I was getting the travel itch so my husband booked an impromptu weekend trip to Barcelona.
Well we didn't think it would be that much of a mission, but it was.
Even though Barcelona is considered very child friendly, with 1 year old twins it's a bit more problematic.
Mainly due to transporting yourself and your kids around the city but taking a lighter twin pram would help, but we had to go with what we had which was an All Terrain, Out N About Nipper double.
It's great to move around but we had to avoid my favourite parts of Barcelona like the Gothic and Born areas because of the small streets and there were far too many tourists to be pushing the pushchair.
But it did come in handy because Barcelona is quite a hilly place, it was really good for visiting Park Guell and Montjuic, it was such as smooth ride for the kids.
There are some areas that are wide and big to walk down, Passeig de Gracia and Glories, although Glories isn't really that interesting.
I love the little bars and restaurants in Barcelona, however they are not that double pushchair friendly.
But as the weather was good, we were able sit outside.
The supermarkets are not what I would call a supermarket, they are not much bigger than a petrol station shop but with less room to navigate.
It's pretty impossible to take the pushchair in with you.
It's best for one person to go in and buy the goods while the other one waits with the kids.
Apart from the busy periods taking public transport was relatively easy, we could easily fit our twin pushchair on the buses.
Their lift and escalator system is very good on the metro/tube, however at times you find that the exit you need to take is at the other end of where the lifts are.
We used the stairs most of the time.
The areas of Gracia have a lot of little square and park areas which was really cool to stop off and rest for a while.
One piece of advice, the Barca people love dogs and any green space is full of the stuff from them so beware about letting your kids walk freely there.
I won't lie, it was hard work especially with the lack of planning but it was a lot of fun too and I'm really glad we did it.
So next time we go on a short city break we will:-
- Purchase a cheap lightweight stroller if there are two of you going on holiday, buy two singles instead of a double.
- If you don't have two singles plan where you would go before hand.
- Don't bother attempting taking your pushchairs inside the small supermarkets.
- Find out about where to eat in advance so you don't find yourself roaming the streets of Barcelona on an empty stomach.
- Enjoy yourself with your family most of all!