ACTIVIITIES

The school makes sure that in addition to hiring excellent teachers, they have a full staff of young energetic "hosts" that create and accompany excursions everyday. The conversation is exclusively in Spanish. You are forced to learn quickly if you don't want to be in the dark. My first trip was a walk through the "Gothic Quarter", one of the oldest areas of B. We visited the Cathedral of B. It so happens that a girls choir from Philadelphia was singing. We finished in a famous Tapas Bar to properly learn the art of selecting, eating and paying for Tapas. A requirement if one is to exist in B. The. Next day was a boat excursion out of the port of B, same place where a year earlier I caught my Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea cruise on the RCL Quantum of the Sea. Finished the day with a dinner in the open mercado with two of my classmates, one a doctor from Bergen Norway and the other a chef from Oslo Sweden. That evening, we had Sangria and Salsa lessons on the the rooftop patio. As you can tell I didn't have much time to review my class work. This is an immersion program. They teach by throwing you in it. But it is still very difficult for me. I never had much luck with language while in high school and I'm not finding it any easier. However, after living in the Southwest for most of my life, my "diction" is one of the best in the school according to my teachers. I don't know what to say, but whatever I say, sounds very good!

PHOTOS HERE

SPANISH SCHOOL

The purpose of this trip was to visit Barcelona, which I had first seen last summer to board the Quantum of the Sea Mediterranean Cruise. I thought I should have something constructive to do so I enrolled in an Spanish School. There are several good programs in Barcelona to choose from. I made my selection based on the fact that most only start beginners at a certain week of the month and I needed to start that Monday. The school is very well organized on two different buildings a block apart in Downtown B. I had 4 hours of continuous classroom time. Fortunately, I like coffee and there are several shops between the two buildings. My Level A-0 had 10 students from all over the world. All spoke pretty good English and all wanted to learn Spanish.

PHOTOS HERE

TO SPAIN

The Flight from Hell What ever happened to companies that take pride in the product or service they offer? I'm referring to the airline industry. Now running your flights on time and getting the baggage, that we now have to pay for; to the clint on the other end should be pretty basic. Well it wasn't for this passenger. I planned this trip last November when I purchased some miles from American. Why American? For a Houston based traveler, well they had miles on sale and and as a frequent traveler, I couldn't resist. Next year Ill listen to my friend Eddie the travel agent and by pass American. Anyway the short hop from Houston Bush to DFW on the A320 was uneventful. It was only after arriving in Dallas that the texts staring coming thru announcing the delay. I went to the club to attempt a reroute, but was told for security reasons that would not be possible. Anyway we left 4 hours late which caused me to miss a connection in Madrid. Because the flights out of Madrid were full, I nad another 4 hours on Madrid. I Finally arrived at the apartment in Barcelona @ 9PM instead of the original planned 1 P M. Over the last 5 years I have flown overseas without a problem. All have been on foreign based carriers. This was the first time on a American based airline. So much for FF miles.

PHOTOS HERE