Our final week of gap year was a mixture of trying to soak up our final moments in Barcelona, while doing the necessary things for our return to America. We did a lot of car shopping which even I don’t find interesting and it’s my car. The final day of this week (day 366) details our return trip to America.

Travel Log: Day 360 (6/22), Spain

Today I was feeling pretty run down. I went to the gym but I was weak on my lifts, and I didn’t even do my HIIT/core rounds when I got home. My stomach sort of hurt too.

For lunch we went over to the market that is right off of La Rambla. The food quality was disappointing, and I tried quite a bit of it. I had some wings, an empanada, and a burrito. The burrito was actually pretty good. Everyone else agreed the food was mediocre at best. I think it’s typical of these types of markets where the food is all sitting out for who knows how long.

I talked with someone from Schomp about a new Crosstrek Sport they have that is configured like the used Crosstrek Sport that I like. They said it will arrive on 7/2, give or take a week, and that we can reserve it with a $500 deposit. Told her I would think about it and get back in touch. I was about to contact Mike Shaw about their used one but then figured there was no point unless we have decided to put a deposit to reserve it. Having never driven a Crosstrek we’re hesitant to put down a non-refundable deposit.

JC and I went for a walk in the evening. Relevant to the topic of FIRE, JC had a conversation with her mom about how I’m not going back and immediately looking for a job, and that we could never work again as long as we maintain our current lifestyle. We’re prepping both of our moms with this info so they don’t worry when they see me not working.

Travel Log: Day 361 (6/23), Spain

I’m feeling better today and was able to lift at full strength at the gym and complete my HIIT/core rounds.

I took a long nap today between car searches.

In the afternoon we all went to the beach. BC and I played catch, but like usual he’s reading thoughts into my head that I’m not thinking. He often either thinks he’s embarrassing me with bad passes or catches, even though I don’t care at all how good he is at football. The other misread though is that I’m not having fun. I guess because I’m not smiling all the time. I was relieved to hear he does similar things to JC when they play catch.

Travel Log: Day 362 (6/24), Spain

JC and I went to the beach this morning. I started working on my Spain travel reflections.

For lunch we ordered Indian food but only BC and I really ate much of it. The girls had some samosas.

JC and I went back to the beach for a happy hour in the evening.

Travel Log: Day 363 (6/25), Spain

JC and I both slept like crap last night after drinking. We didn’t even have that much to drink and it was still brutal. I guess drinking is just for people in their 20’s, because it doesn’t even feel all that good in the moment any more, and the after effects are always a full bad day. It really clouds my thinking and makes everything seem bad, so I can’t even trust my thoughts the day after. It seems less and less worth it to have entire bad days for a few hours of feeling slightly better than normal.

We took a trip to the beach in the evening to eat a picnic there. AC and I got Las Fritas along the way to have for dinner, and BC and JC packed stuff to eat. The beach was surprisingly full the entire time we were there, even well after dark.

Travel Log: Day 364 (6/26), Spain

After sleeping well last night, I felt much better and was thinking clearly today. JC and I went to the beach in the morning, and then I went to the gym later in the afternoon. I tweaked my back at the gym, but it’s not too bad, and nothing close to the Jaco back tweak.

We are mentally checked out of Spain and the year at this point, but we’re still enjoying these final beach moments. JC and I went back to the beach in the evening for a sober happy hour. We also walked up on the elevated concrete walkway by the hotel.

It was AC’s movie pick, and she chose Tuck Everlasting. We read that book as a family a long time ago, and it was a good movie.

Travel Log: Day 365 (6/27), Spain

Holy shit, last day of the year, day 365. It was a weird day today with the end of gap year and our return to the US looming tomorrow.

I’m feeling a net sadness overall. We will never be on this gap year again – it was just a brief moment in our lives that will forever be in the past starting tomorrow. This realization has occurred many times to me in the last few months of the trip, how amazing it is that on that day, we are still on this gap year. If we’re lucky each of us is going to have lived about 30,000 days in our lives, and only 365 of those will be on gap year.

JC and I went to the beach for another sober happy hour. It was enjoyable as usual and I mostly spent my time thinking about how I’m going to miss having Barceloneta beach available to us.

We had a makeshift dinner of whatever was left in the fridge. Some quesadillas, over hard eggs, chips, fruit, etc. After that we packed all of our stuff up and we’re going to try to get to bed a little early for our 4:30am departure.

Travel Log: Day 366 (6/28), Spain to USA

Leaving Our Airbnb

After a few hours of spotty sleep, we got up at about 3:45am to take exit pictures of the Airbnb and catch our cab. Both us and our cab were early, so we got to the airport about 15 minutes before we could go to the check-in counter.

Barcelona Airport

At check-in they offered to check our bags for free, and said we would probably be forced to gate check them anyway. I don’t think it was any sort of size issue with our bags, just that too many people were carrying on. There was a super bitchy lady in front of us raging that her bags might get gate-checked, and we felt really sorry for the guy at the counter having to talk to her.

After getting to our gate, we got some coffee and weird breakfast items. We watched the sun come up for the first time in I don’t know how long – we had a really good view of it out the huge windows.

London Heathrow

The flight to London was fine, and we went through security again upon arrival. In order to get to the right terminal we had to take a really shitty bus ride. It was a pretty long ride, maybe 10 minutes, and super herky-jerky so we were hanging on for dear life. JC was already motion sick getting off the plane and that didn’t help. We had to take a second crappy bus from the gate to our plane.

The flight to Denver was pure torture just from the perceived progression of time. It was a 8hr 50min flight, but it felt far worse than our roughly 12 hour flight to Tokyo. I had an aisle seat, and AC, JC, and BC had a middle row of three seats right behind me. My seat mate was really great, a small quiet female college student. I’m not sure why the flight felt so so long, because it was pretty standard. The annoyances were just the usual such as it being really cold, turbulence, etc.

USA

Immigration into the US was quick, just a few minutes. Although JC and AC got pulled through a traditional booth because her information that we entered somewhere (they didn’t specify), didn’t match her passport. I guess we must have messed up entering it into British Airways systems.

At baggage claim my bag and AC’s bag came but JC’s never did. She had to fill out a form, and they already had her name on a list before she did that. Hopefully she will get it tomorrow sometime since they know it’s in London, and they can send it on the next flight.

We were in pretty bad shape upon arrival at JC’s mom’s house. We didn’t even eat dinner, and just managed to shower and do the bare minimum before going to bed around 8:30pm.