Why believe in a bright future when you can enjoy the moment? The philosophy of living here and now, enjoying everything that happens around, and enjoying every new day attracted a married couple from Khanty-Mansiysk from their first vacation in Barcelona.
Family row of journalists
We were born and raised in the Kama region. Both, however, graduated from the history department of the Perm State University with a difference of six years. And then they went into journalism. We worked on television and met already there, on the set. A classic love story at first sight of a correspondent and cameraman. Creative romance and thirst for new discoveries did not allow us to sit still, and we went to conquer the north. One of the most prosperous regional TV channels "Ugra" invited him to work in Khanty-Mansiysk. There we "got hooked" on travel.
Reindeer sledding for the news
As journalists of the governor's pool, we traveled all over the Khanty-Mansiysk district. And since there are few highways there, the terrain is swampy, we often flew on business trips by helicopter. The most remote and inaccessible villages were reached by water. And between the camps of reindeer breeders they moved on sledges - narrow long sleighs pulled by reindeer or snowmobiles. In general, they have tasted the northern, primitive exotic in full. Perhaps that is why we tried to rest in the south, we were attracted by civilization.
Grilling lazily in the sand is not about us!
In fairness, it should be noted that we started, like many compatriots in the middle of the 2000s, with a beach holiday. But we quickly realized that lazy frying in the sand is not about us. Once on the Costa Brava, an hour's drive from Barcelona, we quickly saw through the strategic direction. Fascinated by the medieval architecture, the collection of local museums, the combination of classics and modernity of this European metropolis, we began to explore others.
Over the next few years, we visited Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Stockholm, Zurich, Lisbon, Warsaw, Brussels and Amsterdam, traveled around Andorra and Liechtenstein! But we were always drawn to Barcelona, so every vacation we invariably ended in the Catalan capital.
In a cheese and wine captivity
Barcelona was a breath of fresh air for us. And the Spanish cuisine simply captivated with jamon, cheeses and wines! We decided that if we didn't stay here, we would always regret it. The only thing that stopped was the lack of knowledge of the language.
At first, they thought to stay in Russia for a year and take courses, but quickly realized that learning Spanish and speaking it was possible only by immersing yourself in Wednesday. We collected three suitcases, sold our winter clothes and boarded a plane.
The devil is in the details
In Spain, of course, no one was waiting for us. We, as they say, arrived at an empty place. Therefore, the "bumps" stuffed themselves, learned from their own experience. At first, they earned what they knew and were able to do - journalism. Having professional equipment, they made photo reports for Russian glossy magazines and Internet publications, filmed videos for Russian-language channels in Spain. And in their free time, they continued to explore Barcelona. Before moving, we were sure that we knew everything about this city. But how wrong we were!
Already living here and passing through the same places every day, we continued to discover the details. And after some time we decided it was time to share discoveries, including on our website www.vbarcelonu.com. The scientific base and the ability to systematize the information received along with the diploma of higher history education, as well as the ability to competently and clearly express our thoughts, gained over the years of working on television, allowed us to become guides.
Do not confuse tourism with immigration!
For all the time spent away from home, we have never regretted our decision. Despite the difficulties that we have periodically encountered and continue now. Everyone knows that tourism should not be confused with immigration. We are still learning Spanish as we want to fully integrate into the local community. We work hard, but we work for ourselves, and our business brings us pleasure.
We are developing new routes for excursions www.gorodbarcelona.ru, and to attract tourists, we are developing our own YouTube channel. In our stories, we tell you what to see in Barcelona, where to have fun, eat deliciously, what souvenirs to bring home from the Catalan capital. We give useful advice. And fatigue is more than compensated by the sea, the sun, delicious food and smiles of Spaniards who are satisfied with life, who every morning, meeting you, say “Buenos días!”.
