And finally, here is the essential information and a few tips:

Flight time: Just over 2 hours

Vaccinations: None needed - however it is always worth checking with the NHS website, as they give up to the minute advice.  It’s also worth taking the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) (I confess I don’t have one!)

Currency: Euro

Time zone: usually 1 hour ahead of London time

Drinking water: Most water in Europe is pretty safe to drink, so you can enjoy ice in your drinks and brush your teeth with the tap water, but I would always recommend drinking bottled water - just because it takes anybody time to adjust to a new water system - and you don’t want that time to be on your holiday!

Language: Spanish - however in Barcelona you will see signs in two languages - the two main dialects of the area.  Most people in hotels, restaurants and spas speak very good English, but one or two (in train stations and airports) get a bit fed up with people not speaking Spanish.  I just smile, shrug and apologise (in any language I can come up with.)

Safety: We didn’t have any problem at all with safety or security, despite hearing a lot of warnings (although we were travelling out of season.)  In fact I wish I had been a bit more relaxed.  There is a safe in the hotel, and I always use these, make sure you have a spare credit card in the safe with your tickets and passports (unfortunately you do need a credit card to lock it) and most of all, trust your instincts.  I think it also helped that we were staying in the business district, which was pretty quiet at night, you would probably need to be a bit more careful on the Ramblas or in clubs, but I would say the same about central London!

For a great sunset view: Head to Corte Ingles on Placa de Catalunya and go up to the restaurant at the top - even if you just have a coffee you may be lucky enough to see a beautiful sunset!

The guide book: I love guide books, and I think they are essential.  I am very picky, but actually managed to buy the DK Eyewitness Travel Barcelona guide twice.  One I bought a few years back and left with my mum - I bought another in the meantime and they turned out to be a mini and a very mini guide book.  I’d actually recommend them both - one for day, and one for slipping in your pocket in the evening!

And if you want to make sure you are carrying around only the very essential information you can also create your own individual guide book on the DK website.  I have to confess I have yet to do this as it is only available for certain destinations, but Barcelona is one of them!

Barcelona Card: You can buy a Barcelona Card a minimum of 24 hours in advance if you want to pick it up at the Tourist Office at Barcelona airport (which is a good idea as you can then use it to travel on the train to Barcelona.)  We paid around €32 for a 4 day card, and it was probably just about worth it in terms of the money we saved - it allows you to travel on all the public transport, plus it gives you discounts (sometimes even free entry) at a lot of sights, restaurants, shops etc.  Its big advantage is that you don’t have to mess around with tickets, great if you are worried about pickpockets seeing where your purse is, or you don’t want to deal with buying individual tickets.  We of course put the tickets in our purses so we had to keep getting them out anyway.  You may not make a lot of savings using the Barcelona Card unless you really try to, but it did save us a lot of time and hassle so it was worth it for us - but I wouldn’t worry if you don’t get one.

They do ask you to print out the confirmation to pick up your Barcelona Card, so be wary if you don’t have a printer easily to hand!