Oui Si Paris, Barcelona

When Jen told me we could take the family on a week-long trip to Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain with three full days in each city, during February vacation .. for less than the cost of a trip to Disney, I was incredulous. When we did it, I was amazed. When we got back, exhausted. And now wondering how we pull off something like this again!

Of course getting flights and hotels this cheap meant not direct and single family room for four, but we could work with that.

Day 1-2: Boston to Toronto to Paris

Our flight left Boston on Friday at 6am which meant an absurdly early 2am wake up call, but we were on our way. Since Air Canada was the main airline for this deal, we had an 8 hour layover in Toronto, which simply meant a quick metro downtown to see the CN Tower - a nice little adventure [video] - and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Our next flight was the typical overnight-to-Europe which landed us in Paris, France at around 11am Saturday.

Day 2-4: Paris

After landing and transfer to our hotel, we checked in and got settled. No rest - we needed to stay awake and go to bed at Paris-nighttime, so a quick pop to the Palace of Versailles, dinner at a quiet little sidewalk cafe, then back to Paris and bedtime!

Early rise to get to the Louvre for our tour and priority Mona Lisa access. There was quite a crowd in that room making me wonder how awfully crowded it must be during high season in the summer! After meandering a bit through the halls - knowing it would take over 3 months to see everything, we called it quits and the family returned to the hotel to change and rest and I walked through Place de la Concorde, down the Champs Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe, then over to the Eiffel Tower to meet the family for our priority summit access tour. Another nice dinner in another nice sidewalk cafe and another great night of sleep!

A great hotel-included-breakfast and it was off to the hop-on/hop-off bus - a short walk to the first stop from our hotel. This was easy transport to a few more sights - Pont des Arts ("lock bridge") and Notre Dame (it was open!) - along with some interesting narration along the ride. Isabelle and I returned to the Eiffel Tower that night to see the light show. Our last night in Paris [video], but with a midday flight tomorrow, at least we could sleep in a bit before our airport transfer.

Day 5-8: Barcelona

Air Canada's Star Alliance partner TAP Air Portugal handled the intra-Europe route, so that meant a 5 hour layover in Lisbon. But again, we made the most of it and had a quick adventure to São Jorge Castle. Then on to Barcelona, landing early evening and getting to the hotel in time for bed!

Our first morning in Barcelona was a sleep in - we had a FCB immersive tour booked for midday followed by an afternoon Tuk Tuk city tour which was so much fun - just our family and a very friendly, knowledgeable driver. Tapas for dinner and then, good night.

Our next day was a mid-morning tour of Sagrada Familia and a midday tour of Park Guell. Later that afternoon, I did some walking around - our hotel was in the El Born neighborhood, near the waterfront and some other attractions; Cathedral of Barcelona, El Born Center for Culture and Memory and Ciutadella Park.

Our last day was a planned trip to Montserrat, but the kids were under the weather, and the weather itself was rainy, so unfortunately we cancelled and stayed local. Some resting, eating, local sight-seeing - including a walk to the beach. We were on our own for dinner that night so I brought back a pizza for the little one and got myself some vegan quiche at a quaint little sidewalk cafe in Plaça de George Orwell. Barcelona [video] was beautiful, but one last night and then we had to head home .. or so we thought ...

Day 9+: Travel Home

I hate to say this is where the real adventure begins because the vacation was such an adventure itself, but our original Saturday afternoon flight to Montreal was first delayed .. then cancelled. Air Canada provided hotel, transport and meal vouchers - all of which was fine; and a resheduled flight for basically the same times on Sunday. However, Sunday morning brought about more surprises when our new flight was delayed and then rebooked - Barcelona to Montreal, layover overnight, then Montreal to Reagan National in Washington, D.C., to JFK in New York, to Boston late Monday night. That was not going work. We called Air Canada and to their credit were super helpful and accommodating - getting us rebooked on TAP Air Portugal from Barcelona to Lisbon, Portugal Sunday afternoon and then Lisbon to Boston Sunday night. We were home asleep in our own beds Sunday night at 11pm.

Back to reality ...