Barcelona via Paris? Probably not such a great idea!

Italy prep - post #2

If you're reading this, you most likely know I'm a seasoned traveler - primarily work related.  I plan trips almost weekly - flights, hotels, rental cars, etc.  So I feel pretty confident about travel planning....and it's that cocky attitude that resulted in the first leg of our trip to Europe getting a little screwed up!

The price of the cruise includes roundtrip flights but rather than let the cruiseline book the flights, I asked if we could do this ourselves - two main reasons:  1.  I wanted to use American Airlines to get the miles AND take advantage of some system-wide upgrades I had accumulated and 2.  to have some control on connections, times etc.  They said fine.

So I searched for American flights from here to Barcelona which is where the cruise originates.  Knowing I could upgrade the 3 of us so we'd be flying business class, I wanted a 767 jet - the one that has the really nice reclining seats that almost make a bed.  There were no options for this type of jet without adding an additional connection.  Dallas only offered 757's (nice seats but nothing like the 767).  So, I asked Hilda and MaryJo if they'd be interested in a brief stop in Paris...figuring we'd have 24 hours to see a few key places before heading to Barcelona.  No problem, they say, so we book the flights. 

BIG MISTAKE!  I had done a little research on travel options from Paris to Barcelona, and what looked to be easy turned out to be not so easy.

Option 1:  Rental car- great idea, I thought.  We could see a good bit of France and Spain.  I'm thinking my status with National Car Rental would be helplful.....NOT!  It doesn't count in Europe.  Further, renting a car and "dropping" it in another country in Europe is expensive - probably around $600-$700 for a 24 hour rental. (thank you Tom and Cathy E. for the big tip on this!)

Option 2:  Train - at the risk of sounding like I watch a lot of "chick flicks" with this second movie reference, think "French Kiss"...remember Meg Ryan with Kevin Kline on the train from Paris to Cannes and she's looking out the window admiring the scenery?  What's not to like about that, I think.....only to find out the train from Paris to Barcelona is a NIGHT train..so forget the scenery.

Option 3:  hitchhike (ok, kidding)

Option 4:  fly - which is what we decided to do..via Easy Jet...who made it clear that your checked bag can only weigh 20 lbs. If you want, you can pay upfront for extra weight - you actually pick the wt. - but then when you check in, if you are over that wt, they will charge you a penalty fee (I heard its a lot...in the neighborhood of $1000. )

Next update - how EasyJet's "technical" problem made me scramble, again, for an alternate plan to get from Paris to Barcelona!