After a quick call home warning my husband that I was going to break the bank with my weekend away, he suggested I just relax and have a good time. He’s a good guy. But as I mentioned in the previous post I still have some things to sort out myself.

The great thing, and the bad thing about living in Portugal is that food and drink are VERY cheap. This is great when you are in Portugal, but it warps your thinking when you are out of the country. Everything seems so damn expensive, even when it’s not. Even in Spain I had to adjust my thinking.

After a a quick drink I went back to the hotel to await the ladies’ return. The hotel being a Ritz affiliate. No joke. My cot costs what I would normally pay for a room. But people, this cot was the shit!

Fortunately I was more dressed up than normal for traveling because I wanted to be able to wear my outfit out to dinner that first night. Normally I look much more sloppy when I travel. But there was no hiding the fact that this was not my normal scene. Everyone else had handbags more expensive than everything on my person. Whatever must they have been thinking of my over the shoulder duffle bag that I had borrowed from my husband. But who cares, right?

Not the ladies. When we saw each other there was no hiding our ‘American-es’. With a big hoot and holler we hugged and kissed in the foyer before each grabbing a glass of the free Dom Pérignon that was being offered (these people know how to live!)

From the hotel veranda bar, we moved up to our room so everyone could clean up and get ready for dinner. I ran out to grab a couple bottles of wine. To be honest we would have been happy to be anywhere together. Barcelona was a bonus, but the real gift was us being in each other’s company.