Barcelona 2023

We visited Barcelona for a week with Poppy (19 months) and Anthony’s parents. Anthony was there for work (Mobile World Congress) and was able to bring the rest of us along!

Itinerary

We kept our schedule very flexible, as you can see below. The bullet points are the only concrete plans we had, and everything in between was spontaneous. We did one big activity per day, and maybe had a dinner planned. The pacing was very relaxed, but I also felt like we got to do and see a lot!

Baby Related Details

Type of travel: Plane ride with Poppy as a lap infant (10 hrs + layover + 2 hrs) + Airbnb for a week. Sleep on the plane was tough – even though we boarded at bedtime, she was so hyped by the screens on the back of every seat that it was another three hours before she finally fell asleep. After that, she woke up every remaining hour of the flight to scream for 5-10 minutes before falling back asleep.

Eating: Brough TONS of snacks from home, grocery shopped for some basics, and otherwise baby ate whatever we were eating. We brought her out to eat at restaurants a couple times, which actually went okay. She tried at least a bite of most things, and we brought backup snacks in case she got tired of our food or just needed something else to occupy her. Other than the constant moving glasses out of her reach, wrestling utensils from her, and having her stomp and twist all over my lap throughout the meal, she did pretty good!

Sleeping: She slept in her own room on two twin beds pushed together with pillow barriers. Her naps were mostly on-the-go in the hiking backpack, with a few bed naps back at the airbnb too. Jet lag was a little challenging to get her through – she was wide awake from about 3-6am for the first three nights of the trip asking for food, books, entertainment, etc. But after that she slept through the night the rest of the trip!

Activities: Sightseeing, eating out, hanging out in the airbnb. She enjoyed walking on her own occasionally, and the wide sidewalks made it easier for her to do so without getting in too many people’s way. Having Lola and Lolo there helped SO much too, we were able to do things like go out to grab breakfast, takeout, or go on date nights.

Transportation: Walking, bus, and taxi with the hiking backpack. We checked our stroller as well, but it did not arrive in Barcelona when we did. It was then supposed to be delivered to our airbnb the next day, but never ended up arriving.

Sunday

Had tickets for La Sagrada Familia at noon and it was actually a struggle to get there on time lol. We took a taxi since we were running so late, but took a leisurely walk back to the Airbnb afterwards, stopping at a park, playground, and grocery store on the way back. We made and ate dinner at home because we were waiting for the supposed delivery of our stroller sometime that day. Anthony and I went out for tapas after Poppy was asleep!

Monday

Went to Casa Batllo, then stopped for some groceries on the walk home. Grabbed some takeout food from a nearby restaurant for a late lunch and ate at the Airbnb. Everyone took naps after that and then we went out to dinner at Ciutat Comtal. There were a lot of people waiting ahead of us, but we somehow got seated really quickly (because of having a baby with us?! Not sure??)

Tuesday

Slow morning start with breakfast at home before heading out to the Arc de Triomf. Stopped by at the playground in the Placa de Tetuan where Poppy had a great time chilling out. Got to the arc and then walked around and explored the park beyond. Went home to hang out after that, and I went to do a bit of shopping while everyone else stayed back. Then it was off to dinner at Fismuler which was probably the best meal of our trip. Poppy did great there and even walked the whole way home afterwards!

Wednesday

Had breakfast and ran an errand in the morning before taking a (very crowded) bus to Park Guell. Very glad we had the hiking backpack for this instead of a bulky stroller. Had fun exploring the park and had some lunch at the cafe there before taking another couple of buses to the Gothic Quarter where we visited the Picasso Museum (which someone slept through the entirety of) and explored a bit before dropping Lola and Lolo off at their Paella class. After that Anthony, Poppy and I headed to La Bodega de Palma for dinner before taking a taxi home.

Thursday

Took the metro to Placa de Catalunya and had a nice relaxing walk down La Rambla to the Barcelona Aquarium! Had a good time there looking at fish and having lunch before taking a cab home. Then Anthony and I got ready to go out for our date night which was…memorable. And a whole other tale to tell😬

Friday

On our last full day in Barcelona we went to the beach! Took the bus there, walked around, ate some paella, and slowly ambled our way back up through gothic quarter, bought souvenir gifts, visited a church, and made our way back home on foot where we spent the rest of the evening packing up and getting ready to leave. It was also one of the warmest and sunniest days all week, the perfect way to end our trip!

Afterthoughts

As I’m writing this, we’ve been back in the States for a week and a half and I think our sleep schedules have finally normalized (is it common for the adjustment home to take longer than the adjustment on the way there?). For the last week and a half Poppy’s been having a hard time not waking up incredibly early and a few issues staying asleep, which could be a combination of jet lag, diarrhea, and daylight savings.

Would I travel internationally with her again? I think so! (And we are already planning to in the fall anyway.) But things I will keep in mind…

1. Preparing myself for some sleepless nights during and after the trip.

2. Making no big plans for the two weeks after returning.

3. Bringing along at least one other person on the trip who can help with baby if possible.

4. Preparing for some good habits to go out the window…this time it was limits on snacks and screen time, night nursing, and being held to sleep.

Those are the big ones I can think of for now. The week had it’s ups and downs but overall…net positive! Stay tuned for what kind of new travel-with-child torture we put ourselves through next.