The Ultimate Jet Setter

On my last day I slept until about 9:30am packed my stuff and checked out. At most hostels if you need to leave your luggage you can do so free of charge in a room at the hostel. To my surprise this isn't the way St Christopher's Inn does it. There are several lockers and you have to pay to keep your luggage in the storage. It's €3.50/£2.35/$3.80 for 6 hours or €5/£3.90/$6.40 for 12 hours and you'll pay more if you overun. It sucks if you have a lot of luggage or more than one large suitcase as you will need at least 2 lockers.  Afterwards I did some window shopping at the 5 pillars of Spain's retail conglomerate including Zara, Pull & Bear and Bershka. I went to the Santa Caterina market which is another food market that is nicer and less touristy than La Boquiera. I bought some iberico to take home, walked through Placa Santa Maria to El Born and stopped at a tapas bar for a glass of sangria and free wifi.  I then walked back to Placa Catalunya to Passeig de G...

I decided to go on a 'free' walking tour today as I felt I still didn't have my bearings on Barcelona and wanted to know more about the city and its history. I started the tour at 11am outside Jaume metro and was 2.5 hours. We went to several places including  Barri Gotic, El Born, Cathedral and several plazas. The tour guide was very enthusiastic but a tad too long. It overran by half an hour which sucks when your knackered from walking in the Sun and hearing the same voice for hours. I gave a tip of €5 but you can give however much you think the tour is worth/how much you like the tour guide.  After the tour I went back to my hostel for a bit then went to Parc Guëll which is another Gaudi masterpiece. You can buy tickets online or on the day. It's €7/£5.50/$9 online or €1 more to purchase on the day. Head to Vallcarca metro station and follow the signs to the park. The park is not the place for elderly or unfit people as there are a lot of stairs and hills. To get to ...

The one thing I knew I needed to do was go to Sagrada Familia. I booked my tickets online which I would recommend you do as it will save you a lot of time on the day. Tickets are €14/£11/$18 and I chose the 9am slot, it's quite easy to get to Sagrada using the metro. I mistakenly got on the train instead of the metro and proceeded to get very lost. So I ended up getting a taxi from Placa Catalunya to Sagrada which took 10 minutes. I got to Sagrada at 8:40 and there was already a queue of possibly 60 people. At 9am they opened the doors and it's very beautiful and breathtaking inside. The architecture is amazing and my favourite part was the stained glass windows.  After Sagrada I got the metro to Jaume which is close to the Barcelona Cathedral. You can get a one journey metro ticket or a 10 journey ticket for €10/£7.80/$12.80. I headed to a cafe opposite the Cathedral for a croissant and a coffee and walked around the side streets close to the Cathedral. One thing I must say ab...

I decided to take a short trip to one of the best cities in Spain. Barcelona!  I flew EasyJet from Gatwick and landed at 2pm. There's a blue airport shuttle outside the terminal which takes you to the centre of the city. It's €6/£4.70/$7.70 and takes about 30 minutes.  I was staying at St Christopher's Inn Hostel which came to about £20/€25/$32 a night and is in a great location and includes free breakfast, although this was nothing to brag about and is 100% missable. The bus stops at one of the biggest plazas in Barcelona, Placa Catalunya. The hostel is off one of the streets on the plaza. After I checked into the hostel I met my friend Alison who is currently studying in Barcelona. It was a public holiday in Barcelona that day so several stores and restaurants were closed. We walked up Passieg de Gracia which eventually leads to an area called Gracia. Passeig de Gracia houses several designer shops, restaurants and hotels. We went to a restaurant called Tapa Tapa which se...

On our second day which was a Sunday we weren't sure what to do before our bus journey as there isn't much to do in the city of Mendoza.  After we checked out we went for a wander to some of the different plazas and we came across a tour bus going to Parque General San Martin which is a large park in Mendoza which we wanted to go to. The tour was an hour and a half which we thought would kill at bit of time and was 45 pesos/£3.30/€4/$5.60.  The tour guide told you lots of information about Mendoza and the park but it was all in Spanish so if you don't speak Spanish I wouldn't recommend it. There are some really good views of greenery and mountains as we got to the top of the park as some areas of it are hilly.  After the tour we had lunch and wanted to find a wine shop that was open as on Sundays most places are closed. We found one wine shop that was open that actually did tasting also. We were told a bit of the history of the bodega and tasted several wines, some reds...

I decided to go to Mendoza this time as I'm a fan of Argentine wine and I wanted to explore more of Argentina. You can either fly or bus to the city which is very close to the Chilean border.  We decided to get a 12 hour bus journey to Mendoza, we bought our tickets from the Retiro bus station in Buenos Aires. There are three classes, first, second and third. First class is a leather seat which goes all the way back like a bed, second class doesn't go all the way back and third class is more like the seat you get in an airplane.  We chose the first class which was 1600 pesos/£118/€144/$200. I thought it was a bit steep but totally worth it when we got on the bus. It was definitely first class, large leather seats that reclined all the way back, very comfortable, small tv screens with English films, blanket, headphones, dinner and drinks. There was also bingo on the bus which I think was an anomaly. My friend won the bingo which was funny and we won a bottle of wine.  Afte...

Just a list of a few of my favourite places to eat and drink in BA.  BURGER JOINT There are 4 types of burgers: American, Jamacian, Blue Cheese and The Mexican.  Each burger is 45 pesos/£3.30/€4.05/$5.60 and a little more for fríes and drinks which include beer, sangria and soft drinks.  It's a really cool atmosphere with writings on the wall in addition to good burgers.  Located at 1766 Jorge Luis Borges near Plaza Serrano.  La Choza Located on 1701 Gascon in Palermo, this is one of the nicest parillas I've been to. Quite an upmarket restaurant with fast and attentive waiters.  The steak here is amazing as are most places in BA, all steaks are great prices start from 88 pesos/£6.59/€8/$11 which is great value and extra for any sides you may desire.   PANERA ROSA Panera Rosa is a cute cafe with good menu items such as waffles, pattiserie, salads, sandwiches and burgers. The food is yummy but a bit pricey compared to other places in BA.  I had a g...