We returned to Barcelona, Spain to pick-up our van, Chickpea, so we could continue exploring Europe for 7 weeks with hopes of finding cooler weather and autumnal leaf colors. We had initially planned to visit Spain and Portugal on this trip, but during our time at home we decided we weren’t feeling very welcomed in Spain (there was a palpable anti-tourist vibe we had never experienced on our previous travels to Spain, and this coincided with the news reports we had seen about this issue over the last several months). We decided to head back east to coastal France with additional stops in the Lake region of Italy, central Switzerland and ending in Frankfurt, Germany.

There is a 9-hour time difference between Arizona and Barcelona, so we decided to try an experiment to get ourselves on Barcelona time prior to our departure. A week before we departed, we started moving our bedtime and awake time back 60-75 minutes each day. It was much easier to do than I expected it to be and we actually enjoyed getting up in the middle of the night and going to sleep in the middle of the afternoon. We donned headlamps and took long walks at 2 am together. We seriously got so much done around the house on this new schedule I almost want to maintain it! We also moved our meal schedules back to coincide with our sleep adjustments. The whole thing felt bizarre but we wanted to try it and see if we could circumvent the jetlag we experienced on our last trip.

Our flights were uneventful including our long layover in Chicago with the exception of a medical emergency in the row in front of us on our Barcelona flight. We are not sure of the details, but it appears the lady was having a panic attack. Luckily there was a neonatologist on board who assisted and kept the plane flying towards Barcelona. Every single seat on this ginormous Dreamliner was packed but we put on eyeshades and put in earplugs and slept quite a good portion of the flight.

When we arrived in Barcelona one of our checked boxes was nowhere to be found. All of the luggage for our flight had been delivered and picked up at the carousel but our box which contained much of our dry good foods was missing. Tony was waiting in line at the luggage counter when the box just miraculously appeared on the belt. Passport control was easy, not a single word was even exchanged and nobody gave a second glance at us pushing out 2 boxes, 2 duffle bags and 2 carry-ons full of gear. We struggled to find the “Cabify” (a popular fixed price taxi service) departure location as we couldn’t find any elevators which went up, the only elevators we found went down and we needed to go up 2 floors per the directions on the app. After roaming the airport we finally located an elevator and found the proper location which is different from the ride share, taxisand bus pickup points. Normally signage is pretty good at European airports, but not this time, but we persevered.

Our Cabify driver skillfully drove us through heavy traffic but seemed uncertain as to the location we had put into the app as our destination. The area was 20 miles from the city center and in a very industrial area, but that was the location of our van storage facility. We found Chickpea exactly where we had parked her in June. The van was dusty on the outside but started up immediately and had no signs of vermin infiltration which Tony was super concerned about (and had actually brought mouse traps with him). We stopped at a Carrafour (like a big Fred Meyer), and we found almost all of the items on our long re-provisioning list.

We stayed 2 nights at Camping Barcelona with views of the Mediterranean Ocean. We had planned to stay at this campground during our last visit in the Spring but had to cancel our reservations; however, they kindly allowed us to change the dates to this visit instead of just forfeiting our money. This is a full-service campground and not our normal or favorite type of place to stay, but it was a great place to go for a few days to get the van ready with unpacking all our gear, cleaning, charging up the bike batteries and filling our water tank.  

Tony took this opportunity to get some bike maintenance done at a local bike shop. Overall, they did a good job but in replacing his chain it became evident his small chain ring needs to be replaced as it is very worn. This was not a part they had in stock and is a bit expensive to replace as it requires the entire “power meter” to be replaced. For now, he is just cycling in the big chain ring until he can find another bike shop with the part in stock. Sometimes when you fix something, you break something else.

The weather has been FANTASTIC! Highs in the 70s and lows in the high 50s. Sunny skies, light breezes and low humidity. We are in heaven.

The “no jetlag experiment” worked which involved us slowly adjusting our schedules to Barcelona time the week prior to our departure. On arrival in Barcelona, we both felt great. We are sleeping great. We are getting up and going to bed at normal Barcelona time. We have zero fatigue, brain fog or jet lag. 100% complete success and this will be something we do before each trip over here going forward.

As we crossed into France, the wind really picked up and we started to see high wind advisories on our weather app.  Chickpea is a high-top Sprinter and we could immediately notice how much more it catches the crosswind then our medium height van, Tofu. There were a few scary moments when the Sprinter safety feature called Crosswind Assist kicked in to keep us traveling in our lane. It is very cool technology but feels a bit nerve-wracking when the vehicle brakes and steers for you. It was very evident which vans had this safety feature and which ones did not, as many RVs and campervans were getting blown into adjacent lanes when the winds were gusting. High winds were forecasted for the next 4 days in this region and for once the forecast was actually correct.

Our first stop after leaving Barcelona was Carcassonne in southern France’s Languedoc area. The old town, known as La Cité, is a medieval fortified city with a Gothic castle and is also a UNESCO World Heritage location. We crammed a lot in for 36 hours including the Rick Steves city walking tour, an Alltrails hike around the fortification, a MAGICAL evening walk in the old town and around the grounds and an audio tour of the Castle which included a 3 km hike on top of the ramparts of the exterior walls around the city. The evening walk and rampart walk were highlights for both of us. We also got in a bike ride to the modern city of Carcassonne on our Brompton e-bikes. Our campground was an easy 1 km walk along the Midi Canal amongst the towering eucalyptus trees to La Cité and therefore once we were parked, we did not need to move again.

We did not make any reservations on this trip other than Camping Barcelona campground on the front end and an Airbnb in Frankfurt on the backend. We are technically in “shoulder season” but finding a lot of campervans and RVs are still traveling, just as we are. We snagged almost the last spot in Carcassonne and the remaining spots were taken within minutes of our arrival. The other campground had a completely full sign out front, too. By 3 PM, there were no spots left in town and we watched many, many vehicles driving around searching for some place to park overnight. This was a lesson to us that we need to have some back-up plans and also need to arrive early at the campgrounds, at least while the weather is still nice and there are so many travelers out.

Other than the wind, the weather continues to be amazing. We are getting lots of exercise in the form of walking and Tony is getting in a bike ride every day, although he is grumbling a bit about having to be in the biggest chain ring only.

Onwards!

Next Up: Pont du Gard – Arles, France