Europe 2025 - Greece, Croatia, Spain, Morocco and Portugal

[Coops1]

Off on a 6 week trip, starting tonight:

10 days Greece - Athens, Santorini and Milos
8 days Croatia - Coastal Cruise
4 days Barcelona including the F1
22 days exploring Spain, Morocco and Portugal on a tour

Off to a poor start, Qantas ex HBA cancelled which meant Jetstar and collect bag and recheck in Melbourne (1.5hrs)
Got to the Amex lounge 15mins before closing (no food)
Hungry, but have boarded and looking forward to Barcelona (1 night), don't ask why!

Last 2 trips were SQ J, now in Emirates Y
Can't complain at least we are on our way and on-time.

Will post regular updates I hope.

 

[VPS]

Looking forward to it

 

[Seat0B]

I’m onboard too. I love to armchair travel when I’m not actually travelling.

 

[Coops1]

Emirates economy, flew 777 and A380. Way to noisy on 777 even with earplugs! A380 a lot more comfortable.

Inflight service was mediocre on both flights MEL-DUBAI-BCN, seat was way better on A380, but don't choose Rows ~62-66 if you dont want to be one with the wing, no plane wing shots at all . Actual food was surprisingly good, after coming down from SQ J and lobster.

Red Curry Chicken - damn nice


Mountains out of Oman into Dubai


Over Sri Lanka and India


View from 66K Emirates A380



PAU CASALS lounge at BCN, Star Alliance (thanks HSBC) BCN - ATH. First lounge of the trip, lots of spaces, clean, and good food options, no hot for mid-morning though, although great selection of drinks and wines. No coffee barista though

And thanks for Aegean free wifi for this post
Barcelona shots later

 

[Flyfrequently]

On board @Coops1, enjoy!

 

[Coops1]

Geez, I am well behind. Posting once I get a chance to rest tonight. Photos of Barcelona, Athens and Santorini. Currently on Superjet from Santorini to Milos in Club Class (seat is worth 10 euro upgrade on upper deck) am actually nearly up to date on instagram (@ashcoops1), but will do justice to this thread too soon

 

[Coops1]

Barcelona - Stayed at Four Points by Sheraton Barcelona Airport on points.

Specifically selected for the rooftop bar and pool! yeah. As @VPS is aware this is one of the criteria that is high priority on our trips

The backstory is that the 20k in points were compensation awarded due to Milan Sheraton hotel having the rooftop bar closed for renovation (2023 trip)

Blow me down, after seeing the pool and terrace on the webpage main page, and making sure it was open in May......it was bloody well only open on weekends. FFS

Received 5000 bonus points that day in compensation, which doesn't cover the difference the cheaper and closer B&B hotel was

Oh well, this part of the trip was going to be painful anwyways as we only had 24hrs in Barcelona before backtracking to Athens.

The backstory on flying to Barcelona was that we should have taken $1500 in airfare credit from a later tour and flown direct to Athens or Istanbul. Amazingly the airfares were real expensive and a distinct lack of points flights, thus we just went with the flow.

Easy public bus L99 from and to the airport @ 2.65 Euro each way. And just a 600m walk!

Even better when somebody got off the bus and gave us a ticket for 2 free trips . Thanks to the Japanese traveller at BCN for being so nice

Tried the ATMs at the local mall, and
ATM charge for Euronet and Caixa etc were 5 and 7 (yes 7) euros. Same in city, so waited until Athens, as we had coins and small notes to cover the start anyways

Would I stay here again, yes, as it was cheaper than the city, but only if the rooftop was open