Tuesday, March 09, 2004

I dont like Barcelona

Its got nothing to do with the buildings or the city. In fact Barcelona is considered one of the best cities in Europe. However, this beautiful city had never hold any good memories for us.

The first time we were here, Minna's bag was almost carted away by snatch thief and it was here that we witnessed the Enam Jahanam modus operandi stealing wallets and targetting tourists like us.

And this time, the train which was supposed to reach the city at 9.30am only stopped at the platform half-an-hour after the slotted time.

I was stopped by the policia and we only found out that Gerona is 100 km away from Barcelona, we missed the bus by minutes and we almost ran out of money!

I was among the chosen ones selected to have my bag scanned and searched by the police. We were just stepped off the escalator. Jules was ahead of me and she headed straight to the information counter. I was looking for her when a policeman flashed his badge at me and told me to follow him to have my bag searched. Wei! What is this? I explained that we were trying to catch a plane from Gerona to Birmingham..

"Just take a minute," he said and continued ushered me to the bag compartment area. I was still looking for Jules. Finally she saw me.

"Alamak Jules! Aku kena tahan!" cheh! these policemen.

There were several others in front of me and a few from the same train. I put my bag on the conveyor belt for the x-ray scan. Then the policeman checked my passport and asked where I enter Spain. Told him that we enter from Orly Paris and showed him the stamp. Then he asked me to open the bag.

I've compacted my bag and it was stuffed to the brim with my things. I was reluctant to open the bag as it would be difficult to close it again. But the policeman insisted.

My chocolate bars that I put in my bag formed a square black thing if seen through the x-ray monitor. I guess he thought that I was carrying a bomb or something so he kept wedging his hands inside the bag to pull my chocolate bars which I wrapped in plastic bags. I told him it were chocolate bars I bought to bring home.

He pulled out the plastic bag halfway and peered inside. He even sniffed the bars. "Ah! chocolat!" he exclaimed.

Yeah! I told him did I not?

The search took about 10 minutes and the policeman saw my exasperation helped me to stuffed the bars back into the bag and zipped it close. Thank you. He gave me a pat on the back and said thank you and sent me on my way.

I met Jules who were waiting for me. She was with the policeman who stopped me earlier. "OK?" he asked me. I just nodded. I was not in the mood to entertain anybody. Do I look like terrorist? Grrr...

We proceed back to the counter and asked how far it is to Gerona and which transport I can take. She said we have another five minutes to catch the bus to Gerona and other alternative is to take a cab. The airport is about 100 km away.

God! Why was it so difficult for us to go to UK?

I decided to withdraw more money from the ATM machine and look for a cab. There is no other alternative but to take a cab to Gerona Airport. We have an hour to reach the airport and another half-and-hour to check in.

So we met a taxi woman and told her gerona eoroporto. Asked price but she did not understand English. So I used sign of money. She wrote down 110EUR. Thats the most expensive taxi ride I have ever took.

Jules was not in the mood, so she slept the whole journey. I was too worried to even feel tired although I hardly sleep in the train. I kept looking at the time and prayed that we would made it to the airport before the flight depart.

We made it. It was an hour before the departure time and we paid the taxi ride. She gave discount and asked for EUR100 only. Okay. While I paid the fare, Jules pulled the trolley for the bags and we almost ran to the RyanAir counter.

Since we checked in late, they only gave us 15kg each of bag to check in. Mine was 19kg while Jules made up the rest of the 40kg that were displayed on the monitor. Have no other choice but to swipe her credit card for the rest of the weight.

Got our boarding ticket and headed to the departure hall. It was on the second floor of the airport. Halfway waiting, there was an announcement on the PA system that the passengers for Ryan Air have to proceed to another departure hall which is at the other side of the airport.

By 12.30pm, we were already in the plane waiting for the take off. It will be three hours flight from Barcelona to Birmingham so we took the opportunity to get shut eyes.
The flight was three-quarter full so we had the three seats for ourselves.

The sun and blue sky were slowly replaced by grey clouds.. the captain announced that we were already in the France air. It would take another hour to reach Birmingham. Time for another shut eye.

The sky looked gloom when we finally touched down in Birmingham airport. Filled in embarkation form at the immigration lane and waited for our turns. The officers asked a few basic questions before letting us go and we proceed to the carousel to wait for our baggage.

Went into the toilet to freshen up. Been couped up in the train staring at mamat bunga and listening his ngada-ngada voice over the phone with his girlfriend made me feel that I need to wash at least my ears hahahaha. Then it was Jules turn to freshen up.

Minna and Abg Annis were already waiting for us outside. We hugged each other and Abg Annis said he wanted to belanja us dinner. Well, okay. We were actually hungry because we did not have any breakfast or lunch. It was already 5pm and my stomach had protested by singing the keroncong song hahaha.

Off we went to the parking area and Abg Annis had a hard time to put our big bags into his cute Fiat Punto boot. Minna gave me my leather jacket. Yea! Finally I got my leather jacket, the one that she bought for me for £50.

We stopped at this one warehouse shops area where Abg Annis said he wanted to buy some tools and where we can have light dinner. It was already 6.30pm and we were browsing some shops while waiting for Abg Annis to select his tools.

It was almost Mother's Day celebration and most shops displayed gifts for mothers. From towels, to kitchenware to clothes to almost everything available for gifts to mom. Jules went in sports shop but none of the shirts appeal to her.

Finally we went to Pizza Hut and Abg Annis ordered some vegetarian pizza for us. It was nice to finally reach UK and meal with them. We talked about life in UK and how's Minna is coping there and our journey in Spain.

After dinner, we headed for another hour journey to Hull. It was already 8.30pm and Minna gave us the master bedroom for the night. After shower and performing the solats, we went down to cook for dinner and wash our dirty clothes.

Told Minna that I have craving for nasi goreng so she made one for me yea! I got my nasi goreng!. Minna had already made chicken curry earlier and fried some chicken and vegetables. We heated the dishes and later carted them at the living room for dinner. The living room was a dining room before but Abg Annis was doing some renovation work at the actual living room so they converted the dining room as both dining and living temporarily.

I saw a lot of improvement at Abg Annis house since I came here in Queensgate street, last year. There were rugs covering the furniture and there are more feminine touches. Where once the fireplace was bare now it filled with scented candles, valentine and birthday cards and other knick knacks.

So after dinner, we chit chat for a while and headed straight to bed. While Jules took the bed, I opted for the futon and browse the tv channels...

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