These are the challenges we faced whilst visiting PortAventura. By all means we aren’t saying you’ll have the same experiences. We’re hoping this blog may help people but please don’t be put of this was our first adult abroad trip so these things may now be a lot more simpler to us.
Understanding Barcelona Airport:
Of course we’ve never been to Barcelona Airport and it was pretty stressful. We had to scan our passports which the queues were extremely long to get through. At that point we had about an hour to get to the other terminal. So we hopped onto the transfer bus to the other terminal. At which we had about half an hour to figure out where about our Busplana bus was. That all may sound simple but when you’ve never been to the country before and under practice like we were, it can be quite stressful.
Transport to PortAventura World:
We found the Busplana bus and handed our tickets the driver looked it over and said “okay”. At that point we weren’t allowed on the bus then another turned up which we got on instead. The entire journey was hot and sweaty as the air con wasn’t the best. As we got into Salou there was no mention of dropping us of at PortAventura. He was announcing all these different stops but not once did he mention PortAventura. We tried to speak to him but he was angry chap and didn’t answer us. Then we got our sat nav up on our phone and noticed he started to go the wrong way. So we hopped off in Salou and used our Sat Nav to walk there. Honestly it was fairly long from the stop we got off and was crazy warm.
Change in Hotel:
After all the walking we did we got to the PortAventura Hotel which was the one we booked. We went to check in at which we were told we had no reservation at the hotel. Of course that moment is an instant panic & scary alone. Then we got told there was no room for us at that hotel but they’ve moved us to Hotel Gold River. Thankfully they were great and got the bell boy to take us.
The Worry Of Getting Back To The Airport:
The entirety of our trip we were worried about how we were getting back to the airport. We had Busplana booked for the return journey but from the original hotel. However we did not know whether it would actually come into the hotel we were now at or if we had to find another bus stop outside in Salou. We spoke to the receptionist at which they weren’t sure but said the bell boy will take us to our original hotel. That was one massive help alone but thankfully all went fine.
Return Journey to Barcelona Airport:
Now this was the day which was the most stressful out of the entire week. We finished our breakfast then got taken to the original hotel. That went perfectly fine, we were sat outside for about an hour and thankfully all was on time. Yet the Busplana driver pulled over roughly 30 minutes away from PortAventura. There wasn’t any explanation as to what was happening we were cutting into 2 hour period before our flight. We waited there for easily 30 minutes then he tells us to get off. That was the moment we truly began to panic then another bus turns up about 5 minutes later. He then put us on that bus which was packed but that was that.
Changing Of Gates At The Airport:
We went through security and grabbed a quick bite to eat and had about 40 minutes spare. The boards said a gate number that everyone flying back to Birmingham should head to. It was 15 minutes until it opened at which they changed the gate number to the opposite side of the Airport. So everyone rushed over and waited for another 10 minutes. At that point there was only 3 minutes until we were supposed to be boarding. Yet they changed the gate again to the first gate we were at. As you can see the pattern they then changed it again to down some stairs. By this point we were easily half hour of constant moving gate to gate. It was very stressful for everyone who was boarding the plane especially the elderly and that had plenty of luggage with them. That day was very hot as well so that wasn’t helping the patience of almost everyone.
One thing we’d recommend and learnt ourselves through this experience is to plan with extra time to your flights. We’d also recommend doing as much research if you’re not used to the area as possible. It can be stressful if what happened to us happens to you. If anyone wants advice please drop us an inbox and we’ll try and help as much as possible.
