Barcelona Mola!

I’m SO blessed! My friend Willem had to go to Barcelona for work/ meetings and asked me to come over for the weekend. He didn’t had to ask that twice, OF COURSE, yes! I’ve been to Barcelona before, but this trip was “next level”!

The pictures from the photo shoots I did there are already on my site for some time, but I thought it might be cool to share the background story as well. Although it is already some time ago (UNFORTUNATELY).

Here we go!

November 23, 2018 (Friday)

I was in complete STRESS this week! I lost my wallet on a party 18-nov (actually I lost much, much more) so it was the question if I even had a bank card. But like they say, all will work out in the end. On Thursday only, I received new cards etc.

I started the day with a (very) early morning run, some make up and off to the station to take the train to Schiphol.

No stress, well in time to do some tax free shopping.

I fell in love with this Victoria Secret set. I didn’t buy it then, but I’m happy I still got it now (and that was not that easy haha <3).

Of course, I was also distracted by sunnies. I still regret not buying these to pieces!

I was well in time at the gate, but I had to do some online shopping still. It was black Friday! I did buy things from Calvin Klein, G-star, Elias Rumelis and I ordered a new phone^^. Since finally I got my card back so I could do some transactions.

I installed myself in my window seat (I’m a window seat person). The plane was super full and people where talking VERY loud haha. Some guys were talking about their struggles with girls^^. I almost wanted to mingle in.

But I decided to enjoy the view as long as I could and when my head was in the clouds, type a blog on my laptop.

As soon as the “fasten your seatbelts”-sign was switched off, like everybody, I turned on my phone. Following message popped up onto my screen:

This is PERFECT! Willem arranged a driver to pick me up from the airport so that I didn’t have to take a chabby cab. COOL! Little that I know I still had to wait a while to meet my driver.

When I exited the plane, the next group entered it to head back to the Netherlands. We waited. And waited. And waited for our luggage. And then also the sign “Amsterdam” disappeared from the belt. Oh my, did they take the luggage out of the plane? Everybody was in complete STRESS! Spanish people apparently don’t stress as much as Dutch people haha.

It really took AGES! But, we all got our suitcase in the end and it was time to find my driver.

That was not that difficult. WOOOWWW! How cool is this! But the biggest surprise was seeing my carriage for the day.

Oh my, a MAYBACH (special edition)! Stephen told me about all the famous people he transported in this car. There were drinks and food on board, I was with my head in the clouds, while laying in my seat, listening to classical music. We stopped a couple of times for some pictures (it rained, so we had to search for places with a “roof”, still having enough light). Stephen took it all easy, “I have all day for you”. When we approached the hotel, he even said he had hoped that I wanted to drive a little bit more with him. His dreamy smile disappeared when he saw Willem, who was already waiting in front of the hotel.

Stephen was a real gentleman.

And there we went.

The hotel room was AMAZING, SO big! And still super tidy when I entered (I apparently make a big mess of all the placed I enter).

Important place:

Bathroom #goals.

After a little relaxation, it was time to go and discover Barcelona. Or, well, the shopping mall. Of course, a little touch up first.

My shopping pictures are in this blog post: http://astridalida.com/trend-neon/

Of course, shopping took longer than expected so we had to hurry to get ourselves ready for the HP party, themed “Rock”.

Who doesn’t know the struggle when you’re in a hurry: your eyeliner gets f*cked up haha.

We decided to wait for the HP-crew NL (part) in the bar, where we ordered Espresso Martini and took some pictures.

Time to get my (new) coat on (it was like EUR15):

First stop: cocktailbar (preparty part II haha).

Apparently Willem and one of his colleagues bought the same shirt for the party. What a coincidence!

This was taken on the HP party. It was an AMAZING event really! The food was FANTASTIC (oysters everywhere), but the entourage was TOP NOTCH! Free tattoos, guitars etc. etc. etc. I always have to get used to the scene first, but soon it was time to ROCK!

Official pic by the photographer at the party (those guitars where EVERYWHERE).

I made new friends (I have NO IDEA who these people are).

And my other new friend, I think his name was Brian Mae.

November 24, 2018 (Saturday)

I didn’t drink too much at the party as today was the day of the photo shoot. I didn’t want to have a puffy head. But we did get some (read: a LOT) McDonalds on our way home (the taxi driver was NOT all that happy with this impulsive action) so I still had to contour my face like a pro anyway haha!

This was my best try:

Behind the scenes! After picking up our e-bikes we first had breakfast/ dinner and already did a little try out in the same place.

I fell off my bike after 1 km and my complete tights was ripped. So I had to re-dress sooner then I wanted haha.

These pictures can be found in this blog post: http://astridalida.com/colourful-barcelona/

Colorful is an understatement.

Keep your eyes on the road, gurllllllllllllllll…

The last scenery was at the beach. I re-dressed and first we decided to get some coffee. Of course it was time to check out the first results. Together with the critical eye of Willem. I think I was happy with the result. The coffee was nice, too :-).

After the photo shoot, we went to return our E-bikes and get some Starbucks, heading back to the hotel with a taxi. I decided to go shopping for a little. I dismissed Willem, as I could already tell he was not into this haha, and that it was going to take a little bit longer than he can handle.

I found amazing glasses at Zara (with UV protection).

After, I went to Hema because I was GRAVING pepernoten haha and they sold it here! Bloody expensive, but what can I do other then to give in to my addiction.

Sephora-time! It is really a SHAME we don’t have Sephora in the Netherlands.

Not to mention the Hema-bag on my arms (hello, kruidnoten).

In the evening we went to a party (with food) of HP staff, Spanish people really don’t speak English that well. I asked if something was vegetarian, and they said yes, but later I found out it was a no. Only after finishing. I felt really bad :-(.

I took Uber back to the hotel alone after an hour already as I was tired (so far for me being a party girl hahaha). The Uber driver could not speak ONE word English, he really wanted to talk to me, so it was AWKWARDDD. In the hotel, I ate my Pepernoten and to me, that was the perfect night (hahahahahha). So far for the spoiled girl always wanting to go out for luxury dinners (not really :-P)).

November 25, 2018 (Sunday)

The day to go home. We slept in a little and ha d to clean up the BIG mess in the hotel room. It was all my mess, EVERYWHERE! Whaaaaaa! We were just in time for the breakfast where they made a special dish for me with a lot of eggs and tabasco.

After, we took the taxi back to another beach area, as we wanted to enjoy a drink in the most luxurious hotel, but the bar was still closed (at 1 P.M.! Why? Hahaha).

So we went to a club instead and I had an Italian coffee which really approached perfection!

I felt tired and looked horrible, then I always feel even worse. But the coffee woke me up a little bit. It was time to go to the airport. We apparently got the most dirty taxi in the city haha, and it was a trip of 40 minutes. I had my head outside of the window the whole trip haha (dramaqueen-alert!!!!).

This was the idea of time of the trip, but it all went a little different. I don’t care, I’m super patient when I’m with cool people and especially when there’s Starbucks and when there are shops.

One Chai tea latte, extra hot, extra wet/ My name? Astrid…………………………..

My look (and mood) improved immediately after putting on these sunglasses. Everything looked sunnier. I’m SO happy they are mine (or well, the idea was to share them with Willem. Sorryyyyyyyyyyyy Willem hahaha, you can use them soon – I think).

SO funny. the delay was ALMOST 3 hours. When it’s three hours or more, you get a compensation. So we were HOPING for this haha but after 2 hours and 55 minutes, the plane finally departed. All my friends and parents were asking where I was, and why the delay? I replied that the plane wasn’t looking so good and that they had to repair it first, sending this picture…………