David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org 
Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
Notes From A Road-Trip 2 – A Week In Barcelona Part 1
I searched high and low but couldn’t find an article
or blog explaining what the experience of Barcelona is like for a business
trip. Sure, there are literally hundreds
of posts on what the architecture is like, and the stores, and places to visit
etc., but none of the nuts and bolts of what to expect for the first time
business traveler. So, before I left,
Joe Brancatelli asked me to write the report I’d
wanted to find – for future travelers.
OK, good idea. Here goes a string
of (hopefully) useful comments and notes for the first time Barcelona business
visitor.
· I flew on a
United 767 non-stop from EWR to BCN. That plane has first class (Polaris), Economy
Plus and 
Economy – no “Premium Economy” so no comfier seats for
a reasonable price. I played the United
upgrade lottery – 20K miles and ~$500 – and turned out to be 14th on
the upgrade list. It didn’t clear of
course, and now I have to go after United for the refund of the money and miles
(and as you can see to the right they’re already giving me the run-around with MY money.) If I can’t lie-flat on a plane I can’t sleep,
so it wasn’t an issue being in E+. What
was an issue was the absolutely inedible food they served on the flight. The chicken was in some sort of stew that I
swear was the scraps of all the other meals they had lying around – plus some plus
inedible spices. I took one bite and
spit it out, and sadly I can still remember the vile taste. For breakfast they served yogurt and a
cookie. As I don’t eat yogurt the meals
were a clean-sweep into the trash.
Luckily I packed a sandwich, so I didn’t starve – packing some back-up food
is probably a good idea for this flight.
· When we
landed in Barcelona we pulled into gate 221.
The Jetway was full of windows and bright –
which was a nice touch. There was a
seemingly endless walk to passport control, and there were no bathrooms along
the way (so be sure to go on the plane if you have to upon landing.) The passport line took about 45 minutes at
~9am, but it was constantly moving. I
was surprised that there was no paperwork to fill-out – just the presentation
of a passport. (I’ve had too many years
of flying into LHR and filling-out landing cards I
suppose.) After clearing that line (and
finally going to the bathroom) we entered a hall where you had to show your
COVID health-check QR code. If you had one you just had to scan it, if
you didn’t you’d have to go through a health screening. (It’s urgent that anyone flying to Spain go
to their website in advance – SPTH.GOB.ES – and upload the needed information
to get the QR code.) After that, one grabs any
checked bags and goes out the “nothing to declare” exit. Taxis are one level down, and this airport
uses inclined moving walkways to go between levels, so hold your rollaboards tightly or they’ll go for an unwanted
ride. There were plenty of taxis
waiting.
· It pays to
be a Hilton Diamond VIP. Big kudos to
the Hilton hotel at Diagonal Mar.
Instead of the standard, European ‘but
sir, zee check in is not till zee afternoon, so go away’ the Hilton team
saw a (tired) Diamond 
VIP and pulled-out all the
stops. They said ‘of course’ they have a
room ready for me for early check-in, and it was an upgrade from the least
expensive room I booked to a large one above their executive floor. Breakfast was included – even for that day –
either in their restaurant or in the executive lounge (which overlooked the
beach.) The diamond level still really
seems to mean something in Europe if this is any indication. After landing at
8:45am I was in-bed napping at 10:30am – which was really awesome.
· The Hilton
is across the street from a modern shopping mall (Diagonal Mar https://www.diagonalmarcentre.es/en/
) which has many US recognizable stores as well as local ones, and has a store
called Alcampo – which is like a Target on
steroids. Everything from groceries to
big-box items are available. I was able
to purchase the small, re-sealable bottles of water that are a staple for any
trip such as this – as well as some food items to keep in the room. I could eat from any of the local
restaurants, or, if I wasn’t so experimentally inclined, get some take-away
from McDonalds or Five Guys.
· 
I had planned to take Sunday
to tour the city (as my only free day) but it also happened to be the day of
the Barcelona Marathon – so those plans were killed. I rested in my hotel room until about 3pm
when the streets started to open again and did some slightly lesser touring
then. The lesson: don’t arrive to
Barcelona for a conference the day before it begins when that happens to be the
day of their marathon.
· My company
travel agent recommended that I download an app called “Free Now” as the local
taxi hailing service (because they don’t use Uber or Lyft here.) So far I’ve found it to be useless. Every time I call for a taxi 
when the app says there are plenty available they
can’t find one for me. They make me do
two step verification with a text from my bank to reserve the funds, but then
don’t have a car. It is better off to
either just street hail a taxi or walk to one of the many Taxi loading zones
and wait for one there. Taxis that are
available have little green lights on the side of their roof’s sign (and red on
the other side and/or a number of passengers means not available.) As I write this, masks are optional all over
town and at the airport, but are still required on public transportation
including busses, trains and taxis. Not
all the taxi drivers speak English, so I found it very helpful to 
type out cards with my frequent
destinations and have them available as pictures on my phone. I used PowerPoint to make them, but you can
use any text app that you can take a picture of – even the notes app on your
phone. Also – taxi drivers here do not
expect to be tipped. The metered amount
is what you pay unless you’ve had really exceptional service.
· Every taxi,
every store, every merchant, and every vending machine takes contactless credit
cards. Don’t even try to use the
insert-chip as it will ask you for a PIN that US cards don’t have. Contactless is the way to go.
On the next part of this report
I’ll go into my second hotel on the trip, the restaurants, the convention
center, and the trip home.
This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal
opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.
++++++++
As always, feel free to write and comment, question or
disagree. Hearing from the traveling
community is always a highlight for me.
Thanks!