You should read this post having in your mind the classic theme from the soundtrack of the series (and films) Mission Impossible. You'll see why in a moment.
However, since last Monday, the city of Barcelona and the whole of Catalonia is under a reivindicative mood. After the failed independence bid of two years ago, and the preventive imprisonement of social and cultural societies heads and of the Catalan government for two years, on Monday the sentence of their trial was finally revealled. In general, long prison sentences for people who organised peaceful demonstrations and organised a referendum that the central government didn't accept. Inmediatelly, demonstrations and protests of all sorts were organised all over Catalonia, and even in the rest of Spain and abroad.
On Monday the airport was blocked by the demonstrators, while roads and train tracks were occupied, and streets filled with protesters. Every day of this week new demonstrations and road blockages followed. Usually peaceful, some of them becoming violent as the night fell.
On Wednesday, several marches started from different points in Catalonia, gathering tens of thousands of people, with the idea to arrive to Barcelona on Friday.
And to make things worse, a general strike was called for Friday.
And it is on this same Friday that we are supposed to take our flights to Vietnam (via Dubai) from Barcelona Airport. The flight is scheduled in the evening, so there's plenty of time to arrive, but also plenty of time for things to go wrong and difficult the task of simply getting there.
At lunchtime, news already reach me that the first of the two commutter trains that I need to take to the airport has severe delays because of one of those spontaneous demonstrations is blocking the tracks. By the time I go to the station, that blockage has dissolved but there's still the issue of the general strike, meaning that only half (or less) of the usual trains are running.
A train finally shows up, but just before reaching the station to change to the airport line, the train breaks down and we are kindly informed that our train will remain stopped for a few minutes. Not long, but just long enough to miss the airport train. Because of the general strike, the next train it's one hour later. On top of that, thousands of people are arriving to Barcelona on those same trains, to join the demonstrations and the arrival of the marches, meaning that the airport train is so packed that it's simply impossible to get in.
We decide to take another train to the station on the other side of the city, demonstrators will have alighted from the airport train and it will be possible to board. As we have one hour to wait, it's not a risky plan and so we do that.
We meet unexpected people on the train to the airport, but with a much closer destination. We are finally on our last leg to the airport and getting away from the demonstrations and possible blockades. Airport shuttle takes us swiftly to the right terminal (so swiftly in fact that everybody standing on the bus platform ends up rather shaken), and crossing the security checks occur without further incidents, and we finally reach the departure lounge at the Barcelona airport.Now it's just a couple of hours wait, taking time to read, eat something, play a new board game, write this blog entry, filling inmigration forms, and, generally speaking, being bored.
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