*Sept 10th 2011 WB Transatlantic* From Spain to Space Mountain - Part 3

[susie2]

happy 18th birthday to your daughter michelle, hope she has a lovely day susie

 

[squitty]

happy birthday to your daughter!!

and modern warfare RULES!

LOL's Karen...Modern Warfare 2 is our fav, she likes World at War Don't like Black Ops though...

happy 18th birthday to your daughter michelle, hope she has a lovely day susie

Thank you both for the birthday wishes. I've just dropped her off at college after having her eyelashes done and Playstation say a new console will be here tomorrow
Just on my way to Costco to pick her cake up.

 

[granmaz]

Good Morning, Happy Cruisers!

I read warnings about 'pick pockets' in Barcelona. Experienced travelers, What's your favorite method of keeping your stuff safe?

Some of us bought special secure handbags, camera bags, rucksacks, money wallets or secure straps. I will look up the make most of us bought. We found sites where they were cheaper.

Otherwise it is being sensible. The pickpockets can work in pairs, one chatting to you and whilst you are dealing with that someone else comes up and does the deed.

I know last September there were a few near misses but I didn't hear of anyone actually having anything taken, though someone was on a bus trip with someone who did have a wallet taken and had no idea how!!

 

[granmaz]

Here you go. You should find them cheaper. I loved the bag I got and did feel it was secure.

http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php

 

[karentan]

LOL's Karen...Modern Warfare 2 is our fav, she likes World at War Don't like Black Ops though...

gary said the same thing, he doesnt think black ops is as good either.
i play world at war and modern warfare 2 but prefer MW2. only ever play it online though, i've never played the actual game!

gary partially thinks its cool that his wife plays COD, but part of him resents the fact that i play with his xbox, and he's getting a bit worried that i'm getting quite good at it

 

[squitty]

gary said the same thing, he doesnt think black ops is as good either.
i play world at war and modern warfare 2 but prefer MW2. only ever play it online though, i've never played the actual game!

gary partially thinks its cool that his wife plays COD, but part of him resents the fact that i play with his xbox, and he's getting a bit worried that i'm getting quite good at it

I love playing MW2 and W@W. I am quite good even if I say so myself

What a shame we don't have the xbox otherwise we could've had a game together.

 

[GA-yaya]

Good Morning, Happy Cruisers!

I read warnings about 'pick pockets' in Barcelona. Experienced travelers, What's your favorite method of keeping your stuff safe?

Here's what I got for the Med cruise last year. It was perfect for my needs and I felt comfortable that my belongings were safe.
Here's the website where I ordered my Travelon bag http://www.overstock.com/Luggage-Bags/Travelon-Anti-theft-Messenger-Bag/3958041/product.html. They can also be found at Wal-Mart and luggage stores. A lot of the other cruisers were using Pac-Safe bags.
We attached lobster clasps to my husbands backpack zippers - a simple solution that should slow down sneaky hands.
Happy Shopping!

 

[Pinky166]

What is glossing? Sounds like you have been doing a lot of work on your home. Do you have any before and after pics ... I just love looking at that kind of thing.

I forgot to say I have got some pics, I'll post them when (IF) we are finished!

Hi Claire, thank you for the birthday wishes, I'll be sure to pass them on.

Well the job interview went ok she says, but they will let her know in a few days if she's been successful.

This morning her birthday got off to a great start till we've went to set her PS3 up....it doesn't work, so just on the phone now to Playstation to get her another one. She's gutted as we do love playing our Call of Duty in this house.

Anyway hope your decorating is coming along and you can always come and do ours once your finished

Awww how annoying that it didn't work.

I've never played COD but Lee is addicted to it! He plays it all the time......sometimes a little too much for my liking.

LOL's Karen...Modern Warfare 2 is our fav, she likes World at War Don't like Black Ops though...


Thank you both for the birthday wishes. I've just dropped her off at college after having her eyelashes done and Playstation say a new console will be here tomorrow
Just on my way to Costco to pick her cake up.

He plays Black Ops a lot at the moment, but has all the older versions.

Mmmmm cake!

gary said the same thing, he doesnt think black ops is as good either.
i play world at war and modern warfare 2 but prefer MW2. only ever play it online though, i've never played the actual game!

gary partially thinks its cool that his wife plays COD, but part of him resents the fact that i play with his xbox, and he's getting a bit worried that i'm getting quite good at it

Lee would hate it if I started playing & took over his xbox.

I think MW2 is Lee's favourite too but he is playing Black Ops at the moment as he plays it online a lot with his brother.

 

[Beauty & the Best]

The Arc di Triomf is just above the Parc de la Ciutadella. It is at the junction of Paseo de Saint Joan and Passeig de Lluis Companys.

On google maps:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=ut...local_group&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CA8QtgMwAw

If you go to Placa Catalunya and the top end of La Rambla and look for the street opposite La Rambla and the Hard Rock Cafe. This street is called Ronda de Sant Pere and if carry on down this street you will come straight to The Arc. Makes more sense if you look at the map.

Thank you for the clear description! I can't believe we've never seen this. We are headed to Barcelona on May 2nd, so this is a point of interest - esp since our hotel is right by the Placa Catalunya.

We came across the Arc by accident. We were wandering around the Gothic Quarter and got lost. We ended up here. It was much closer than we thought it would be and I had not planned on visiting it because of that!! It is quite a pretty wide walking area really. If you carry on down from there you reach a park, and also the zoo. We wandered through the park and back along the sea front to the bottom of Las Ramblas again.

Thanks! We may walk down to the park there

Good Morning, Happy Cruisers!

I read warnings about 'pick pockets' in Barcelona. Experienced travelers, What's your favorite method of keeping your stuff safe?

We use the pacsafe bookbag that granmaz lists below and also a money belt. You can find lots of variations on a money belt (including one that goes around your ankle instead of your waist) but we use this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Rick-Steves-S...LROQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302615935&sr=8-1

*Note, the money belt goes beneath your clothes

Usually we'll keep a day's spending money in our pockets and keep the extra in the money belts w/ credit cards in the belt too. Also, we utilize the safe in our hotel room for passports and excess money.

I would take precautions w/ a pacsafe bag and/or money belt, but don't get too freaked out about the theft there or you might not be able to enjoy your time in Barcelona.

Here you go. You should find them cheaper. I loved the bag I got and did feel it was secure.

http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php

 

[3canadianslovedisney]

Hi Claire, thank you for the birthday wishes, I'll be sure to pass them on.

to your DD. Hope she has success with her job search as well!

 

[MandyGirl]

Wow!! The t-shirts look awesome, Mandy.
Thank you for sharing the photos

Your t-shirts look great!

Thank you! I had a couple more pics of finished products but can't find them.

We attached lobster clasps to my husbands backpack zippers - a simple solution that should slow down sneaky hands.

That's a plan!


We had a huge hailstorm early yesterday - 70 mph winds, mostly golf-ball size hail but some up to 3 inches in diameter. We must get new gutters, new roof, and possibly new fence. About half a mile away, residents lost several windows on each home. My nextdoor neighbor lost a window, and another a few houses down, but not like the other neighborhood. It hit us all of a sudden, and was unlike anything ANY of us had ever experienced before. It really sounded like a team of jackhammers got on the roof and were pounding away at the roof and windows. Curt and I could barely hear each other. Every home in our development must get a new roof.

 

[Tod&Copper]

Thank you for the clear description! I can't believe we've never seen this. We are headed to Barcelona on May 2nd, so this is a point of interest - esp since our hotel is right by the Placa Catalunya.

Thanks! We may walk down to the park there

Our hotel was near Parc de Cuitadella last summer too and we walked down to see the Arc de Triumphe too. Gaudi's Cascada fountain in the Parc was absolutely gorgeous too and not to be missed. The fountain was absolutely breaktaking, I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was and just stood there for about 10 mins mesmerised

 

[GA-yaya]

We had a huge hailstorm early yesterday - 70 mph winds, mostly golf-ball size hail but some up to 3 inches in diameter. We must get new gutters, new roof, and possibly new fence. About half a mile away, residents lost several windows on each home. My nextdoor neighbor lost a window, and another a few houses down, but not like the other neighborhood. It hit us all of a sudden, and was unlike anything ANY of us had ever experienced before. It really sounded like a team of jackhammers got on the roof and were pounding away at the roof and windows. Curt and I could barely hear each other. Every home in our development must get a new roof.

Whew! That was some storm you had yesterday! Lots of damage it sounds like...at least the things damaged are replaceable and that y'all are all safe. Get your homeowner's insurance involved and they'll take care of everything for you. We had to get a new roof about 5 years ago due to a hail storm - lots of shingles, dented cars & broken limbs from that storm.

Your storm rolled through here last night about midnight. Lots of wind & lightning...ended up with everyone in my bed, all quivering and trying to get Under me! It was rather comical! Luckily, no structural damage, just more limbs down. Ya know - we really need to stop having these severe storms roll through every Monday night - it's creating cranky Tuesdays.

Hope your Tuesday is a happy one!

 

[squitty]

Awww how annoying that it didn't work.

I've never played COD but Lee is addicted to it! He plays it all the time......sometimes a little too much for my liking.




He plays Black Ops a lot at the moment, but has all the older versions.

Mmmmm cake!



Lee would hate it if I started playing & took over his xbox.

I think MW2 is Lee's favourite too but he is playing Black Ops at the moment as he plays it online a lot with his brother.

I was a CoD widow, so I thought it was either join in or be left out..so I joined in, he certainly didn't expect me to like it as much as I did

to your DD. Hope she has success with her job search as well!

Thank you Leanne.


For anybody that would like a piece of cake - help yourself

Back to trip planning...just got my hand luggage today
I got me one of these Here

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Good Morning, Happy Cruisers!

I read warnings about 'pick pockets' in Barcelona. Experienced travelers, What's your favorite method of keeping your stuff safe?

Just keep your bag in front of you. I wear an across the body bag which I hold onto at all times. DH carries whatever money we need for the day and the credit card. We saw dodgy looking characters lurking on La Ramblas late evening but they didn't try anything.

I've never played COD but Lee is addicted to it! He plays it all the time......sometimes a little too much for my liking.

Tony likes playing all those role playing war games ...not my thing though ... I prefer SuperMario and I love Epic Mickey

 

[granmaz]

Thanks for the cake Michelle!!! Totally fat and calorie free!!!

 

[Dgentrysim]

Thanks for the cake Michelle!!! Totally fat and calorie free!!!

That's the best kind!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Thanks for the cake Michelle!!! Totally fat and calorie free!!!

Didn't you know ... birthday cake is always fat free, as are ALL cakes served on cruise ships

 

[birkner]

Good Morning, Happy Cruisers!

I read warnings about 'pick pockets' in Barcelona. Experienced travelers, What's your favorite method of keeping your stuff safe?

I carry a Pacsafe bag with everything inside. John has the camera on a Pacsafe strap.

 

[magic123]

Good Morning, Happy Cruisers!

I read warnings about 'pick pockets' in Barcelona. Experienced travelers, What's your favorite method of keeping your stuff safe?

Yes it is with sadness I have to report that Barcelona dose have a big pickpocket problem, which my DH and myself experienced last year on the metro. But alas I feel this is the way of a lot of European cities.
Do not have your valuable’s on show, and ladies if you need to carry a handbag try and have the across body type.

We were targeted by a group of four reasonably dressed men on the metro, they stood back to let me on the metro, the next thing I was aware of was my DH was surrounded by four men, two had approached from another door, and he felt one of them put a hand in his pocket and my DH bend his fingers back rather hard ( my DH is very aware of these situations )and they got more than they bargained for.
But I must admit, not very nice,but they don’t want to draw attention to themselves and all of them jumped off the train.
I also have friends who were targeted on some escalators by a man travel on the escalator going in the other direction, who grabbed my friend’s bag off her shoulder, but she managed to hang onto it with the help of her DH.


So yes be very aware there is a problem ( do not have money/wallets in open accessable pockets ), travel light, also if you have luggage be aware to hold onto it, it is not unheard of for people to turn away and when they go to grab their luggage it’s gone.
Having said all that, don’t be put off, many people go to Barcelona without a problem, it is a very beautiful city with lots of great sights to see. Just be mindful of your surroundings and your belongings and you should have no problems

Tell me about the metro, please? Is it necessary to climb u[ & down flights of stairs, or is there a disabled access elevator? One of my BIG concerns about getting around Barcelona, besides my inability to walk very far or very fast. I can see me making my roommates crazy

Yes on the whole the metro is easy to use, the main tourist stations we used had good disabled access. If you look on the metro map it will show which stations have disabled access.


Try not to buy tickets for each journey….. they do a multi person journey travelcard. That’s one ticket for any number of people. We purchased a T10 which gave us ten journeys A one zone card is 7.85 euro and a two zone is 15.60 euro, for all the main sights we wanted ,we only needed a one zone, it’s much cheaper this way.
This link will help with disabled access questions and also travel tickets on another page
http://www.tmb.cat/en/transport-accessible

Hope this helps, don't be put off by the pickpocket issue, it's a lovely city, you just need to take care

margaret