Bienvenido al Barcelona

Barcelona welcomed us with great October weather. Around 23-25 degree C in the daytime. People were walking around in berms and t-shirts. I looked silly with a sweater. Sheldon was happy with just polo Tee and baggy jeans too.

Getting out of airport was fine except that the luggage took some time to arrive at the conveyor belt. But then again, we can't expect every airport to be as good and efficient as Changi right?

Taxis were lining up right outside the airport, the queue moved very fast. The taxis were mostly Skoda and Prius and the boot fit our 2 huge luggage. Phew.

Travel to Poble Nou area took around 20 mins and cost 30 Euro. 

And since we arrived in the morning, we took a stroll down Rambla Poble nou.

Poble nou is a not a very central area. 

It is near the beach but not the busiest main beach in Barca ( Barcelonetta), it is near Mar bella and Bogatell beach.

I purposely picked a place away from the La Ramblas ( equivalent to Spore's bustling Orchard Rd) as we will be staying at another hotel right smack in La Ramblas in 3 days time.

I wanted something different the first 3 days. So Poblenou it is. The hotel is 5 mins away from Llacuna metro station so that's great. It's sorrounded by beaches, and not even that far from the main scene at La Ramblas ( 6 metro stops away?).

I chose a travelodge in Poblenou. Yes it's not a fantastic hotel but I read that it's 

very recently built and I always feel new, fuss-free hotels are good for Sheldon.

It was concise, clean, practical. But

Unfortunately, the hotel room didn't have a kettle to boil his water. Note to self, never again. haha

Thankfully we brought the stroller as Sheldon was fast asleep when we were strolling along Rambla Poblenou to look for Spanish SiM card and some brunch ( lunch dun start til like 2??), They eat late lunch and late dinner.

Brunch along Rambla Poble Nou

was uneventful. Just sandwiches, as I was too hungry to be picky.

But prices were very low though. Just 2.50 euro for tortilla baquette and 5.50 euro for the one with iberico ham ( Spanish bakwa I call them hahha).

We bought Movistar Sim card from ther store as Vodafone and Orange were no were insight. It cost 22 Euro for 1 month and 1G data. 

We had to register our names with passport etc, took like more than half an hour... ok that was a buzzkill. But once we got it configured, we were happy to have access to internet. We only got one Spanish sim card with 3G but we can tether it the other phones so that's cool. 

After a short nap ( daddy got sone serious jetlag as he couldnt sleep on the plane!!). We were ready to start roaming Barca streets proper!!!