Hello Queens👸🏽 and Kings🤴🏾 and welcome back to another look into my life! So, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I took a trip to Barcelona, Spain with my bestie in March to celebrate my 31st birthday! A GLORIOUS TRIP IT WAS INDEED!!! So we flew from Chicago to Dublin, Ireland and then to Barcelona, Spain. We were only in Barcelona for one day because we took a 10 day cruise from Barcelona to Morocco, then multiple ports of Spain. We had a blast! Life since returning home has been… Life… Therefore I’m just getting around to making these much anticipated blogs about the trip! (I got you Triplet!)… So this is the first of a series! This first blog will cover Barcelona with pictures included! Enjoy!

Ok, so… This trip was my third time flying intentionally, but my first time with this long of a flight! Altogether the flight from Chicago to Barcelona was like 13 hours! We flew with Aer Lingus. The actual flight wasn’t bad, but the seats were a bit uncomfortable. I mean in all actuality, I feel that if you aren’t a child or any bigger than a size 10/12, you’re going to be uncomfortable on any flight! As was the case with this one. Definitely made us make a mental note to prepare extra coins to book first class seats on any future international trips!

Aer Lingus gives out earphones, blankets and pillows for their flights. Nice accommodations.

Best part of the flight was the entertainment! These little TVs were awesome!

I have been wanting to visit Barcelona since 2002 when Paulina Rubio aired on MTV Cribs. Her home was beautiful and when they panned over the area surrounding her home, I was IN LOVE! Ever since then, Barcelona has been on my bucket list. Now I can cross it off because I’ve been there, BUT I definitely want to go back one day and just spend some days in just Barcelona and maybe some surrounding areas.

Barcelona was beautiful from the moment we landed! It was a little wet and gloomy, yet still beautiful! I was totally amp from the moment we landed!

We stayed at H10 Marina Hotel in Barcelona. The hotel was really nice. Not extremely far from the pier for those that are thinking of cruising from there also. Everyone there was so welcoming and pleasant. The check-in process was a breeze and they even helped us book a cab to the pier for our cruise the next day.

So we’re wrapping up our check-in, signing all the papers, then the concierge hands us our room keys and our room number was my birthday!!! Y’all, I couldn’t believe it! Like literally, I got choked up and almost cried. In my head I’m like, “It was meant!”. Sign from God that this is about to be an EPIC ADVENTURE! I had to take a pic in case people didn’t believe it happened!

Once we got into our room and settled in WE PASSED OUT!!! Neither of us had slept in forever and finally the exhaustion of it all caught up with us. One minute we were talking about food and the next we were asleep. We didn’t wake up for like 5 hours! But when we woke up, we were STARVING! Initially there was a restaurant that we looked up (before we went to sleep) and we were going to try them out BUT we overslept by like 30 minutes. Next option, we were going to visit the restaurant in the hotel, but they didn’t open for another hour and 30 minutes. So last resort, we decided to walk to McDonald’s!😂🤣 Yup, we went all the way to Spain and our first meal there was McDonald’s.

High key, the McDonald’s experience was quite enlightening though. It was definitely way different from the way we know things here in America! First off, the McDonald’s was beautiful. So modern and clean! It was two floors. The bottom floor is where you ordered your food, at a kiosk, not in person, then you picked it up at the counter. They had so many different sandwiches and sides that we don’t have here in the states. All of their “regular drinks” taste like our diet drinks. The second floor had various booth and table arrangements that were all cute and stylish. Not like any McDonald’s I’ve ever seen in America!

So the best part of our journey to McDonald’s was actually the walk there. It was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel and we ended up having to walk along the beach to get there… It was beautiful. We had a blast. Even with being dark out it was beautiful.

We decided right then that the next morning we were going to do the walk again, just so that we could see the beauty of the beach and pier during the day! IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!!

Breakfast at the hotel was buffet style and it was pretty good. Not your normal continental breakfast (I’m sure we probably payed extra for that), but there was a wide selection of a lot of things! It was definitely more European style in the way they cooked certain things (ie. the bacon not being cooked to crispy) and also some of the things they served for breakfast (ie. Frankfurts & beans). Actually I think breakfast in Barcelona set the stage for breakfast the entire trip. Quite honestly, breakfast was our favorite part of each day.

After breakfast and our walk on the beach and back, we headed back to our room and packed in a mad dash because we’d scheduled our taxi to the pier for noon and noon came super quick! The ride to the pier was quick but soooo beautiful!

The check in to the boat wasn’t TOO painful. Next thing you know, we were walking on to the ship! TOTALLY EXCITED as if it were our first time! So we made it on the boat a few hours before departure, but the stewards weren’t done preparing all of the rooms so we could only go to the main dining room! PERFECT FOR US!!! It was lunch time anyway, so we indulged! We had a nice private seat right next to the windows with a beautiful view of the mountains!

Lunch was DELICIOUS!!! Our first memorable meal of the trip! I had the popcorn shrimp with jalapeno & cornichon dip and the Atlantic chowder soup. AMAZEBALLS!!! That dip should have been bottled and sold! Literally it set the tone for the rest of the trip! It looked so basic and uninspiring, but the taste had my taste buds dancing in joy!🤗

Right as we were finishing our delicious lunch, they announced over the intercom that our rooms were ready! Perfect timing! We grabbed our bags, headed to the elevator and were off to our room! Best part was that our room was just a few floors right above the main dining room! BEST SPOT EVER!

My best friend… the amazing sneak that she is… surprised me and had our room decorated for my birthday! It was so thoughtful and sweet! I almost shed a tear! (But I’m a thug & thugs don’t cry!)🙅🏽‍♀️😂🤣 I even had a birthday cake!🎂🍰🤗🤪

It wasn’t butter cream (my favorite) but the cake was actually delicious! And the decorations on top and around the cake were edible chocolate!

We had a balcony room. (If it’s not a balcony I feel like it’s a waste). My favorite part of cruising is being able to sleep with the balcony door open and hear the waves crashing against the ship. THE BEST SLEEP EVER!!! I also love being able to step out on the balcony and see the beautiful views at any given time.

Disclaimer: If you’ve never cruised before, do yourself a favor and try it. It’s such an awesome experience! If you’ve cruised, but never cruised with a balcony room, do yourself a favor and indulge in that luxury. You’ll never want an inside room again!

First views from our balcony room…

So that first night in the ship, after settling into our room, WE KNOCKED OUT!!! Like literally for hours! We slept through the safety meeting and all!🤷🏽‍♀️ If you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all…(Don’t follow my advice, go to the safety meeting, it’s protocol, but we were wiped out!). We didn’t wake up until idk what time of night and we just went to the 24 hour for court and ate hot wings!🤷🏽‍♀️ But they were bomb! I didn’t take a pic though!

Anywho… This is the conclusion of Blog #1 of my birthday series! Hope you all enjoyed it and stay tuned for the next one!🤗😍🥰

Stay Loyal, Stay Royal!

XOXO

Freddie J.

A WELCOME, HELLO, HEY-GIRL-HEYYYY FROM THE QUEEN!

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