Yay !!
...I am officially a GOLD
Castaway club member as of walking off the ship yesterday
.....but poor DH is still a SILVER.... LOL ..I will have to make the most of that situation until next February, when we sail on the Dream
Wow quite an eventful trip back ....first thing in the morning we got the port bus to the end of the Ramblas......Good move this time
not to join that terrible taxi queue, that was there exactly the same as last year, when we waited 2 hours to leave the port !....why, oh why, does Disney not organise
two taxi queues at the port???
....as its not the lack of taxis that causes the problem .....its just the volume of people & cases getting into them !
We headed up on the metro to the Senator Spa Hotel near the Nou Camp (so close you can see the stadium from the road) where we had managed to book a day room -no mean task as they don't normally offer them.
However, we were none too pleased to find that despite our booking a room there from 9am to 5pm, that the room was not ready at 10.30am, when we actually arrived - despite assurances from central reservations that everything had been communicated to the hotel.
They suggested that we left our cases in their lock up room until 12.30pm which I took great exception to, since we were paying good money (E70) for a room ...and not for someone to mind our cases !!
After a bit of a fuss and a wait of 30 mins, eventually a room was made available, which we were glad of as we needed to re-pack and refresh after our journey from the port (it was sooo humid, we were wet through, even after such a short journey !).
We took a look at their beautiful spa pool and facility (extra charge of 16E per adult and half price for kids) - which looked great but it was like a sauna in there, and having just experienced one outside(!), we headed instead up to their free outdoor, roof-top pool, which though smaller, was very pleasant (and not as cold as we were expecting).
After a refreshing swim we headed for the Nou Camp as DS wanted to look through the stadium shop ( we had done the tour last year). It was busy and not really condusive to looking round so we headed off to the nearest McDonalds for lunch (special request by the kids !). DH & I enjoyed a cold beer with our meal, which we always find strange as Mcbeer is not offered in the UK !
Then back to the hotel to make use of their free mini bar and free wifi and to make final preparations to our fight home.
Then around 3pm the heavens opened ........there was a torrential down pour with thunder and lightening for 2 hours.
......at 5pm the rain was still coming down like stair rods, and we thought about the Disney Magic sail away party due to be taking place at that time
At around 6pm, fortunately for us,the rain stopped and we checked out of the hotel and took the metro to the main station where we were hoping to catch the train to the Airport.
However, there ensued something of a nightmare end to our journey...when we arrived at the station it was obvious that the amount of rain had caused some difficulties.......parts of the station were looking more like Venice than Barcelona !
It took us a while to figure out the train, the tickets and the platform we needed , meaning we were frustratingly left watching one airport train just drawing out of the station !
We then waited for the next, being at approximately 30 minute intervals, which should still left us with plently of time to negotiate the the airport at the other end. However, much chaos appeared to be developing at the station, trains and platforms seemed to be getting changed and or cancelled at an alarming rate, more and more people arriving, but going nowhere...... we watched the boards closely, as our own train got pushed further & further back, then eventually got cancelled altogether
...this is not normal for the spanish train system, so we can only assume the sudden deluge of rain had taken its toll on this normally highly efficient rail system.
At this point we then had to make a decision - did we wait for the next train (another 30 mins) or cut our losses, and get a taxi ?
With airport check in about to open, and no-frills-flights well known for the length of their check in queues, we decided to head out of the station (not easy with the volume of stranded passengers !). Fortunately we found a taxi fairly quickly, and jumped in - we were so glad we did !
..... as drew into Terminal 2 we began to appreciate that taking the train would have also meant a considerable bus transfer over to T2, and worse still, that the Easyjet operation appears to be tucked into a far corner of this vast area.... and its not exactly obvious where this is ! Thanks to our well informed taxi driver, this problem was averted, and with 20 mins to spare, we were checked in.... and with no queue at all at security, and for once a near by gate allocation, this ensured a smooth and quick passage........ in what seemed like a very short time, we were seated, ready for take off !
We were back into Liverpool at 11pm local time.
Now reflecting on our wonderful cruise and meeting our fellow Dis friends.
We hope you all had an equally great cruise, and a safe journey home.
Also a big
THANK YOU for all the kind FE gifts for those that participated.
We hope we will see you, and/or chat again on the boards soon.
jdybnsn - AKA : Judy from the Benson-Evans family xx
).
I thought that was a bit of an understatement! 
