One Month

(Ally) I can't believe that in just one short month, my parents and I will be out and about in London-town.  It seems like ages since we bought our plane tickets, but now only 30-some days stand between me and my international home away from home.

However, I would be lying if I said I was most looking forward to my return to London.  Anyone who knows me (and even people who don't know me particularly well) knows that I am obsessed with all things Spain and all things Barcelona.  Unlike my parents, I've been to Barcelona before.  It was in November of 2008, while I was studying abroad in London.  I spent a pretty awesome two and a half days in Barca, gallivanting around with my friends Alex and Natalie.  But we didn't even begin to scratch the surface of all the great things Barcelona has to offer.

Ever since that three-day weekend in '08, I started compiling a list in my head of all the things I wanted to do if I ever got back to Barcelona.  Easily topping that list was to see FC Barcelona play at their home stadium, The Camp Nou.  What can be better for any soccer fan than to see the world's best soccer team play in one of the largest, most storied soccer stadia on the planet?  Answer: nothing.

Well, come September 23rd, I'll get to cross that off my list.  In all honesty, I can say that I have never been more excited about anything than I am about seeing FCB play in the Camp Nou.  This game will most likely top my college graduation, my high school graduation, even the day I found out I got a job in my field of study as my greatest life moment.  That's how amped I am for this game.  I might even cry upon arrival to the stadium's gates.

Obviously, Barcelona can't have all the soccer fun.  In the next few weeks, my parents and I need to figure out which soccer game we want to attend while in England.  Our easiest options would be to go see one of the bigger London clubs (ie Arsenal, Chelsea).  We figured it would be easier to find tickets at a 60,000 seat Stamford Bridge or Emirates than to find one at a 18,000 seat Craven Cottage (for those not versed in EPL stadia, that's where Clint Dempsey's team Fulham plays).

Old Trafford

Now while it would be awesome to see Chelsea at the Bridge again (I've seen them twice, my dad once) or to go see Arsenal get their ass pummeled at the Emirates, there's only one place to go to see soccer in England - Manchester United's Old Trafford.

Again, anyone who knows me knows that I have an illogical hatred of Man U.  But if this European vacation is doubling as a familial soccer pilgrimage, there's no way we can miss out at a chance to see a game at one of the most iconic sports venues in the entire world.  You just can't!  Hopefully we can get our hands on some tickets. 

But until that time, I just need to get through one month -- 21 work days, 9 weekend days.  Let's just hope I can hold out that long.

Getting Closer to Barca!

(Gail) Its' just a little more than a month before we leave for Barcelona and London! Actually it's London first and then Barca, since the soccer schedule finally came out and we'll be seeing FCB play on Sept 22 or 23 (actual game date TBD). But at least we finally know that our trip will start in London and then go on to Barcelona, so now we were at last able to find some places to stay.

Barcelona Apartment

Ally was in charge of finding our lodging, and used a website called AirBnB to locate apartments that are available for rent. We wanted to try the apartment option so we'd be able to make our own breakfasts at least while traveling.

She found lots of options in Barcelona, so all we had to do was figure out what part of the city we wanted to stay in. We picked a place that's a 10 minute walk from the beach, and located on the major transit lines to get everywhere else. It seems like quite a find with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (though I reserve judgement until we actually see the place). There's also a little balcony. We're renting from a lady named Gloria.

London Apartment

It was a bit bigger challenge to find a place in London, as those in our price range were quite a ways out of town. But with persistence, Ally managed to find a place in South Kensington, which is where she lived during her year abroad. It's a very nice neighborhood and pretty central to all we'd want to do. We put in our reservation request, and then noticed the flat was on the fourth floor with no elevator - 77 stairs up.  Uh...no.

Forunately we were able to get out of that and she found another place in Earls Court...just one tube stop further from the S. Kensington location...and we got that. We'll have to make due with just one bathroom here, but I'm sure we'll survive. We're renting from a dude named Paul.

Camp Nou

With lodging nailed down, the next challenge was actually getting the soccer tickets. Though the schedule was out, the tickets didn't go on sale for several more days. Jorge was up in the middle of night trying to order them online, and finally managed to get us 3 seats together. Did I mention those seats were in the 400 level? Though by the looks of the size of the stadium, there may be even more levels. The game is at the iconic Camp Nou, which seats close to 100,000. For soccer fans, seeing a game at the Camp Nou is like a religious pilgrimmage to the Holy Land. Gotta admit I'm pretty excited about it!