How Far Could It Be?

There are questions you should ask before doing things. Then instead of rushing on ahead, get the answers.

• Before jumping – How high am I actually?
• Before dating someone – How crazy are they?
• Before diving in a pool – How deep is it?
• Before picking a college major – How will I use this to repay the six figure debt I’m incurring?
• Before deciding to walk up a mountain in an unfamiliar foreign country – How far is it really?

Getting the answers to those questions can make all the difference. I know that last one seems a little specific. It’s because that one applies to me.

I may have mentioned before that once in a while I get to tag along with my wife when she travels for work. I try to pick locations that are sunny and warm. This time it was Barcelona.

I spent four days wandering around the city and then set my sights on the surrounding mountains. The highest mountain within Barcelona city limits is Tibidabo. At the peak stands the cathedral del Sagrat Cor and, oddly enough, a small amusement park. I took the subway to the outskirts of the city where a funicular (European for incline railway) was supposed to take me up the mountain.

Unfortunately for me, the funicular was out of order. It was hot so I sat down in a cafe at the base of the mountain, had a Pepsi, and asked myself a question that I should have gotten an answer for. “How much further can it really be?”

When we travel together my wife has one request. That request is that I look presentable. I guess this is because she doesn’t want to be seen being picked up from a work meeting by a guy in shorts, flip flops, and a Homer Simpson t-shirt. I think that would make her seem even more interesting, but that’s just me.

Anyway, I started walking in my khakis, dress shirt, sensible shoes, stylish man bag, and “how far could it be?” attitude. At first it was me and other people. Then it was me and the occasional mountain biker on a dirt road. Oh, and it was hot too. Too hot for khakis and a dress shirt and even sensible shoes.

I did several fun things along the way. Like trying a side trail that looked like it might be a short cut but led back to the same road and refilling my water bottle from a pipe coming out of the side of the mountain.

2.6 dusty miles and almost a thousand feet in elevation later I made it. For 2 Euros you can climb all the way to the top of the cathedral. The view was worth the hike.

Turns out there was a bus to take me down the mountain. Good thing too, because the view was great, but I’m not sure if it would have been worth walking up AND down for.