Barca-loner

As any self-indulgent, ‘soul searching’ blog will tell you, a getaway break is always more liberating when you have to travel there on your own.

As someone who has always valued friendships with people who live in sunnier climates, I recently made the sensible decision to book a last minute flight to Barcelona to visit a uni friend.

Having had to make the journey to her house (in sunny Spain) from my house (in not-so-sunny Stockport), I finally understood what it must have felt like for Geri Halliwell when she left the Spice Girls all those years ago……confident, independent and about to embark upon an uncertain journey which would hopefully end in wealth, glamour and a rumoured fling with Robbie Williams.

Travelling alone is real responsible adultness at its best – especially when you turn up to the airport in a raincoat and flip-flops, listening to Daniel Beddingfield’s Gotta Get Thru This’ on full volume.

I think my favourite part of adulting during my lone trip was getting up at the crack of dawn to sit in Terminal 2 airport traffic for over twenty minutes only to discover the flight definitely departs from the virtually empty Terminal 1 – resulting in an unexpected 5am jog.

Jet2 clearly got the memo of my ‘solo travelling’ as there wasn’t a single person sat on my row on the plane apart from me. I didn’t know whether to be pleased or offended. I settled on pleased given that I have a habit of falling asleep in a ‘catching flies’ ‘dribbling on a stranger’s shoulder’ manner.

Thankfully, in between the chaos of security checks, queues and a checklist of what to do in the event of every single thing going wrong (thanks anxiety) there was sunshine, cocktails and a good catch up! 

As liberating as being independent is, I was relieved to see a familiar face on the other side waiting to greet me, my sweaty back and my suitcase full of outfits I definitely didn’t need to bring.