Why Travel

Home Cafe

Some of the best trips, or best bits of trips, come down to discovering a great cafe early on (or whenever it strikes you) and returning there many times over even the few days you are in the destination, city or otherwise. 

There is nothing quite like making yourself an instant regular, as it were.  It gives you a home base, a place to meet one another and the locals, and a lense to experience your experience through.  And a place to miss once you return home, or wherever you are on to next or later.

Our family week in Barcelona was lovely, and we all miss Bar Calders, the little cafe around the corner in an alley that our rental agent suggested to us for our first coffee and lunch when she checked us in.  We returned there, for one drink or snack or another, day after day, first thing in the morning or last thing at night.  We watched the corner of the screen from outside as FC Barcelona played the European Cup and drank free cava poured by the owners when they won.  This is where I first discovered Vichy Catelan, and the perfect way that Barcelona cafes serve iced espresso (a small glass of espresso, and a big glass with giant ice cubs on the side).  Nevermind the cava, the sangria, and the theatrical way they poured a little bottle of tonic water down a straw to make the gin and tonic.

A home away from your home away from home seems even more critical when sharing accomodation with family members.  But it is always a treat, even when traveling alone.

 

Trip Planning: Barcelona with Parents

More and more I tend and prefer to plan less and less, when it comes to travel.  And this is starting from a point where on my first trip outside the English speaking world I photocopied the Budapest and Prague articles from back issues of Time Out London office.  Literally.

I think of it as both fun and funny to show up with barely a guidebook or a single article, tips from a few friends, and hopefully one or more local contacts however vague (a cousin's cousin's study abroad roomate in a 3rd country from 20 years ago is usually good for a cup of tea, a walk, or even a free lunch or getting to sit in a chair on the floor of the parliament).

I like to wander, ask strangers' advice, get tips from the B&B owner or bartender.

Now I have a husband who likes to buy or at least peruse at the bookstore as many guidebooks as he can find, usually from three of our favorite bookstores, one of which is a travel bookstore, and bring them all along.  Plus dictionaries.

My parents rarely travel abraod and since this trip has been in the works and put off for several years, we've had many Christmases to buy each other guidebooks for this one.

And we're just going to Barcelona for a week.

I've never traveled as a grown up with family before.  So what are your tips for planning a grown up family vacation?  How can we make the planning, and the exploring, a bonding experience, rather than a source of potential conflict? And what are your tips for Barcelona or nearby?