I was fifteen at the time and my parents, me and my cousin were about to leave for Spain. That was the place where we all wanted to spend the best time ever. However, problems started right at the airport. We arrived there being all literally over the moon with joy, but it turned out that we couldn’t board the plane. My absent-minded dad had forgotten to take his ID, and there was no other choice but to book another flight for us. Luckily, there was a plane to Spain on that day, but we had to wait ten hours at the airport, not to mention the extra money spent on the tickets. I could see that especially mum was boiling with anger, and she tried really hard not to cause a scene. After a really long time, we were on our way to Barcelona, and I hoped everything would go smoothly since that moment. Well, the worst was yet to come. When we finally arrived in Barcelona, it was after midnight, and the subway happened to be closed. There was no taxi nearby, so we walked for hours to reach our hotel. I was the first person to discover that apparently the room we’d booked wasn’t en suite as we’d thought it would, which meant sharing the same bathroom with plenty of strangers in the hall. The following day, we wanted to visit Camp Nou, which is the stadium of FC Barcelona, but we got lost and couldn’t find anybody speaking English. Finally, we reached our destination, but believe it or not, the stadium turned out that it had been rebuilding, and it was closed for all visitors. The next few days weren’t better either: my cousin lost her phone, I got sunburns, and my skin was peeling off, while mum had left her wedding ring in a public restroom, and obviously someone took it. When we were about to leave Barcelona, I felt a strange sense a relief. I was scared that something else would happen to all of us.
All in all, I can say that vacations in Barcelona have been my worst summer vacations ever. I must admit, Barcelona is a breath-taking city, but we just had there a really bad luck. Who knows, I may return there one day to see if the city will be kinder to me.
Glossary - słownictwo
a nightmare – koszmar
a case – przypadek
literally - dosłownie
to be over the moon with joy – skakać z radości
o turn out – okazać się
absent-minded – rozkojarzony
to board – wejść na pokład
to cause a scene – „ zrobić scenę ” (kłócić się w miejscu publicznym)
not to mention – nie wspominając o…
to go smoothly – pójść gładko, bez komplikacji
midnight – północ
the subway – metro
nearby – w pobliżu
to reach – dotrzeć na miejsce, sięgnąć po coś
en suite – z łazienką w pokoju
to rebuild – remontować
to get sunburns – dostać poparzeń słonecznych
My skin was peeling off – schodziła mi skóra
a wedding ring – obrączka
a restroom – toaleta
obviously – oczywiście
a sense of relief – poczucie ulgi
breath-taking – zachwycające (dosłownie: zapierające dech w piersiach)