Feeling like another holiday, and deciding that 5 days before my uni exams was *the* best time to go, I easyjetted off to Barcelona for a short break. I wanted to go to Rome, but boyfriend at the time decided to tag along and wanted somewhere served by a budget airline so Barcelona it was. That is why boyfriend at the time is boyfriend no longer, and why new boyfriend handily works in travel and thinks nothing of suggesting exotic long haul destinations as places to holiday, but that's another op. We decided to go about a month before departure, so I crawled the net for a week or so and came up with the Hostal del Mar (Hotel of the Sea). It seemed reasonably priced, centrally enough located and not too scruffy.

The room was (trying really hard to be nice now) different. “Simple” is probably a good word. There were two beds (one double and one single), in what they’d termed a “double room” – I imagine they do this so the room can be double or twin – we found the smaller one useful for eating/trampolining on. With these we had 2 chairs, a table and a mirror in the main area. Off this was a small bathroom containing a toilet and basin (but not bath). At the other side of the room was a shower area, complete with 3 walls and a curtain to prevent you splashing water / baring your bum to the world. Towels were provided (large-for-a-hotel bath ones, and hand ones), as were shampoo sachets and soaps. Finally we had another alcove with added doors that formed a makeshift wardrobe. The room seemed clean enough, but it wasn’t spotlessly shiny or anything.

There was no television or radio, and the hotel didn’t have a lounge area or similar, so you had to make you own entertainment. We found the flickety ,flick, in, out, circle, rat-a-tat-tat game most fun, but internet censorship laws and the fact that this is a family site would no doubt prevent me from explaining the rules. The beds, while comfy, were a bit noisy, and you really sank into them the moment you climbed in, making my usual trampolining practice almost impossible.

This might sound a bit negative (and if it does, good, since I’m trying to put you off ever staying there), but the hotel did have some plus points. For starters, it was really cheap - £20 per person per night, and for an en-suite(ish) room in a city like Barcelona, that’s not bad. The hotel was centrally located – only 2 minutes walk to a metro, and within walking distance of La Rambla and other main attractions. There were quite a few cafes and restaurants nearby, and the marina was just across the road. The staff were friendly and helpful – storing our luggage on the last day since our flight wasn’t until evening, and calling taxis if you asked – small things I know, and things you would expect automatically in a larger place, but nice all the same.

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