Well, our plans have changed, but the good news is that we will save about $2,000 by being able to use timeshare exchanges for our first 2 weeks in Spain. We originally had planned to use rentals/hotels for the first 2 weeks, but have secured 3 back-to-back weeks of exchanges from RCI instead. All are Saturday check-ins, so they line up perfectly.
So our new itinerary will look like this:
Week 1: Barcelona - RCI exchange "Ona Living Barcelona"
Week 2: Barcelona - 2nd week in the same timeshare
Week 3: Mijas Pueblo, Costa del Sol - "LaErmita" (MacDonald Resorts)
The Ona Barcelona Living was a lucky break, because I had just paid the extra to upgrade to RCI platinum in October. Apparently, if you are not platinum you see only the Extra Vacation purchase options ($920-$1000 per week), not the exchange options. But with the platinum we were able to get both weeks in a 1-bedroom unit for about 20 tpu per week. The 2bed/2bath La Ermita week was 25 tpu and was caught with an ongoing search.
I'm glad I did some extra research on "Ona Living Barcelona" because it says on the RCI website that it is 15 minutes from Metro/transit and 30 minutes into Barcelona. But there is now a Metro entrance just 5 minutes down the block, and now it is only 10-15 minutes to the heart of Barcelona, which is not bad. Directly across the street there is a gigantic shopping mall, the Grand Via 2 with about 180 shops, restaurants, cafes, movie-plex, and a 2-story Carrefour grocery store. So, even though we will not be in the center, the good proximity to the metro, grocery, shops, and places to eat, will be a positive. The Tripadvisor reviews for it are actually pretty good, and with lots of comments about the quick and easy metro access into old town Barcelona.
One of our biggest issues with timeshares has been that they are usually way out in the suburbs where you need a rental car. We did a 2-week exchange to the Royal Regency in Paris in 2014, and the 15-minute walk from the metro was not easy at the end of a very long day on your feet. But, still it was a truly wonderful 2 weeks in Paris. It looks to me like the Ona Living Barcelona has much better access to the city than the Royal Regency does.
Sadly, Royal Regency is one of the better European city timeshares for city access, because you don't need a rental car. We have also stayed at other European timeshares: Carpedium Roma (had to rent a car just to get to the metro stop) and also one on the outskirts of Florence (car rental also required). But one of the great positives of timeshares, for us, has been the fun of going to another country & living/experiencing the day-to-day life of people there. Shopping for groceries, riding the commuter train into the city each day, going to local free events, parks, seeing local entertainment, hanging out in the restaurants or bars with locals instead of tourists. Those kinds of memories are often more special than just seeing famous places and famous sights. Plus, one additional benefit of those small, not-all-that-comfy, European timeshares is --- they make you want to get up, eat your breakfast, then leave the room and be out-and-about!
So, for 2 weeks next summer we will enjoy Barcelona. There is so much to see and do there, not to mention interesting places that are nearby. We will definitely make some daytrips using public transit such as Monserrat, and maybe Sitges? For now, we have decided to skip Madrid, but still plan to make trips to Seville (maybe an overnight?) and Granada (daytrip) during our 3rd week from the Costa del Sol timeshare.
If anyone has any interesting daytrip suggestions for Barcelona I would love to hear them, although it appears that there is plenty to do in the city to keep us well-occupied for 2 weeks.
Thanks everyone,
---Rene McDaniel
