The Return Of Mechasmack

Yee Haw. I managed to finish packing already and it's not even 1am yet. Now I just gotta trick someone into doing my work all next week while I play.

My iPod has been getting tired too early lately and I figured I should put that Best Buy warranty to use and get a new battery for it. But being the procrastinator that I am, of course I waited until it was almost time for my trip to make the decision to part with it for 10 days, which probably would have ended up being more. But after a little research, I decided to take the plunge and replace the battery myself.

Now replacing the battery in an iPod is no trivial task. The case is not designed to be opened by mere mortals. And I'm sure that opening the thing almost definitely voids the warranty. But I was determined to get more listening time out of this expensive little box.

The instructions that come with this replacement battery from Newer Technologies comes with the tiniest set of instructions I've ever seen. But luckily there's a video online that shows how to do it. So after struggling to get the thing open for about 10 minutes, I finally got my hands on the guts of the machine and it was pretty straightforward from there. The video helps point out a couple of delicate parts that one could break accidentally. And they give you 2 of the little plastic tools for opening the case just in case you break one in your frustration.

So now my battery is changed and charged and I'm already noticing an increase in play time. Now I'll be able to listen to the Spanish Language Audio Book I got yesterday during the plane ride.

We've arrived in Barcelona. As expected, my luggage was lost. I never trust that my bags will make it with me when I have to switch flights internationally. And since there was barely enough time for me to get off the plane from Chicago in Heathrow to the plane going to Barcelona, I was almost certain my bag would be lost in the shuffle. But I had a change of clothes with me in my carry-on so it's not so bad. Speaking of Heathrow, do they not believe in air conditioning over there? It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have this brat behind me in the security scan line complaining the entire time about how hot it was. Yeah kid, it's hot and muggy. It's England, get used to it. And the apartment we're renting has laundry so I could just wear these clothes all week. Hopefully not. I just bought a bunch of new shirts that I haven't even worn yet.

Besides the lack of clothes, so far I'm enjoying being here. It's so nice not thinking about work for a while. I just want to relax and check this place out and relax and eat and relax and have some fun. So far the people are friendly and my lack of Spanish hasn't hindered me too much yet. I can read it well enough to get by. And we have Maria with us to be the spokesperson.

Looking at the map for the train system it seemed pretty simple. But actually figuring out which train to take to Sitges was a bit more complex. We figured it out after a few tries. Thank goodness we have a translator who's not afraid to ask for directions. I slept most of the flight and never got around to listening to my Spanish Audio Book.

The apartment we've rented is pretty cool. Only one bathroom though. But we're not here to use the bathroom, we here to have some fun.

I was somewhat optimistic yesterday when I reported my lost luggage at the airport. They told me that it was left in London and should be on a later flight to Barcelona. That made me feel a little better since at least I knew where it was and that it would be here soon. But I should know better than to be optimistic about such things. The update today is that they think my bag was sent back to Chicago
and hopefully will be on its way to Spain today. I'm not holding my breath.

The apartment we've rented is really nice. I think it was a much better choice than a hotel. It feels more like we're visiting friends than being tourists. We found the small market in our neighborhood and stocked up on food. Everything comes in smaller sizes here. Makes you think about how we'd be affected if our food came in smaller portions. But as Chumpot said, CostCo would go out of business.

It's time to go out and explore Sitges. The downtown area has tons of little shops and cafes and even a Burger King. Lot's to look at. We made our way down to the beach so we could play in the ocean. That was a lot of fun. I haven't been in the Ocean in almost 10 years.

We learned today that we came home too early Saturday night. The party gets started really late here. So tonight we ate dinner and took disco naps and went out around midnight. We bumped into this guy named Tron from Norway while sipping sangria. He was in Spain for a CAD conference. We got passes to a late night club that was pretty cool, but the drinks were expensive. And I was surprised at how much American music was played. We managed to get home before the sun came up.

Apparently, Tupac is alive and living somewhere in Spain. Perhaps even in Sitges. More research is required.

Jen Jen arrived today. We went to meet her at the airport and I checked on my luggage while we were there. Still no word. The woman at the lost luggage desk was so helpful I can't really be too upset about it. And I've got clean undies so I'm ok for now. Maybe eventually it will find
its way back home.

So it was back to the beach in full force. Yee Haw. The water was colder today. But not so bad once you were in it for a while. And it was nice to be in it while it was so hot.

We had a dinner at a place on the beach. We are on a roll with confusing the staff with our broken Spanish. It keeps reminding me of European Vacation when they're in France raving about the food and they show the kitchen where all they're doing is heating up microwave dinners. But I don't think you can do that with tapas.

Got a call from Iberia this morning. They have located my luggage. Apparently, it made it's way back to Chicago and then back to London and is on its way to Barcelona. That's some good news.

Today was our big trek in Barcelona. We set out to view the architecture of Antoni Gaudí. He was part of the modernist movement in architecture in Spain around the turn of the 19th century. There are several landmarks in Spain that are his works. As soon as we got off the subway we could see the Casa Batllo. A few blocks away we spotted Casa Mila.

Next we made our way to Parc Güell. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, it was intended to be a luxury villa, filled with homes for the wealthy families of the Barcelona bourgeoisie. But sales were not as expected and it became a public park. Some of us decided to climb to the top to see what wonders awaited us. We found more graffiti.

I broke down and bought a t-shirt today.

So apparently they tried to deliver my luggage yesterday. However, they mistakenly thought the address I gave them was in Barcelona. So after explaining 3 times to them that I'm Sitges they said they'd try again this afternoon. So we decided to do some shopping in Barcelona during the day. I found some more shirts and some shorts.

Upon our return I spot a note in the lobby of the building from the airline. We had just missed them by about 20 minutes. And they said they tried to call us but called the wrong number. Idiots! They called to tell us they were going to deliver the luggage at the correct number. How come the person actually delivering it has the wrong number. I guess this is the big disadvantage to not staying in a hotel. So after explainging 3 times again that they called the wrong number, I told them I'd come to the airport and get it myself in the morning. So frustrating. Oh well, back to the beach.

I pulled myself out of bed early today and took the train to Barcelona to get my luggage. I made sure to call first to make sure they weren't going to try to deliver it again. In retrospect it really was my fault for not being explicit enough with the address and phone number. So that only took 3 hours. Yay, I've got my clothes back. I almost could have left them at the airport and just picked it on my way out since I'm leaving day after tomorrow.

But I'm not gonna get hot about it. It's freakin' hot enough outside as it is. So I made a couple of PBnJ sandwiches and then we jumped back in the water.

Today is Dana's (aka Foxxxy) birthday. There's some chair burning festival going on in Barcelona tonight that we want to check out. But the last train from Barcelona to Sitges leaves at 11:30 and that's way too early. So do we hang out in Sitges or stay all night Barcelona? See y'all in the morning.

Well we made it all night in Barcelona. Unfortunately, the same thing that happened to me in Amsterdam happened to me in Barcelona. But luckily it didn't ruin the evening. We managed to have a good time. And we were able to stay awake for the trip home so we didn't miss our stop.

We were supposed to head back into Barcelona for some more sightseeing today but we are all too worn out from last night's adventure. I got this cool henna tattoo. I kinda like the idea that it looks permanent but will only last a few weeks.

So today we just hung out in Sitges. Did a little shopping. Had a nice dinner. And then I realized that the first train to Barcelona leaves at 6:30 and my flight is at 7:30. Doh!

So since we were out until about 1:30 and I was going to have to take a cab to the airport in Barcelona I decided to just stay up. I can sleep on the plane, right? So I found a cab around 3:10am and we got to the airport at about 3:29am. Yay, I'm at the airport 4 hours before my flight. The place was dead. None of the service desks were open. Just a handful of people sleeping in chairs waiting for their flights.

Around 5:30 some people started getting in line at the British Airways counter even though no one was there. So I decided to wait until I saw someone at the desk before standing up. Someone showed up about 5:45 but I knew it would take her a while to get settled. Then about 1 minute later about 80 people come out of nowhere and get in line. What the hell!!?? Where did they come from!? If only I'd gotten in line a minute earlier. So now I'm at the back of this very long line, there's only one person at the desk, and it occurs to me that I might actually be in jeopardy of missing my flight since it's going to take forever to check in all of the people. And of course the express check yourself in kiosk didn't work for me. But the line moved quickly enough and I had plenty of time to get to my flight. Then I could finally sleep...

...if it weren't for that baby who went back and forth from crying to cooing the entire trip from London to Chicago. At least my luggage made it with me.

Yay, we've arrived in Athens. It's so nice to finally be here. Seems like we've been talking about this trip forever and it seemed so far away and now we're here. We had a much easier time with the train than we did in Barcelona.

We checked out the ruins. It's pretty cool when you standing next to the oldest man-made structure you've ever stood next to. Good thing Archimedes invented the pulley.

Our hotel has the smallest beds I've slept in since I was a baby. But I don't need much, just a pillow and running water. At least for tonight.

1. You can exit at the back of the plane. Sweet!
2. Mind The Gap
3. There's no need to say "excuse me"
4. If you go to the Acropolis in Athens, save that ticket. It might come in handy later.
5. The water's not that cold once you're in it for a while
6. Bread ain't free
7. Learning the terms please (parakalo) and thank you (efharisto) and a smile go a long way. And if that fails a pocket full of euros doesn't hurt.
8. No amount of sunscreen will prevent Jason from turning into Trock Lobster
9. Queue Up
10. Just because someone has red eyes and white cracked lips doesn't necessarily mean he/she is a crack addict
11. Don't rent a car unless you have a death wish
12. Lean forward!!