THE INTERNATIONAL - International Indian

after a tiring flight from Dubai via Istanbul,
we all needed to put our feet up and stretch
out a bit before leaving terra firma for the
wide blue yonder. In Barcelona, we stayed
in a quaint Salesian run pensione with huge
gardens only 15 minutes from Barcelona
city center by train. Green, full of history,
with easy access to all the favorite tourist
spots, Barcelona is a great Spanish city
worth visiting. Just watch out for Spanish
taxi drivers, they are more sophisticated
than their Indian counterparts and when
it’s Euros, if you get taken for a ride it can
really mess up the holiday budget. Don’t
be intimidated, ask about all charges in
advance, including what they will expect
you to pay for your luggage.
Serious travelers after a visit to Barcelona
can tick off three of the world’s 1,000 best
places to see - the Catalan National Art
Museum, Antoni Gaudi’s unfinished
masterpiece La Sagrada Familia and for Picaso
art lovers the not to be missed Museu Picaso.
Three generations of our family were
sailing on this Mediterranean cruise: Our
granddaughters Rivkah Supriya and her
younger sister Tirzah Sanjana; our daughter
Shana and her husband Benjamin Hudson
Parker, who are in their 30s; and my wife
Christine and me, in our 50s. If the travel
industry figures are right, we are among 16
million other families who choose to travel
together for multi-generational family
reunions yearly.
Excitement mounted for the girls after
we boarded the ship, as they explored their
stateroom, receiving strict instructions
about not using the balcony by themselves,
and discovering how to use all the cabin
facilities. Our
‘Superior Ocean
View State Room’
with a balcony was
big enough for the
four of us with two
double beds, one of
them being a sofa
bed, which is okay
except the room is
a bit cramped when
the extra bed is
used. It wasn’t the
first holiday with
their grandparents
but the girls were
intrigued at being
sea-bound for
nearly two weeks
in our company. Interconnected cabins are
available but the kids’ parents were in a
‘Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom’ on another
floor. into the ship early like we did for a
relaxed lunch, it gives you plenty of time to
explore, eat, and take it easy before the ship
sets sail in the evening. Like a flight, a cruise
also begins with safety instructions in case
of an emergency at sea. A mandatory safety
exercise drill on how to use the lifeboats,
Barcelona has these quaint three passenger tricycles - good fun for short city trips
THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN 71