In five days I am going to Spain!

Whee! Five days from today, I will be flying out to Barcelona, Spain for my companys' International Forum. This is a event co-presented by my company and the BMJ (British Medical Journal, London) and every year there are a few people from each company that get to go and staff these meetings. I was not scheduled to go, but at the last minute another member dropped out and I was elected to take her place.

Barcelona will be my main port and I will be there for the first week, working the forum, hob-nobbing with colleagues, and making connections with the representatives from BMJ group. During these initial days, we may go around and see some of Barcelona, but I believe most of the time will be at the convention center for the forum, and then hob-nobbing at dinner with the group. After the forum, like most of the people from this side of the pond, I will stay on for an additional week. During this week, I am going to get out of Barcelona for 2-3 days. A train journey from Barcelona, via Zaragosa, through Logrono will bring me to Haro. Haro lies in the La Rioja region, or more popularly the wine region of Spain. After having wandered around in the La Rioja region, I will be back in Barcelona and take short day or half day trips to Montserrat/Cava region.

This is so exciting. I am ready, but my bag is not. I hope in the next few days, I will have squared away all the little details that need to happen, and then enjoy my very first European Vacation!

(Note: I may or may not be able to post (I think) whilst in Spain, but since the traffic to this site is so low, it hardly matters)