After five in Barcelona I started case of cabin fever. Because, besides going to the beach:
Finding some spectacular views
Seeing some impressive sights like the Sagrada Familia, still under construction after 150 years
Partying until 5 am
And riding around on my hostel’s free bicycles
There really isn’t much to do in this town.
So two new hostel friends and I decided to take a day trip to Tossa Del Mar. A town 1 ½ hours away that combines two classic tourist attractions: a beach and a castle.
Our French friend suggested instead of paying 10 Euros each way for a bus, and within 10 of googling minutes she had found a car for 13.50€/day!!!!!
Everyone knows “if it sounds good to be true it probably is.” But, no one actually remembers it when they think they’ve found an amazing deal. So we booked it in my name to avoid a 5€ young driver fee (which would be like a 30% increase in the price).
The car was at the airport, which was a walk, and two subway transfers away, but hey totally worth it for such a good deal.
Then we got to the airport and things started to fall apart…
First off I couldn’t rent the car in my name I didn’t bring my passport… even though passport was nowhere to be found on the confirmation email:
But, thank god the French girl had her passport and we could move everything into her name. There goes the 5€ discount for being 25 or older, but NBD.
Then the lady at the counter tells us how much we will be charged: 89€. Cue my reaction again:
“The car costs 13 Euros, but then the service fee is 20€, and the fuel charge is 56€,” the Spanish lady at the desk tells me. “And would you like the insurance for 35€?”
“After all this, absolutely not”
“Well then we will need a deposit, it is 1,000€”
So now our poor French girl is about to be on the hook for 1089€ and she is thinking we should just scrap the whole plan. It doesn’t help that she can only understand about 2/3 of what is being said in English.
But, I use the old “we’ve come all this way, It’s too late to turn back now” line and we “decide as a group” to just go for it
So at about 11:30, two or so hours after we originally planned on setting off we were finally on the road, Everything seemed to be turning a corner.
The drive was much better than a stupid bus. We rocked out to the playlist of an American high school girl, which is to say that “Sorry” by Justin Bieber has been stuck in my head for the past few days. I would like to complain about that but the song is quite catchy.
They hype was true and Tossa Del Mar does in fact have a beach:
And an medieval walled city.
And some climbable ruins:
Around five we headed back, cue the Biebs jam session again:
Every thing was looking good until we missed our exit in Barcelona for the airport, a mistake that may or may not have been totally my fault….
Now I was trying to navigate us back on the highway with a 50% working google maps, to a French driver, as our 7:30 deadline is rapidly ticking down.
As the multicultural tension in the room increases we make our way to the highway and are all set to make it to the airport on time. Until of course there is traffic inside the freaking airport.
So we are five minutes late and I am practicing all of my Spanish swear words in anticipation of some extravagant late fee.
There are no problems on time, the car is clean so the 1,000€ deposit is refunded and so was nearly all of the gas fee as well. So the grand total comes all the way back down to 40€!
So a long day, more then a little stress, but a solid deal and a good adventure.
Travels by Bickell 