Leading up to The Big Bus Journey ( 13 photos )
We awoke with not a good situation on our hands - Liz was not feeling well at all. By this stage we had worked out it must have been some bug or other in her system, as we eat almost identically and I was feeling fine.
I organised us out of the hostel, putting our things in the storage area, before we decided that not much at all was going to get done today. Instead, we rested, taking the opportunity to get some journal done sitting in the hostel. We would have liked to see some more things, but we had infact seen a lot in our days around the city and thought some R&R would be the best thing.
Around 2pm, we jumped on a Metro down to Marty's to pick up our big bag we had left there previously. First we went into the huge supermarket there to grab some supplies for the bus journey, where we bumped into Katherine. She was also leaving shortly, flying out on a plane a couple of hours before us - lucky thing!
We walked up to Marty's, managing somehow to press the right doorbell button and get inside. Since we had to get moving and Liz still wasn't feeling the best, we didn't stay too long, bidding them both farewell until we see them in Sydney over Christmas.
Our next stop was to the EasyEverything internet café to use up the credit we had purchased when first arriving, which had lasted us well. It turned out we could use it on two computers at the same time, leaving us both to get through some emails.
We also wanted a wander up and down La Rambla once again, this time with me with digital camera on hand for some snaps around the place, including Monumnent a Colom at the bottom of La Rambla. This done, it was back to the hostel to organise some dinner, and by this stage Liz was feeling much better. Perhaps getting out and on the town a little had fixed her up.
There wasn't much left in the day but to wander slowly to the bus station with all our gear to catch our 8pm bus to Paris. Along the way we found a really cheap barber, so I sat down and let him go more than a little overboard, happy that however bad it looked at least it cost five euros. And even that I had found earlier in the day on the ground :)
After a little bit of a scare (the bus company we had booked with was actually operating under a different name), we located our bus stop and just had to wait until it arrived. Once it did, we chucked our bags in the back, and went through the crowds to get inside. It was a huge double-decker bus, and the bottom level was full, which didn't bode well for our travel sickness concerns. The top level was also pretty full, but we managed to convince a couple to stop hogging two seats each, leaving us together for fifteen hours or so towards Paris.
This couple also had a young baby, which was more than a little concerning, but he behaved himself amazingly well, and was more than a little interested in us strange-looking Aussies.
It turned out that we didn't feel sick at all!! This was an amazing breakthrough, as my parents will no doubt attest to just how sick I used to get just driving around Sydney, let alone on long journeys. We made our first stop around 11pm back in Girona, then we dozed off for the night, lulled to sleep by the dark lighting and people deciding to be quiet around us.
Somewhere along the way, we crossed the border back into France.
(customised)