Chapter 17: Barcelona
Fly London and Houston; Business Calls
02.10.2023 - 02.10.2023 72 °F
View From Barcelona on Cunard on paulej4's travel map.
"Homeward Bound"
Monday, October 2, 2023
We have a flight to catch. 10:35am. That's pushing it.
Docking in Barcelona at 6:30, we have other ships in port as our neighbors. The 1,970 passenger Celebrity Infinity is here along with the massive 5,224 passenger Costa Smeralda and the 2,894 passenger Mein Schiff 2.
Last night we declined the opportunity to place our two large bags outside our cabin door due to a fear that there could be a delay in the crew marshaling them ashore (in the "brown" 8:15 departure group) in favor of rolling both that pair and our two regular roll-aboards off ourselves.
As a result, we are among the very first to depart Queen Elizabeth. Told that first Fast Track (you handle your own baggage) departures could be at 7:30, we arrived at the gangway on Deck 3 at 7:15 but, even early, they happily wished us bon voyage. In a taxi five minutes later and at the airport a half hour after that, we were actually early for check in at the British Airways Club Europe (business class) check in counter. Once staff arrived we sent our big bags down the conveyor belt, grabbed printed boarding passes for both upcoming flights, cleared security, cleared passport control and arrived at the SALA "VIP" Lounge at 9:00. Easy-breezy.
Our friends all are staying in Barcelona for another night before flying home but we did not have the luxury of doing that; B4 has a Board Meeting in Houston starting tomorrow.
As we leave, the Queen will make a couple of more 7-night voyage turnarounds from Barcelona before exiting the Med. Here's what's she's doing next:
Would I join for those next 41 days? Sure. I've never transited the Suez Canal or been to Jakarta or Bali or Perth or Adelaide before arriving in Melbourne, where I have also never been. (In Australia, my visit was to Sydney and Manley only). But B4 and I have other things to accomplish.
After B4's Houston Board of Directors meeting, we have a couple of days in Kansas City and then head down to Vero. The 'new' condo should be completely finished, including the missing and back-ordered shelves and bins for the long, long-delayed SubZero refrigerator and SubZero freezer (taking two years to deliver due to supply chain computer chip issues). Then, we're back and forth between Vero and Kansas City until December when we're off to our other favorite place in the world--Cabo San Lucas--for two weeks. Then it's back to Vero for the holidays. There'll be a surprise or two somewhere during that time--that's the way we are. And that's the way we like to be.
So, what's your take about this journey? Would you have enjoyed it or would you have gone crazy humoring us? One thing is certain for the majority of you. If you read all of these entries (we count just over 3,000 views on these daily chapters), some of you know more about cruising than you once did.
We will be back aboard Cunard--this time aboard Queen Mary 2 for a "crossing" (sure to be fun because Sam and James are hosting) from Southampton to Brooklyn in June, 2024.
Want to tag along? There's still room, er, cabin.
Update: Upon arrival at George Bush Incontinental Airport in Houston, one of our two identically checked bags failed to arrive. It's a mystery how two identical bags, checked at the same moment with the same agent, both to go on the same aircraft under the same passenger's name on the same route can get separated with one making it to its destination and one not. Our Air Tag says it is still in London.
Oh, well...
