Words And Picture By Shawn Wixted.

Barcelona Spain, I really don't know where to start..The trip was probably one of the most amazing times I have had in my life! A crew of us went to Spain in 2006, to film for "Beginners Luck 4" just a project we were working on and at that time I was accompanied by Jake Greenwood, Fred Grace, Logan Futej, Jarrod Hoffa, and Jarrod Micale. I just remember returning home from that trip and I was bummed, Id head up to Ridge and just do manuels around the bottom part for the day before Id head home, so I made a promise to myself that some how, some way we were going to make it back to Spain someday. Barcelona is the place of all place, a street skating heaven, a city of fun, adventure and diversity, there's really not many places I can think of that could ever compare. A very good friend of mine Fred Grace and I had to make the journey to New Jersey first to meet up with Ben Grace before we caught our flight the following morning, that in itself was an adventure all on its own, between finding a bus to take us there, getting lost in New York and lugging around all our gear, it was crazy, but I guess those types of things are what give you the stories to tell and that's what makes it all worth it. Just on a side not, word of the wise pack light, don't be like me and end up
having a 70 lb suitcase! For the rest of trip we recognized my suitcase as "big red" haha.

The plane ride to Barcelona was a pretty smooth flight but there was much anticipation knowing that, this was it you know, were finally going back! We arrived in Barcelona in the early am half asleep from the overnight flight and starving, those little meals on the plane I think are designed to make you more hungry so you get off the plane and buy more stuff haha..anyway we were off too the baggage claim. After we picked up all of the gear we had our next adventure of trying to find Tony Savarese, another friend we were meeting in the airport. So by this time everything's was set to go, we ended up finding Tony after about an hour or so roaming around the airport in circles. The next thing we had to do was navigate to a train that would take us into the city where we would then have to transfer through a couple different subway stops to get to our apartment. As we were cruzing along I noticed my suitcase had gotten a little bit heaver to pull, I looked down at it to see what the deal was when I noticed that both of my wheels to roll it had broken off, awww man, this wasn't good, I knew we still had a heck of a journey through the subways and now I have a 70 lb bag to carry by hand, ahhhh. So I ended up putting my suitcase on my boards and just hover boarding it around, man that sucked haha! We had finally got to our apartment that was right in the heart of downtown. We were on the top floor with a balcony that over looked everything, and had access to the roof where you could hang out and look over the city of Barcelona. At that point of time we knew that we were many miles from home and the views were breath taking, it was almost like we had gone back in time, things are so different then anything we have ever experienced or seen before, but at the same time it felt so much better then what we were used too. So we unpacked and just kind of kicked it for the rest of the day,
still pretty exhausted from the trip. There was a market up the street on Las Ramblas where you could get fresh fruits, bread, vegetables, and meats so we loaded up! I was addicted to these coconut drinks
that they sold there, they were soo good! I want one right now dam it haha!!

After a day of rest Freddy and me were off to go explore and skate the streets of Barcelona. Skating through the tight alley ways weaving in and out of crowded streets of people and moe pads was a constant reminder of why we skateboarded. There is truly nothing like it, just going in a direction not knowing what to expect or
what your going to find, it just took us back to when we were kids cruzing up and down Harford rd with not a care in the world. Everywhere you look there is skate spots everywhere, just about every block you would find a marble ledge with marble ground, steps and a gap. The ground was so smooth you wouldn't have to push for blocks and if you stopped to skate something you had little to no worries at all. Nothing like back home where you might have 5 minutes to skate a spot or 20 before cops would show up and pretty much tell you how worthless you are. The people were very friendly, and mobs of skateboarders roamed around just about every street corner. The weather was about 55 to 60 degrees everyday, just cold enough for a light hoodie in the morning and warm enough for a T shirt in the heart of the day. The night life was crazy there's always something going on, the first bar we went to the bartender poured us all free shots and said "Welcome To Barcelona". With such a warm welcome to a city where we don't even speak the native language gave the makings to the beginning of an incredible trip.

Overall we found so many spots, a lot of them we didn't even film on, we just skated them just to skate them. We were about a 10 minute skate away from University which is the long black marble ledges everyone skates, and about a 5 minutes skate to Parrel which is the smooth manuel pads you see in all the videos. We would go on a mission just about everyday, get up and out the door in the early am and
wouldn't return back to our place till dark, in which case we would just get something to eat watch some TV then head right back out at night. It was paradise skating and filming all day, meeting random people and becoming friends not to mention the everyday adventure of exploring around the city. The lifestyle over there is so relaxed, there's no rush to or for anything, style and art is what the city is based on, graffiti covered streets and little shops on every corner. Before we knew it the first week of our trip had gone by, Ben and Tony had bought us tickets to the soccer game one night so we got something to eat, drank some Estrella's and then we were off to the game. Once we started getting close to the stadium you could hear the roars of people roaming the streets, the streets were packed, thousands and thousands of people everywhere. That night was probably one of the best nights of the trip. When we got into the stadium and found our seats, it was like nothing we had ever experienced before, one of the most massive stadiums I had ever seen, completely packed with people chanting "Barca Barca Barca" and it wasn't long before we were chanting it too! Barcelona ended up wining the match and as we left the stadium to make it down to the streets all you could hear was the horns from cars and vibrant cheers from fans as they patrolled the streets, the streets were even more insane then before, traffic was stopped, the subways were mobbed and the sidewalks
were at a hault, it was pretty incredible.

After a week of 12 hours a day trying to film, skate, and exploring starting taking its tolls. A lot of people who don't travel as much don't really understand how much goes into a skate trip, or yet alone filming/skating for a video part, its a very tough lifestyle just traveling for one and for another you have to try and experience as much as you can in the short time period you have there.By this time we were just drained and decided to take a couple days off to rest. Unfortunately for us little did we know the following week their was rain in the forecast. So the rain started over the weekend, and it rained, then rained and rained some more, for almost the whole next week. Every time it would dry up some we would be right out the door trying to get some skating in before it would start again, it sucked but in a way it was good because it gave us time to really appreciate and explore the city a little bit as a tourist instead of a skateboarder trying to get stuff done, ya know. There is so much going on in the city you could never get bored even if your not skating. Barcelona is right on the coastline so we would wander down to the ocean and just chill by the water, it was so clear you could just sit around and watch the fish swim by, we were half tempted to hop in and go swimming but then we started thinking sharks were going to come tear our asses up, so we didn't, must be from watching to much of that dam Discovery Channel haha. When we were done doing that we had to do we would try to make it to your favorite spot "Fresco"! Fresco is an all you can eat restaurant which we lived off of the last trip to Spain, and we were dieing to eat there again. It sooooooo good! ummmmmmmmmmmm Fresco.......

Over all the trip was amazing! We got a pretty good amount of footage, and came back all busted up as usual haha, I guess its just the skateboarder lifestyle. But just being able to experience somewhere
so different but so unique at the same time, skating some of the best spots in the world, and watching some of your favorite people you grew up watching on videos skate in person was an experience all on its own. Leaving Barcelona was a sad day for us all, though we were excited and happy to return home to see our loved ones, it was almost like we were leaving apart of ourselves behind at the same time. None of us were ready to leave. It was just one of the most unforgettable times and being able to experience it with your close friends just makes it that much better. Between washing the dishes and singing goofy songs that we made up, the inside jokes that will carry on a lifetime, and just being there to experience it all first hand go down is something that I will never forget. If I ever get the opportunity to go back I would do it without a second though. But now it was time to return home, back to the real world.

Skate on...

-Wixted

Photos HERE.