Barcelona Bound
- Cole & Jessica Ivancic
- May 10, 2018
- 4 min read
Hey everyone, Cole here. I wanted to pop in and catch everyone up on where Jessica and I are at currently. Jessica has written two posts in the last day or so that cover a wealth of information, and I will put together a post that covers what I experienced personally through all of this, what kind of support I was able to provide Jessica/what support I received from others, and how I processed it all.
In the meantime however, here are some updates on our travels so far! Jess and I departed from Boise, Idaho on may 8th, 2018. Our flight left just a hair after 5pm, which gave us the day to get things finished up at work, take care of a few last-minute errands (I had to get in one last barber appointment before being gone for so long!), and most importantly it gave us time to spend with our two pups!
The first flight took us from Boise to Seattle. Just a quick jaunt, hardly enough time to get into the book you brought, but more than enough time to put down those two bags of honey mustard pretzels they give you! Our biggest concern was getting through TSA/Security in Boise with our meds. We had contacted TSA via phone the week prior to our departure to ask about the protocol for traveling with liquid/injectable medications and hypodermic needles with a prescription from an out of country physician. The agent on the phone was very helpful and assured us that as long as we had the prescription, we would be good. We found this hard to believe, but it turned out to be true! The agent that inspected Jess's bag was not concerned at all about the meds, but was more interested in swabbing every one of the 50 or so snacks that she had packed.
Fast forward a few hours and we are in Seattle, Washington trying to hunt down a meal that wouldn't cost us a small fortune, why is airport food so expensive?! We settled on some to-go sandwiches from a Hudson's store and settled in at our gate to eat and watch the Houston Rockets put away the Utah Jazz. We spoke with a gate agent after being called to the counter who asked to see our luggage tags to enter into the system. I had mine, only to use as a bookmark and Jessica had tossed hers on the previous flight. Does anyone really keep those anyway? The agent said she was able to find Jessica's tag number in the system, and that her bag would be transferred and arrive in Barcelona without issue.......fingers crossed I guess, because there's no stopping the train at this point!
Our flight from Seattle to London was about 9.5 hours, enough time for me to watch Black Panther, sleep through Thor: Ragnarok, re-start Thor: Ragnarok while eating what was supposed to be chicken curry, and then sleep some more. It had been nearly 20 years since I had been in London-Heathrow Airport, so I could not recall how hellish this place was to navigate. After changing terminals, we had to go through security checkpoint again, cue the stress of tying to check meds.......again. I made it though without an issue. Jessica made it through without issue, her person did at least. LHR security scrutinized her meds in the x-ray machine for about 8-10 minutes, blocking up the entire line. We finally get her bag, without further incident. I guess they were able to get their act together and realized that she was transporting medications, and not something more sinister. However, much time and stress could have been saved if they could have just pulled her tray, called us over and questioned us, but oh well, we were through. We gathered our things, threw on our shoes, and hoofed it to the gate, just in time to board our final flight, London to Barcelona!!
We boarded the flight and sat on the tarmac for an extra 30 minutes waiting for bags to be loaded, aside from roasting in a metal tube with 100+ strangers for half an hour, this wasn't too bad. 90 minutes after taking off, we landed in Barcelona, Spain. Our home for the next 5 weeks. Much to our relief, all of our luggage made it without issue. We located the shuttle for our hotel and set off from the airport.
Our hotel is located in El Prat de Llobregat, a neighborhood of Barcelona if you will. We will be staying here for about 1 week until we move into an apartment closer to the IVF clinic for the remainder of our trip. Our first night was relatively low-key. We unpacked our luggage, changed, and walked down the road to a small pizzeria for dinner. The food was amazing, our Spanish skills.....not so much. One difficulty we have encountered, but did not expect, is that the residents in this area will switch from Spanish to Catalan, which has added a whole new level of complexity to the language barrier.
Our first full day took us down the road to a small cafe for breakfast, walking around El Prat, taking the train all around Barcelona to familiarize ourselves with the layout and stops of the train, back to our hotel for a dip in the pool, and will end at a tapas bar around the corner.
As day 1 in Barcelona comes to an end, so does this wall of text. We look forward to checking in with you all soon! Thank you all so much for all of your warm wishes, kind words, and loving support, it means the world to us!
Te veo pronto
Cole
Muy bien mi hijo!!!!!