….To me, Madrid is a man and Barcelona is a woman. And it’s a woman who’s extremely vain. 

– Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Backstory:

Adding to the challenge was that we wanted to have all of this planning completed with-in a very short-time period since “last-minute” travel can become increasingly more expensive moment-by-moment. I tasked myself with budgeting while we brainstormed our itinerary options. The planning alone qualifies as a story for another time, but for illustration purposes our total budget for a comfortable 10-day multi-country trip was approximately a fraction of the cost for two first class international flights. We rolled up our sleeves steadfast and got to work in order to make it happen.

I arrived at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat (El Prat) Airport Terminal 1 (T1) midweek on an early September day at about 10:00 am (CEST) Central European Summer Time. The temperature was a warm 69 degrees (or 20°C) with clouds and light rain. I was so ready to start my adventure and I felt very well prepared to enjoy the rewards of my extensive research and planning for this EURO trip. I was expecting everything to go quite smoothly but, ..well here is what happened…

Upon landing, the flight crew instructed everyone that customs uses digital processing for clearance therefore we would not need to fill out the the old-fashioned lengthy immigration document with pen and paper. In some countries, it is rudimentary to fill out this lengthy form well before disembarking the aircraft. For this matter, I assumed passing through customs should be a breeze and that this procedure would help streamline the process. Side note: American Airlines service was absolutely stellar. We flew coach and the service, attentiveness, meals and beverages truly exceeded my expectations. I will certainly prefer to fly American Airlines for my intercontinental flights if I can help it.

Instead, passing through customs was quite a lengthy process for expatriates who lived outside of the European Union (EU). They have separate much shorter queues for residents of the EU and even shorter lines for native Spaniards.

Aside from that, I was a little relieved to find that most airport signs and guides were written in both Spanish and English. However, it is still a good idea to know some basic means of communication in Spanish and Catalan here. I am glad to have taken heed to my own advice and learned basic words for communication in Catalonia.

The baggage claim area was pretty easy to locate, but we didn’t know where to pin-point baggage carousel numbers. Baggage claim is a very large area and there were so many conveyors and carousels extending well pasts my field of vision. Thankfully, within a few moments time, some very helpful patrons who were on the same flight were nice enough to point me in the right direction.

Alas the final stop in my quest to get straight out of El Prat was the Avis Car Rental Agency. This experience triumphed in insurmountable inconveniences. Firstly, there were two Avis rental counters that we needed to patronize before driving off the lot. The first stop was the reservations counter located within the concourse of T1 and the second was a key-pickup counter located on the ground floor of the T1 garage. The first of the two stops had a ticketing system, in which you took a ticket and waited for your number to be called. They were so busy at that time and there was lengthy queue so we waited here awhile. Finally, after completing the check-in process of my rental reservation, the receptionist instructed us to go to the T1 garage where the other Avis rental office is in order to pickup the car keys.

The Avis key-pickup counter seemed to be understaffed and there was yet another long queue to wait on. Finally, it was my turn to pick up my keys, the rental agent asked for the required items such as a valid drivers license, reservation itinerary number, and a charge card. After a few moments the rental agent said there would be an exorbitant deductible for any liability to the vehicle for so much as even a scratch. I was baffled and my mouth nearly fell to the floor as I in awe by his statement. What in the world? Per my recollection, my rental quote already included full vehicle coverage and all required surcharges. I verified this in detail online several weeks before my trip when I opted in for the collision waver, theft coverage, etc.. More over, I had even called the Avis rental company a week advance and spoke with a customer service representative who reconfirmed this fact as well. Just to triple-check I asked him to make sure that I had complete coverage for my rental to ensure a smooth checkout/key pick-up process without having any surprises.

Well, to make a long story short, the cost of my rental for one week nearly doubled as I opted in for the un-spoken “super coverage”; this hidden vehicle coverage that you cannot select when booking from website or by phone. A coverage that is not even listed on a menu at the rental office.

This was the moment of truth and I needed to carry on with my trip, so I shrugged, agreed to disagree and signed the dotted line. The time it took from the checkout counter to actually getting my vehicle was nearly an hour. The so called “quick rental pick-up” was amiss and I would remember to follow up with an email corporate about this experience later.

Overall, the time spent at El Prat airport Terminal 1 after landing was roughly three hours. Thank goodness that were not in a hurry and had time to spare. Check-in for our hotel wasn’t until 3 pm (15:00h) in the afternoon. Instead of using our spare time to grab lunch in town and navigate the neighborhood. We actually had the pleasure of hanging out at El Prat T1 until early afternoon.. 😉

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