Day 1 (Arriving in Spain)

May 09, 2022

Utter exhaustion. I arrived into Barcelona today and I’m writing this restlessly from a hotel bed near the airport.

The flight was fine with some minor issues checking in the bike. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any sleep and found myself attempting to assemble my bike on hour 32 of being awake. It did not go super well. While I was able to get it mostly together I kept getting small things wrong.

Bike in bike box Assembly in progress

After about 2 hours of concerted effort (rack issues) I tossed everything on my bike haphazardly and started making my way to the hotel I’d booked as a landing spot. After some navigation issues that put me on a major thoroughfare (tech for navigation wasn’t working either) I found myself on a cycle path. I can’t imagine the rest of Europe is this easy to cycle.

A beautiful ride through a wetland area had my spirits on the rise.

Bike path from Barcelona Airport

I made it to the hotel, checked in, and went to sleep too tired to even eat. Bike in hotel

My plan had been to stay in Barcelona for a couple days but I’m unsure. My mood is a little low but a well-fed mind after breakfast will put me in a better decision making space. I’m considering making for Mataró today.



Written by Matt Pendergraft , musing on technology and random travelogue things