Braving it in Barcelona

what a roller coaster ride we had when we arrived in Barcelona!
Land at 12:30pm and weren't allowed to get off the plane for about 15 mins (felt like an hour!). We kept entertained watching our bags come off the plane. Eventually we ourselves were unloaded onto a bus which seemed to drive around aimlessly and then deposited us at doors which soon after we entered we saw backed up 100s of people  - as far as the eye could see! Possibly almost 2009 people banked up at any given time! A strike we later heard.

Now we were on a small flight so we knew this wasn't jus tour fellow passengers. Instructions were being yelled out in Spanish only but our lessons hadn't wuite covered the rapid fire delivery of these!!
People were being sent back from the queue they'd tried to join (EU only)  and were needing to get to the back of the line as there didn't seem to be any differentiation. All in the same boat!, there was shameless queue jumping, people were crying as they were missing transfers etc (one lady was getting married on a cruise ship sailing in 4 hours and the rest of her family was already on it!)
It took us 2 hours in that queue to be processed.
Then came the drama of finding out bags. By this stage so many flights had landed that none of the screens at the conveyor belts had our flight number on them. So here we were 100s of confused people wandering around looking for our luggage - lost, upset, tearful. It was like being back at the emergency evacuation centre. We walked and walked round and round peering hopefully at the various piles of bags. There was no one manning the information desk and the few staff that were around were not responding to queries.
Eventually we found our bags and I can't even begin to describe my joy!
So now we could start a hassle free trip to our van hire place right? Wrong! Because then began the drama of train travel with a man who doesn't get detailed info and never asks for directions or help! After hopping on and off ra done trains and backtracking until I eas nearly in tears (no food for 6 hours can do that to me!). And then I had a "I am in Spain" moment when a trio of musicians (double base, piano accordion and trumpet) hopped on to our train and started playing ragtime and pop. So cool! My first smile for the day! 😊
We eventually found our way to the Wicked depot and the relief when I saw that it didn't have anything overly offensive (the guy an Aussie called Mick) actually offered to tape over one bit as he knew my views on Wicked signage :).
A quick trip to Carrefour (so huge I was afraid of getting lost!) to buy supplies and sheets and $60 we were off and away.
Lucky to be invitees to stay with a delightful Spanish couple Antonio and Guillerma (friends of a friend in WA). Not a word of enough ("thank you very much" and "how are you wa the extent of Fuillerma's!) and so the little Spanish we have learnt came into good use!
The van is right hand drive and driving on the right side of the road is doing Ben's head in and making me feel very vulnerable!!
Ben will write more about the driving experience when we have more Internet connection. In Madrid at the moment and loving it!!