For my birthday treat Jo took me to Barcelona for a long weekend away. I'd never been to Barcelona before but Jo had been a couple of times and she loved it. We flew with Easyjet and we wanted to take my trike with us to help get around. I was nervous about travelling with the trike as the bag that holds it is massive and an awkward shape. We arrived at the terminal and waited in the queue hoping that they would let us put the trike in the baggage hold and not refuse it. Easyjet were brilliant and said it wasn't a problem we just had to take it across the isle to the large baggage deposit area, they gave us a receipt and off we went. We arrived at the departure gate nice and early and the stewardess's took us straight to the plane. At the entrance to the plane I swapped over into a skinny chair and they took my chair down to the hold. Once inside the plane a steward pushed me down to my seat and I transferred over. That's it, first hurdle over I thought and the rest of the journey went without a hitch. We even had our very on transvestite stewardess to look after us and chat with at the front of the plane.

The only down side to the journey was that the pilot parked the plane in the wrong place so there was no lift to get me down. Two old blokes got the job of carrying me down the stairs in the skinny wheelchair and I thought they were gonna have a heart attack by the time they got me on to the tarmac. Not the greatest and most dignified way of arriving in a country but I always do try to see the funny side if I can. All the other passengers had already got off and on their way to the terminal so it wasn't done on public display which was a relief.

Arrived at the hotel about 11.30pm on the Thursday night, tired, hungry and needing a drink. Only to be greeted with a room with a shower cubicle and no access. After several false starts we finally managed to get the right room the following day when some people checked out. Phew we can finally relax.

Barcelona is a great place with mostly accessible restaurants and bars. The people are very friendly and helpful and the food is great. We stayed right in the heart of Barcelona just round the corner from "Les Rambles" which is I suppose the Oxford Street of Barcelona but with great bars, restaurants and street entertainers. Les Rambles is about 1 ½ miles long and is on a very slight gradient so very easy pushing one way but not so much fun the other way after a while but a good workout all the same. Seeing as though I can be lazy at times, it was time to get the trike out. The trike made life so easy, it was a breeze to whiz down to the harbour for some lunch and back up again to the hotel for a quick siesta!!

Jo and I didn't do as much sight seeing as we should have as there is so much to see, but we did go to The Sagrada Família which is the cities world famous Cathedral built by Gaudi. But still not finished! Check out www.barcelonaturisme.com for more info.

                   

                           

I loved Barcelona and would recommend it to anyone. The city is very well organised for wheelchairs and the people are very helpful if you need assistance. I will hopefully be back there soon.