When it comes to rain, everyone knows that to say I dislike it is an understatement. My day gets turned upside down and I become grumpy and if, God forbids, I’m outside and get wet, everything is ruined. Yes, it’s this dramatic, I’m not exaggerating. Basically, if the sky is gray, so is my mood. So you can only imagine how I feel if it rains when I’m on holiday, especially since I don’t travel every other week.

On the other hand, everyone knows about my love for Barcelona, I’ve mentioned it in a previous post as well. Combining the two and it will make an….interesting day.

When we had decided to go back to Spain, to Valencia, I knew that I couldn’t go back home without seeing Barcelona again. I also knew it was a 350 km drive so a day-trip would be more tiresome than anything else. It took some convincing, but given the fact that it was also my birthday, we decided to book a night at a cheap hotel in the lovely Catalan city.

We left Valencia on an early Saturday morning with a lot of enthusiasm about the day ahead. We got there and it was pouring. It was like Noah could’ve showed up at any moment. We had an umbrella which was quite alright while we tried to find the entrance of the hotel….until I stepped in the first puddle.

Regardless, we went on with our plan so we took the subway to get a closer look of the Arc de Triomf, and see the beautiful Parc de la Ciutadella again. Rainrainrainrainrain. It didn’t seem like it was going to stop and my sneakers were soaking wet. But the most interesting thing happened: it didn’t bother me much. It was the first time I was returning to a city I’ve previously visited and most importantly, I was in the city where I most felt at home. So I wasn’t going to let a few (actually, a lot!) raindrops ruin my good time. Now, give me rain in Bucharest and you’ll find me cursing and grumbling like an angry pirate whose parrot drank all his rum. (what, it could totally happen!).

After we had decided we had enough water on board, we headed to Maremagnum, the famous mall in the port, to look for replacement dry shoes. I hadn’t found anything and I think that was a good thing because had I tried something on, in the water coming out from my left shoe you could’ve found Nemo and in the right one there would have been his dad and Dory, looking for him. I had thought that it was alright, the shoes would dry up by morning. They didn’t. They were wet the entire day after. Great.

Having tapas and a glass of sangria at one of the restaurants at the mall made me realize just how happy I was to be there, that it would be a funny story one day and I should just enjoy my birthday, even if it were going to rain. I woke up the next morning to see the sunrise and a clear blue sky. It was the best birthday gift.

How about you, do you have a best and worst travel memory?