Never seen that before! I assume that’s T3?

Yes, it is.

Immigration was seamless; there would have been zero wait even without using the assistance lane. We had pre-booked a shuttle van to the Marriott Heathrow through We Know London. The price for two people is within the range of what a taxi would be (14 pounds). Our wheelchair attendant had departed, so it was nice that the driver met us at the info booth and wheeled a bag for me while I pushed the wheelchair. We have used this service before going from the Marriott to T5, and it is even more convenient going that way.

A near miss. When I arrived at the hotel, I immediately realized that I had left a bag on the bottom of the wheelchair. I am not even tired, so I will put it down to the unfamiliar situation. I sped back to T3 in an Uber and, thankfully, the chair and bag were right where I left them. An expensive mistake due to the round trip transportation and loss of sleep time, but it could have been exponentially worse! And I now have some more positive energy to power me tomorrow morning.

Luck in misfortune.

I'm up at a ghastly hour in advance of our 4:15 shuttle (booked last night via a touchpad kiosk in the lobby).
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I like this Marriott but can't say that it was worth the premium over, say, the Renaissance for our purposes this time. The in-room dining butter chicken at the Renaissance far exceeded the extremely bland tikka masala we had last night.
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Given that the in-house restaurant is an Italian restaurant, and the last time I was staying here I overheard a patron lambasting the front desk manager about his meal and complaining that he would now need to take his family to Burger and Lobster, I can't say I'm surprised.

I really enjoyed Madhu's at the Sheraton Skyline next door, but we didn't have time this trip.

The shuttle arrived on time and made one additional stop at the Radisson Red. We had a pleasant chat with a couple from Newcastle on their way back from Vancouver.

The provision of self-service wheelchairs at departures is a great idea.
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We entered the First Wing, where I inquired about purchasing an upgrade, but the flight is full. The First Wing security doesn't open until 5 am, so we will lounge here until then.
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I had time for a few bites of granola before the wheelchair assistance arrived to take her to the plane. Boarding was well underway at 5:30. We jumped the queue and boarded in a relatively smooth fashion, though I will never understand why people would crowd someone coming out of a wheelchair who clearly needs space. The seat and overhead locker space will still be there.

Nonetheless, my wife is now ensconced in 1C, and I am comfortable in 12C. Maybe I will even order a bacon roll. :cool: And there's no one in 12B, so it's almost like I am flying in Club Europe.

The pilot just announced that we are set for an on-time departure, and we should touch down at BCN in about two hours.

The flight was uneventful on my end. The bacon roll was pretty good!
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Unfortunately, my wife's experience was not so great. Apparently, the crew did not serve her a meal until she asked whether she would get one when she saw the crew putting the cart back and heard them talking about giving the remaining meals away.

After we parked at the jetbridge, we waited for over 20 minutes for the wheelchair. The process was quite bizarre. First, they connected a hi-lift to the opposite door and brought us into that. Then, we descended and entered through the bus gate entrance. After that, we waited for 10 more minutes with some others before the attendant pushed us through immigration. En route, we saw one of those wheelchair trains headed to get the others. The non-EU line was quite long, so we were in luck. After immigration, she passed us off to someone else, who brought us to the taxi. All in all, a complicated yet efficient process after the initial wait.

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Now, we are darting through traffic on the way to the Edition.

Our plan for the day was predicated on the (unfounded) assumption that we would get an early check-in. After an hour waiting in the lobby, it became apparent that we weren't getting a room anytime soon. We headed up to the roof, where we were greeted by incredible views.

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I can unequivocally say that Dos Palillos was the best lunch I've ever had. The menu deftly melded pan-Asian cuisine and Spanish influences. The restaurant has about 12 seats at a low counter around the open kitchen. There were more chefs than patrons, and it was fascinating to watch them in action, using various implements to finish the dishes.

My phone battery was dying, so I didn't have the juice needed to take the time to stage the pictures well enough to avoid shadows, but you will get the gist.

There were fifteen courses and four desserts. Standout dishes for me were a lamb curry paired with a green mango salad and goat milk ice cream, a cold chicken pho, pork jowl, an anchovy with a coconut oil and pepper sauce, a fermented sea bass, and a simple rice and balsamic vinegar bite. I was too tired to remember all the ingredients.

The restaurant has an extensive sake catalogue, and we went with a few dealer's choice pairings, which were excellent. One had notes of a smoky whiskey; another was reminiscent of a chardonnay.

I don't normally talk about prices, but it is worth mentioning that I think that this meal was an absolute bargain at 380 euros all in. The tasting menu itself is 140 per person.

Barcelona Edition
 

I have mixed feelings about this hotel so far. The public spaces are great, and they approved the use of a nightly upgrade award for a spacious junior suite. Also, I know that checking in early is at the discretion of the hotel, so I can't be upset about us not getting it. Still, I think they should do a much better job communicating an estimate of when the room will be ready to everyone, not just Ambassador members. I heard the front desk associate give the same spiel about not wanting to give estimates about timing to multiple people, and it's not helpful to suggest that we wait at the rooftop bar if the wait is going to be three plus hours. The server at the bar was great, though!

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A visit to Sips or Paradiso isn't in the cards tonight; we are way too tired. I am charging my phone and then will probably head downstairs to Punch Room. I am dangerously close to crashing and need a punch up to give me the energy to take me through around 8:30 PM.

I'm the only one in the Punch Room, so this is going to be a short stay. The name explains the concept, and most of the punches are tea-based. The Donn Beach cocktail is reminiscent of a mai tai and is really, really good. I think they've succeeded with the lounge design. A space like this in NYC would be packed at 7 on a Thursday evening.
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The first punch was so good that I decided to get the El Navegante. I like this one, but not as much. It's not clarified, although it looks that way.
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My stay at the Punch Room ended up not being so short after all, as I spoke to a bartender for about an hour about cocktails, bartending, and hospitality.

I am glad that I stuck around because the cherry flavors in this Sakura Punch were phenomenal.

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By 8:30, I was a bit hungry and ended my night with a room service cheeseburger and some potatoes. Very solid.
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Now, let's hope I sleep until tomorrow morning and wake up refreshed.

I just slept for about thirteen hours. Perhaps not the best use of time during a two-day visit, but it was needed.

My first (and last) trip to Barcelona was 19 years ago. Other than Canada, I hadn't left the US and was a total naif when it came to travel.

For our study abroad program, we were permitted to arrive two weeks early to travel Europe. My friend and I were joined by someone from our dorm and two others we didn't know well.

During the planning stages, the others responded to every solicitation for their interests with "we don't care"--not recognizing that we weren't only asking for their opinion; we were asking them to help plan. So, my friend and I put together the itinerary of Dublin--Barcelona--Paris--Interlaken--Florence--Rome ourselves.

By the end of the summer, when it came time to purchase tickets, I was annoyed and tired of planning. So, I went to Ryanair.com, typed in Barcelona, saw the result for Reus (Barcelona) was within budget, and clicked "buy."

If you know anything about the geography of Spain, you know what happened next. The realization that I had made a mistake didn't hit me until the plane was descending, and all I could see was farmland.

We landed at what is still the smallest airport I've ever been to outside of the Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Mississippi. I was the only one in the group who spoke any Spanish, and in my execrable Spanish, I asked how far it was to Barcelona. 110 kilometers. @#!$.

The helpful taxi drivers told us that a bus would take us to the bus station. We get there, and there's no staff, no timetables, no information whatsoever. There are, however, a line of busses, so I ask the drivers if they are going toward Barcelona. We board the first bus that is, get to a busy station with plenty of options to Barcelona, and find a bus that lets us off on La Rambla a short distance from our hotel. It took us three or four hours, but no problem.

Except that we then almost had a much bigger issue. When leaving, I was about to tell the driver that our backpacks were in the hold below, but I saw him pressing a button and figured he was opening the door. My friend and I went out first and walked down the length of the bus; the others were close to the door. Then, the door closed, the bus took off, and the three members of our group in view of the driver just stood there open-mouthed as all our stuff pulled away from us. My friend and I sprinted and pounded on the door, and the bus stopped after a few dozen meters.

I have had the good fortune to do some unique travel since then, like Cotonou-Dakar on land, but I think that first travel day will remain my toughest.

(We saw the Sagrada Familia and other sights, but my enduring memory of Barcelona will be a drunken stout Englishman asking me "how many stone are you?" and lifting me off the ground.)