive to the cruise terminal the next day. We were also only a 10 minute walk to the Columbus monument, so worst case we could walk there to get the shuttle bus – I like to know my contingency plans!

The hotel was beautiful. They gave us a glass of Cava to welcome us while we checked in. Our room was clean and comfortable, and the hotel has a roof terrace with a pool (you can just see the roof terrace in the photo above). After freshening up and relaxing in the room for a little bit, we headed out to the supermarket that the hotel reception had recommended to get wine to take onboard. While there is a smaller shop a block closer, the receptionist recommended the Coaliment for a better selection and better prices.

We strolled along the marina to find somewhere for dinner. We looked at a few menus but decided to go with La Gavina – I had a delicious paella while Rhys had a sirloin steak. The weather was a overcast but warm enough to enjoy sitting outside.

After dinner, we strolled further along the marina then headed back to the hotel to check out the roof terrace. The views were lovely, though it started to rain so that was our cue to go back to the hotel room! I’d made sure my pyjamas and clothes for embarkation day were near the top of my suitcase so I didn’t need to unpack much for our first night.

We slept really well, the bed and pillows were nicely supportive – there’s a room tour in the highlights on my Instagram (I’ve had to move Barcelona into its own Story Highlights because I ran out of room in my DCL one!).

And then suddenly it was embarkation day!