Back from BCN

I just came back from an up-and-down Barcelona BCN trip. I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but on October 16th, my Dad is turning 50. And because Dad isn't into this 'Abraham' confusion that Dutch people get into, he wanted to spend his birthday as far from Holland as possible. So my brother Junior and I were brainstorming a few months back and we came up with this idea to send my parents on a Mediterranean cruise.

We looked at a few options and decided that the Celebrity Constellation would be a great cruise for them to go on. The itinerary is Barcelona (Spain),  Nice (France), Genoa (Italy),  Florence (Italy),  Rome/Civitavecchia (Italy),  Naples/Capri (Italy) and  Barcelona (Spain). We booked through a cruise specialist in Holland and we got a great deal on a cabin with balcony.

Celebrity Cruises' Constellation














I decided that I would travel to BCN with my parents on a Delta IPB ticket, with them as my companions. The risk was minimal, because unlike with KLM IPB tickets, I wasn't constricted to flying KLM only, but had the freedom to travel KLM, Transavia.com, Iberia or even Air France via Paris CDG. That's where Delta beats KLM hand down in companion travel.

My Dad was extatic about it and so this morning we left on KLM to BCN. The flight wasn't full and we immediatly got seats at the check-in desk and at the gate we were upgraded to Europe Select thanks to a buddy of mine at SPL/KK (KLM Operations).


After arrival in BCN, we took a taxi to the port and had brunch, while awaiting the 12.00 boarding time. At 12.15 I said goodbye to my parents and took a cab back to BCN to catch a flight back to Amsterdam AMS. It was my luck, that there was a KLM flight still at the gate. Because I had no luggage, the agent checked me in at the gate and I was on my way back to AMS. I arrived at 15.30 and took Fyra back home.

On October 16th (Dad's b-day), the ship will arrive back in Barcelona and then my brother and I will fly out to Spain to spend 3 days with our parents to celebrate Dad'd 50th birthday there. It was his wish and hey... you only turn 50 once!

Mom did the same when she turned 50 5 years ago. She wanted to soend it in Aruba, because she didn't want people to start some 'Sarah' confusion. And so we did! And we had a blast. Hey, I spent my sweet 16 in Orlando with family, my 20th in Ecuador on my first ever IPB ticket when I worked the KLM flights in Aruba and my 30th in Milan. You should celebrate your birthday on your terms. It's the best way! I know....