Plan on arriving October 21st and departing October 26th for Charleston, South Carolina, USA. If you would like to visit other parts of Spain or spend more time in Barcelona proper, we recommend arriving before the 21st.
While we've spoken to everyone who has kids about this, unfortunately the answer is no. We love your kids and we know you love your kids, but the multi-level, 800 year old villa, with an ungated pool, located on the side of a cliff in the middle of a national forest, does not. This is a legit safety issue and we are already worried about adding all y'all and alcohol into the mix and don't want to worry about your kids too. Leave 'em with your grandparents or your siblings for a week, they'll have more fun and you know your parents have been bugging you for more grandchild time.
Destination weddings are annoying, we know. And we thank you for agreeing to come along for the ride with us. In order to help justify dragging all of you to Spain just for us, we are providing the Villa, your rooms at the Villa and 3 catered dinners (the first night, the evening of October 23 and of course, the wedding dinner). What we are requesting is that you contribute $200 per person to stock the Villa with food. This will cover breakfasts, snacks and casual light lunches. Other than the stocked food and the three catered dinners, we ask that you pay for your own meals when you are not at the Villa. In addition, the two pre-planned (but not required!) activities; Boating and BBQ on the Mediterranean and the Wine Tasting at the Villa, are additional and are $150 per person per activity. We will let you know the best way to pay for these items as we get closer to the celebration week. It’ll be roughly $500 per person for all stocked food and planned activities. Flights are likely to be the costliest and most difficult to estimate. For reference, flights to and from New York to Barcelona can be as low as $400. The earlier you book your flights the better!
Flights are a pain, especially recently. Carly likes to use SkyScanner to search flight plans and deals. Booking through a single airline for a complex flight can seem like a good idea, and sometimes is, but you can also break up the different legs to make it less expensive. For example: Check out inexpensive flights (such as JetBlue, Southwest, Frontier etc.) from your local airport to a larger national hub like Chicago or New York. Then check out flights out of those larger hubs to Barcelona. Either way, aim to start searching for flights roughly 6 months before your departure. That would mean purchasing flights in April or May. And don't forget your passport!
Getting from Barcelona Airport to the villa is incredibly simple. There are two options, the easiest of which is simply to take a cab! There is a taxi stand immediately outside of the arrival gates at the Barcelona Airport. There is an airport attendant at the curb who will call a cab for you. Save the address of the villa in your phone, or save it in a downloaded google maps, and simply show it to the cab driver. The cabs are metered, but expect to pay $50ish. The second way is a bit more adventurous but also relatively easy for the savvy traveler. There is a direct train from Barcelona Airport to Sitges. The train ride takes roughly 20 min and costs $5. From Sitges, there is taxi stand immediately outside of the train station and a taxi ride will only cost $15 from Sitges to the villa.