Things go pear-shaped

We had an enjoyable seven hour train trip at speeds of up to 300km per hour and arrived in Barcelona on schedule at 10pm. Dramas followed when Avis told us that our debit cards were unacceptable and that they would only accept a credit card. Furthermore the only such card we had chosen to bring with us was in Mary's name, and that was unacceptable because it was Brian who was hiring the car. Eventually and reluctantly they relented knowing that we faced a difficult 70km drive to our hotel.

The car was on the third level of a parking building which was deserted at that late hour. We put our bags on the floor by the car while Brian was moving the car forward to make room and was flipping the back seats down. Two young men happened to stroll by and one of them seemed to be asking Mary for some directions. While she was distracted the other one must have grabbed the backpack containing the camera, new iPad, iPod, Kindle and other bits and pieces including a couple of our payment cards.
Fortunately Brian was carrying our passports, the phone and the two main debit cards that we use in his security vest (thanks Allan for nagging us to get one). We then spent the next couple of hours traipsing around central Barcelona, very angry, and trying to find some police who were even vaguely interested. Clearly the two characters had been watching us from a distance and had chosen the right moment to pounce.

The main losses are our photos taken so far plus the lack of flexibility to take more good photos and write the travel blog which we so much enjoy doing.

It was a long and tiring drive to the isolated but spectacular hotel, not that we saw much of it when we checked in after 3am.

Sadly, our blogs from now on are unlikely to be as comprehensive, but we'll try our best.Read more