June 14th: Barcelona Luxury

Wake up this morning was an early one for an extremely special activity…

SPA DAY AT AIRE ANCIENT BATHS!

Wow, this was a luxurious and special experience complete with a massage, chocolates, AND champagne—it felt incredibly relaxing. We spent time in the room temperature pool, the salt water pool (where you floated like air), the bubbling jacuzzi pool, and each got a 30-minute massage to remove all the stress that vacationing girls have; speaking of which– what time is our next train? Excellent morning. After finding our inner zen, we headed to Honest Greens for lunch which was awesome.

Next stop was another exciting activity, but with a surprise element for my parents reading this (hi mom & dad)…I got a tattoo. JUST KIDDING I didn’t get a tattoo you can stop crying now mom, I dyed my hair! However, like everything on an a grand adventure this wasn’t a normal, chill trip to the salon. Right away this was a not-so-great situation…

“This trip has invited in opportunities to be brave, so I decided to go through with it. ”

The Salon.

Coming into this trip I’d always wanted to dye my hair lighter but was always all talk with no action. However, this trip has invited in opportunities to be brave, so I decided to go through with it (of course, with tons and tons of support from my two besties <3 ). So, we made an appointment for Viv and me to get fresh cuts and color. We get to the salon and there is a swirl of nervous and excited emotion in my body, because I had never dyed my hair before. Viv was perfectly fine. I was paired with a hairstylist, Paulina, and she immediately was rude and commented on my hair being too oily to do anything (probably oil from the spa this morning fyi). She got mad that I did not was it before, but nothing on the website said that, and I assumed they would wash it. I was taken aback by how she was talking to me. She then firmly tells me that the color I want (from the picture I showed) is also impossible because I only booked a 3 hour slot. So, I try to communicate that I am super nervous about this change, and that her talking so negatively about the state of my hair makes me uncomfortable, to which Paulina got defensive, and eventually the manager had to intervene. The manager right away pairs me with another stylist who was extremely kind and enthusiastic about me going blonde. Meanwhile, Viv gets Paulina instead. She is similarly affected by Paulina’s attitude and grew confused when she overheard Paulina telling the manager that she couldn't dye Viv's hair pink properly in Spanish, then switched to English and said that it was totally doable. Viv politely told Paulina that the hair dye was too expensive for her and went and got a coffee.

Throughout my time at the salon, Paulina would try to make conversation with me and apologize, but symonaniously bossed my stylist and other customers around. I could tell everyone in the salon was annoyed with Paulina, too. What a weird day. However, we made conversation later on while my hair was setting from the bleach and when I asked her where she was from she revealed that she had to flea Ukraine two months ago. I felt immediately for her and the unthinkable situation her, her family, and her country are facing. Maybe this was just a bad day or bad year that she was projecting on me and Viv.

Hair-wise, I spend all day there thinking I’d walk out blonde and feeling great, wrong. I, having made this impulsive decision without any real understanding of what “going blonde” entails, was REALLY disappointed with the result. I felt like I looked like a brunette with icy bleached streaks in my hair. It looked horrible in my opinion, but Viv and Jill assured me that it looked great but was just not the honey blonde I asked for. I was upset with myself and of course felt like I hit such a low compared to the immense highs we’d all been feeling up until this point.

Crying as we arrived to our dinner reservation, I felt silly but Viv and Jill talked me down and we set up a plan to fix my hair at our Marseille Airbnb the next day—only the absolute best friends could’ve made me okay in that moment, so I am very grateful to them both for their endless love and compassion.

I tell you all this because what I didn’t know, and would come to learn at this dinner, was that while I was finishing up my hair, Viv and Jill were pulled aside by the salon owner to let them know that Paulina's attitude had been a consistent problem and we happened to be her last chance…and that he was going to fire her. Unfortunately, he fired her during my haircut, so we witnessed her leave the salon upset. A horrible situation to be involved in, it left us all feeling confused and sad. We don't know how any of this could have been preventable, but we all arrived at the same conclusion–you never know what a person is dealing with. Also, cultural differences impact what is expected and given in customer service, so what we see as polite in the United States is different than in Spain and is different than in Ukraine. We hope Paulina finds another job soon that fits her well.

I thought about not including what happened at the hair salon in this blog, but I want to share the high's and the low's of this trip not only to be transparent, but also because I want to remember them.

The Emotional Cure; Best Food of the Trip (thus far)

Debriefing this emotional situation over dinner was bittersweet since the meal was incredible! Seriously, the best asian-fusion-tapas dishes, with flavors that make you reconsider everything you know about food. Incredible, if you ever find yourself in Barcelona treat yourself to this meal at Casa Xica.