Howdy my friend, welcome to a little behind the scenes of the latest video!

My girlfriend Nikki and I were discussing Spain recently (because there is an almost 100% chance we’ll be going there for an extended stay in 2024!) and it started to bring back memories.  In 2022, we went for three months starting in Barcelona.  When we started planning that trip, we had assumed that it would be “business as usual”.  Rent an AirBnb for a month and immerse ourselves into a city that we loved.

Unfortunately, the politicians had other plans.  They had effectively banned AirBnb and similar companies from doing business, unless those who had the properties could afford an expensive license.  This was meant to keep our businesses from purchasing properties, thus increasing property values so normal residents would not be able to live there anymore.

Wait.  It’s only businesses that could afford the licenses, not the citizens?  So this ban was to make the city money and restrict regular folks who were trying to make mortgage payments from augmenting their income?  Well, at least the city counsel banned cruise ships, who were a major part of the tourist problem.  All those drunkards overwhelming the … wait … they also expanded the cruise ship terminal?

I was beginning to wonder if the AirBnb ban was really meant to curb tourism!  (<~ Note: Sarcasm)

The only apartment we could afford was an hour outside of the city, way up in Carmel.  It was a 9’x9′ room on a very busy and loud street.  24×7 motorcycles, scooters, and trucks kind of loud.  For almost $2000 a month.  It kinda soured us on the whole Barcelona thing.  So all of my videos from that month were unfortunately also soured.

We did travel to many more Spanish cities over the next two months, including Granada, Madrid, and several up in Galicia.  And slowly our unhappiness rebounded and we again celebrated being in a country that we adored.  And so, looking back, this is a compilation of those five videos from Barcelona, putting everything into a short and succinct story.

I do want to do this again for the remaining two months … perhaps calling it Escaping Barcelona or something similar.  LOL!

I hope you enjoy.  And please fire up some comments!  We’d love your opinions on the city and in Spain in general.

~ Rick