So, I'm Pretty Sure This Is Peak Iron Tourist

The idea of living overseas for a month came to us from Neil and Mary Newhouse.  They rented a place in Paris for a month several years ago.  One piece of advice Neil gave me is to come up with a list of 30 things you want to do during that month, so that you do one or two things a day without having had half the month slip by and doing little.

I thought that was good advice, but carried it further.  Much further.  (Warning: if obsessive planning and organization for traveling is not your thing, read no more of this post!).

I broke Barcelona into seven neighborhoods/areas.  Most were along the normal neighborhoods, although some I combined.  For each neighborhood, I typed up a list of "To Do's" -- as few as nine (Barceloneta), but as many as 25 (Barri Gothic).  I also added lists of recommended restaurants from our landlord, friends, people I don't know, food critics (Tom Sietsma), and random other places.

An example of my

neighborhood planning

In toto, there are seven of these.

Go ahead and call me obsessive.

It's actually taken as a compliment.

And here is one page of the itinerary.

We don't have to hit every place on the lists, either sights or restaurants.  But, this way we won't waste time trying to figure out what to do or where to eat.  And, the restaurants are a range of places, from hole-in-wall tapas bars to Michelin Star restaurants (there are 22 in Barcelona, we're eating at four of them, including the famed Disfrutar!).

I've also done a five page itinerary (many days are blank, but sometimes you need to make restaurant reservations or buy timed tickets, especially for Gaudi).  We have two sets of guests coming.  Maddy is heading to Amsterdam for a few days later this week, and then coming to Barcelona on Saturday.  She leaves Monday night (we'll be doing a lot in those three days!).  Tuesday, Don and Jennifer Minnis join for nearly a week before they head to London.   I've got a lot planned!