A 4 day trip to escape the horrible British weather for some proper summer sunshine in the Mediterranean. My first proper step onto the Spanish mainland, and my parents first proper step (and probably last) venture into a budget airline. Good shopping, good food and good weather were all present with the exception of good planning which meant spreading our sightseeing over a four days when they could have been squeezed into two. Then there was the mishap involving my camera, which crashed to the ground from the height of a bench after I had placed it in one of the Camper paperbags for a moment as I had wanted to change lens. The bag was bottom-light, despite being laden with shoes, and became top-heavy after I put in the camera. All I can say is thank God for filters, as the filter glass cracked and the thread was dented inwards making it impossible to remove the filter, but no harm came to the lens itself. And I could still continue using the lens, as long as I knew not to aim directly at a light source, which would cause refraction marks to appear on the photo. I can report that Jessops have sawn off the filter at only the cost of a Lucozade and chocolate bar which I bought for the technician! Had alot of fun with the telephoto lens I borrowed from Jo this time and might think of getting one for myself, a wide-angle telephoto travel lens - so I don't have to keep bringing/changing while on holiday(the removal of dust marks via photoshop is too tedious), perhaps an 18-200mm? The food was good, and we got to visit 2 restaurants that were michelin-starred. I was extremely happy to get to go to Abac which was one of my original choices but had been fully booked the previous day and on our last night. We only managed to get a table after a screw-up by the hotel concierge (he booked us a table at Caelis restaurant on a Monday night and confirmed it. Caelis is closed on Mondays and we found out only after we got there) and after asking the hotel to sort it out, they somehow managed to get us a table even though earlier that morning the restaurant was "full" according to THAT concierge. Incredibly enough, we didn't get a chance to visit the famous La Ramblas, the Camp Nou football stadium nor the beach which was just at our hotel's doorstep.Also disappointing was the limited Camper shoe selection. I had expected like a giant shoe store, coloured like a rainbow but all there were was a limited selection and a grumpy but cute salesgirl who I think was longing for her siesta. Anyhow, my mother has duly promised a return to Spain soon as long as Loewe and Lladro continue to remain cheaper to buy over there - and as long as we don't fly budget the next time. But we all know, for a 2 hour journey, it ain't all that bad, right?