A weekend break in Barcelona

Life in the fast lane can really take it out of you. Sometimes it's all work, work, work and then work some bloody more! Well, not so recently, I said "Stuff this," and slyly ducked out of MS Excel and into the heady world of the worldwide web.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I got some nice deals through the travel section of the timesonline member's section. And so it was that Margaret got to stay at home with the kids last weekend, while I took a weekend getaway to Barcelona for some quality time with yours truly.

Not long after touching down at Barcelona's clean and presentable airport (which reminded one somewhat of Gatwick), I was sipping a cool glass of sangria on La Rambla and thinking about how far away I felt from the trials and tribulations of the office.

The package for the weekend was an entirely reasonable £199. This got me a room in a pension only a few minutes off La Rambla and paid for the budget flights there and back. The pension was delightful. Cosy rooms jostling for space around a covered courtyard, which would have been a marvellous spot were it not for the slightly chilly weather. Well, you can't have everything! Luckily I'd brought my North Face windcheater, so I coped with the weather without any problems - even when a sudden shower took everyone else by surprise.

On Saturday morning I found a fantastic sports superstore called Decathalon. Pretty soon I'd bagged myself a nice pair of swimmers ready for a climate-change-tastic summer at the beach. Fluroescent yellow with a black trim might seem a bit snazzy to some, but I think it's a man's duty to throw caution to the wind from time to time, especially in the swimwear department. Besides which, they were reduced. You can't say fairer than €9.99 for a pair of trunks now can you?

The weekend passed uneventfully. I couldn't help feeling that a few more days would have been just the ticket, but there you go. I came away with the overall impression that Barcelona was a rather grotty town, with its heart in the right place. I'll not be heading back there in the near future, but neither would I discourage anyone from popping down should they get the chance.