Six Not-to-be-Missed Sights in Beautiful Barcelona!

posted by Jon Mansell

I think that Barcelona is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and had the opportunity to explore it's many charms in 2012. You have cobblestone streets, wide boulevards, amazing architecture, great food and Mediterranean weather. Add in museums, shopping, music and Catalan culture you have a great vacation destination!

A week is an ideal length of time to spend in Barcelona. But regardless of how much time you stay in this former Olympic city, here are six sights not to be missed:

1. La Rambla - this is the most famous street in Barcelona. This wide boulevard stretches  several blocks and is teeming with tourists and locals. Lined with beautiful, historic buildings such as the Opera House, it ends at the waters edge where you will see the 1600 foot statue of Christopher Columbus pointing to the New World.

2. The Gothic Quarter - surrounding the Cathedral in the old town is a labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys filled with shops and cafes. When walking through the "Barri Gotic", just imagine King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella welcoming Columbus home from the New World in 1493!!

Start 2023 Off Right and Set Your Travel Intentions!

The Sagrada Familia

To start 2023, I booked a flight to Spain and a Writers' Retreat in Barcelona in April (on my Bucket List). I plan to spend another 7 weeks traveling to Southern Spain, Marrakech in Morocco, and then hop over to the cities of Prague, and Vienna. Fingers crossed that there will be no more cancellations this year!

I head back to Puerto Vallarta in mid-January and leave the Canadian snow and cold behind to soak up the heat and humidity. Mexico is on my bucket list at least twice a year and it definitely kept me sane through the craziness of COVID. I know it is difficult for some people to get away but if you can, do it!

Travel puts me in a different headspace and opens me up to new, exciting places and languages and food and people and.....!!!! When I see something new my mind goes on a journey too. Right now I am working on my Spanish again. Even though I spend a lot of time in Mexico, I don't practice my Spanish as much as I should. One of the reasons for this is Puerto Vallarta caters to many English speakers and therefore using my English helps locals working in tourism. That's what I tell myself anyway. Some of the places I plan to visit in Spain will require me to be more fluent.

One of the things I do is set my intentions and then build my vision board at least twice a year. My vision board includes all the things I want to accomplish, including my travel. Our world only shut down completely for a short period of time because of COVID but many people decided not to travel and I don't blame them. I continued to go to my happy place in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico but even that required much more planning than usual. I also had to be prepared to change flights, directions at the last minute. One of the positive things was I didn't have to quarantine or test for COVID going into Mexico. Leaving Mexico was a different story, of course.

I spent the summer months the last couple of years close to home with a couple of trips to Vancouver Island, a few trips trips to Vancouver to visit family and friends, and even a quick trip into Washington. I live in the Okanagan Valley so we usually have beautiful weather in the wine country but unfortunately during COVID we also dealt with horrendous forest fires and never-before experienced heat domes!

Getting off the continent of North America and going overseas was a challenge, one I tried to take on twice but the trips just didn't come together. I can't remember how many trips were changed or cancelled by the airlines. 

I managed to go on the Outlaw Country Cruise out of Miami last February with my daughter along with a great lineup of musicians. The headliner was Emmylou Harris, namesake of my granddaughter,  along with Rodney Crowell, Albert Lee, Lucinda Williams and many others. It was amazing that many of the musicians were still singing, considering many of them are older than me! In fact, Lucinda Williams beat the odds by coming back after a debilitating stroke 5 months before. She couldn't play guitar any more but her voice was strong. The old saying, 'Where there is a will, there is a way" was shown in her ability to sing again on stage.  We also spent some time in Miami and the Florida Keys and then I flew straight back to Mexico rather than returning to Canada first.

Even though I love my birth country, I'm excited about leaving Canada once again. If you can't escape this year, considering being an armchair traveler for a little while. Even that will open up your mind to new and exciting things. Buenos viajes!

8 Steps to Building Your Travel Bucket List After Age 65!

Sometimes we have so many travel dreams and it’s hard to know here to begin to realize them, especially when we are over 65.  Over the last few years I’ve used the following techniques to build my travel bucket list. I learned it years ago when I was working with youth at risk, but it works well for anyone.

The first step is to identify what is important to you.

1. Write your bucket list down.
It’s very important to write your dreams down on a list. Then you have the opportunity to look at it and read it on a regular basis. Post it on your calendar or mirror. Make sure it is something you see first thing every morning.

Turkey

2. Determine which item on your list is most important for you to do first.
After making your list, determine the priorities. Write #1 next to the most important and #2 for the next most important, etc. Once you prioritize, your dreams actually start becoming goals.

3. Ignore other people’s advice.
Remember, this is your wish list, not someone else’s! Try not to share the information because you may get feedback you don’t want to hear!

4. Cut your dream list to no more than 10.
This is one of the hardest steps to take. You have your dreams, but what if your list is 3 pages long? Gradually go through them and draw a line through the ones that are least important AT THIS TIME or ones that aren’t realistic. Also remove any that involve others directly. An example of this is "I plan to visit Syria!"  Not realistic at this time because it isn't safe.

5. Short-list to 5 things on your bucket list.
I know it may sound ridiculous but this is a heart-wrenching move! Suddenly you are crossing off 5 of your dreams! It is difficult at first but as you go through the process, you realize what is most important to you to accomplish now.

6. Re-prioritize your bucket list.
You may find by now that you have taken a number of important dreams off your list that you thought were right up at the top. Re-number them again.

7. Determine your top dream.
This takes some real soul searching. I use the question, "If I knew I was going to die in 6 months, what would I do first?"

8. Start researching all the steps necessary to reach your dream by turning it into a GOAL.
One of my travel dreams was to go to Turkey.  Every traveler who had been there said it was the "birth of civilization as we know it!" It became a goal about a year ago but because of the political climate, I wasn't sure if I'd make it or not.  The opportunity to go with someone who has been there numerous times arose a month ago.  It was obviously a no brainer!  Now I'm researching everything about the areas we are going into.  

Part of my research came about when a friend, Rick Antonson, released his newest book about 2 weeks ago, "Full Moon Over Noah's Ark."www.rickantonson.com.  He started his journey where I will be ending mine.

Next Saturday I leave Vancouver for a month of travel in Turkey!  And yes, I will be blogging about my trip.  It all started with realizing what was on my personal bucket list and then believing my dreams will happen. 

So, give yourself permission to enjoy the rest of your life, dream about your travels, and travel wherever you want!