| Hanging Out With the Local Psychos | | allisong, 6/14/2009 | My best friend and I studied abroad this past semester in Spain and we decided to take a weekend trip to Barcelona. We stayed in Sant Jordi hostel (which is awesome, by the way! Highly recommended!), but we had a 7:00am flight on Monday morning so we got on the last metro Sunday night and we rode it to the end, and then we got on a bus that went to the airport and arrived around 1:00am Monday morning.
We attempted to sleep in the main lobby but the people there were so crazy that it was really hard. All the seats had bars in-between them so we had to sleep on the floor and wrap our arms around our luggage so it didn't get stolen. So, I am pretty positive that a number of people actually live in the airport. We sat down in an area with a bunch of chairs and there was a guy close to us who was probably from Africa and he kept muttering in Swahili. He was super dirty, and he had a luggage full of garbage from which he kept pulling various food items that looked disgusting. He also kept pulling at his shirt and scratching his neck like he was crazy. And the best part was, every once in awhile, he would yell out random English phrases, like, "Watch your back!" or "Fuck you!"
Next person: This old old woman came shuffling in... she was wearing Chuck Taylors and a big huge trench coat. She had a luggage cart with all kinds of crap in it, including a piece of cardboard in the shape of a seat. She got that out, and placed it over one of the seats (to protect herself from germs...?) and then began to twirl around in circles and mutter to herself. She never actually really sat down.
Some other people that were there... a man attempting to sleep on the seats, whose only possession was a small suitcase. All that it had inside was a folded up blanket, which he laid out on the floor and continued sleeping. There was also a creepy guy who wouldn't stop talking to us, and another possibly homeless man chilling on the floor. All of these people, and I mean ALL, tried to use the phone/internet booth, which you have to pay for obviously... they all came up at separate times and messed around with it, and then finally realized that they weren't going to get anywhere without any money. They were all just extremely weird. I would have to say the Swahili guy was the creepiest though. He scrammed when security came through.
I was glad when we were finally able to board the plane. I didn't want to stick around with those people any longer! I am pretty positive I would not sleep there again. Haha
You can find photos of this experience here:
http://blog.sleepinginairports.com/2009/06/14/finding-sleep-in-difficult-places/ |
| | Other Stuff I noticed | - SEATING: Hard Bucket Seats
- AMENITIES: Gift Shops, Fast Food, WIFI
- BATHROOMS: Clean Bathrooms, Flush Toilets, BYOTP (Bring your own toilet paper)
- SHOWERS: What Showers?
- SMOKING: Smoking is permitted in designated areas
- ANNOUNCEMENTS/NOISE: Frequent annoying announcements
- TEMPERATURES: Too Cold. Air-conditioning was too high
- INSECTS/PESTS: Drug addicts homeless people and other suspicious people were present
- CLEANLINESS: Cleaning staff were ever present riding floor sweepers and wiping down furniture but they were respectful of my desire to rest
- OTHER GOOD TO KNOW INFORMATION: Signs at this airport were in several languages - one of which I understood
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| Date | | 2009 - March | | Where? | | Main Lobby / Check-in Counters | | Was this an overnight stay? | | Yes | | Reason for Stay | | Early flight departure | | Security | | could care less about my presence | | Would you see me sleeping in this airport again? | | No Way |
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- Barcelona El Prat, Spain
