Chapter Five involves catching up, in a variety of ways.

Well, the first half of my time in Barcelona was as much fun as I'd hoped. The first few days were spent re-familiarising myself with the layout of the city, and seeing how many of my favourite haunts were still there, tracking down old friends, and of course indulging in some of the significant local culture.

I re-visited a few of my old favourites of the galleries;
• the stunning Picasso museum, which is not only a great collection of the artist's work, but also located in a beautiful medieval building,
• the design museum across the lane from the Picasso, which had an interesting exhibition on fashion magazines through the ages. There were video clips for fashion shows from the 80's, 60's and the 20's, a collection of 19th century dolls that had been made to show the latest fashion styles and fabrics to clients, and a collection of magazines, prints and lithographs all the way back to the 16th century.
• another old favourite - although rather over-priced for what there is to see, is the pavillion designed by Mies van der Rohe for the 1929 International Exhibition.

• the incredible Museum of the History of Barcelona, where you enter through medieval buildings, and descend to the basement where the original Roman foundations of the city have been excavated
• and the Catalan National Art Museum - housed in a monumental building that had always been closed for many years of restoration during my previous visits, but now open with a stunning collection of art.

Despite my Facebook postings, it's not all drink and food during my trip, there has been some real culture-vulture stuff going on too!

Another great catch-up was with my dear mate Mel. When Juan first introduced us. Mel was working in the classical section of a CD and bookstore that was the local equivalent of Borders. The retail work was an income for some of Mel's other hobbies which include making movies - he's made one short film that has been shown at a Film Festival in Auckland several years back (a proud moment that - I wanted to jump up and shout "I know that man" when his name came up on the credits. Mel now has his own business importing, distributing and selling classical music CD's and is still working on a few film ideas.

Over the years when I visited Barcelona regularly we had a number of great dinners and parties at Mel's, but more often it was the base for meeting up and heading out. Mel has an incredible talent for finding obscure bars and restaurants - he'd tell us all to meet somewhere central, or at his place, and then we'd be lead down a whole network of dark and lonely streets and passages to some fascinating locale.

The first catch-up on Saturday night was just like this - we were instructed to meet outside the Liceu Opera House, and were lead to a tiny French restaurant in a quiet courtyard tucked behind the nearby Bouqeria market. The atmosphere was great; an old building with lots of character, enhanced by little touches of French odds and ends, and friendly staff, but my god the meal took forever!! Three hours for three courses.... and the starters we chose were all pretty simple; oysters naturel, pate or a duck salad. Main courses were a selection of casseroles or roasts. It all tasted great, but the inordinate wait took it's toll and we were all pretty tired at the end of it.

The next day the weather had turned sour, so I had a quiet moring in and close to the Hostal. Early in the afternoon I had a visit from another old buddy, Xavier. When we first met Xavi was working for himself as a freelance designer. He was pretty talented and multi-skilled, designing packaging, advertising and websites. He has now moved out to Lleida, a country town about 160 km from Barcelona, where he has started up a tattoo and body piercing business! We had a tasty pizza lunch and caught up on many years of gossip. Xavi made it to New Zealand to visit me not long after I'd bought my home in 1998, and we'd had a great time travelling around the country together. I showed him all the pictures of the changes to the house and section which he was impressed by.

We then called in to Mel's place just a bit further down the road. Mel is now living in a stunning mid nineteenth century apartment opposite the Ciutadella Park, and across the road from the Zoological museum. The park is a beautiful site with a number of museums and important features, and also has a pretty interesting political history behind it. It is also around the corner from the Chocolate Museum, which I plan to visit, as I'm sure several of you will be expecting 'souvenirs' from their shop!!

The apartment is on the first floor - on the ground floor there is a very grand entrance from the collonaded arcade that runs along the street-front, with marble walls, a grand staircase, and what apparently is the first elevator installed in a residential building in Barcelona. The apartment is long and narrow, running from the street to it's own private courtyard garden at the back. At the front, Mel's flatmate Patrick has a bedroom and study, then there is a poky little bedroom which I will be using on my return, then Emillio (Mel's partner) has a large room with it's own little courtyard as his study. That courtyard is pretty small and gloomy and is more of a service area, but the one at the back is really large and sunny, and has a great collection of succulents in pots, and a large table for summer dinner parties. Then there is a toilet, bathroom, a TV lounge and a small kitchen. At the end of the hall is a spacious dining room with a fireplace (sadly, not working but the marble surround looks good), and Mel and Emillio have a room each off either side. The dining room and each of the bedrooms have french doors opening in to a long gallery that runs the width of the back of the house, and that in turn opens to the terrace.

Chapter Four involves an inordinate amount of flying.

So the next leg of the journey begins, leaving Changi Singapore at 11.45pm on a Boeing 777 to Barcelona via Milan. The aircraft was newer than the one that had taken me to Singapore, so the in-flight entertainment system was easier to work through, but goodness the seat was uncomfortable. Leg room was minimal, and I had to work myself in to all sorts of odd postions in an attempt to get both comfortable and stretched out. My plans to catch up on sleep, and maybe build up a bit of 'sleep credit' didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

Travelling east to west was also an odd experience - leaving Singapore in the middle of the night, and following but not catching up to the sun meant it was a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g night. We arrived at Milan after thirteen hours or so flying just in time to catch sunrise. It's always an interesting experience landing in a strange airport at night, trying to work out the local geography in the dark, and then seeing it in daylight. Unfortunately we did not get a chance to get out and stretch our legs in Milan, as it was a short break to refuel and change crew. However, about three quarters of the passengers also left here, so it was great to have a lot of room in the cabin to move about in.

Unfortunately the flight across to Barcelona was not too scenic - apart from the tops of lots of fluffy white cloud. There was a brief patch of clear sky that gave us a view of farmland probably near the French and Italian border, but it soon closed in again until shortly before we landed. The weather reports I'd been monitoring had me very worried about what to expect on arriving here, but the clar bluse skies above the cloud cover, and then the blue Mediterannean as we approached El Prat de Llobregat airport were encouraging.

Baggage took ages to unload, but customs and immigration clearance was over in moments, and I was back in Spain!! I suddenly felt rather overwhelmed by the realisation that I was in a country where I didn't speak the language - a situation I hadn't been in for quite some time! I circled the arrivals hall several times hoping that one of my friends may have turned up to meet me, but when that didn't work out I braced myself, and caught the shuttle bus in to town. Like most airports, Barcelona's is not on a particularly scenic route, but as we got closer to the centre all sorts of familiar landmarks made me feel at home again.

I got off in Placa Catalunya, popped in to the tourist information office (inconveniently located underground) to get a free city map, and then walked the two blocks to my hotel. Hostal Goya turned out to be as lovely as it's website promised! It occupies two stories in a mid nineteenth century building. Many original features like the tall ceilings, tiled floors etc are retained, but it has been renovated and redecorated very tastefully. My room has a nice big double bed, a generous wardrobe and a desk, and a well laid out en-suitebathroom. There is also a comfortable communal lounge with lovely big couches, plenty of reading material, tea and coffee facilities, and two computer terminals. All very comfortable! The lady on the front desk was also extremely friendly and welcoming, introducing me to the facilities in the hostal, and giving me another free city map on which she pointed out the major tourist destinations, and made a number of recommendations for local places in which to eat and drink.

After a greatly enjoyed shower to wash off all the gunk and discomfort from the long flight I headed out and wandered around the city, regaining my memory of the layout, remembering lots of great times here in the past, and working out how to get around. I also started working on contacting my old buddies who live here - that turned out to be a bit tricky, and now I really, really wished I'd bought my cellphone and had international roaming set up! The local telephone company, Telefonica, has phone booths that look smart but have little else going for them. It has been tricky working out how much coinage I need to call my friends home and mobile numbers, the calls chew through the money once connected, and if the call isn't answered the phone doesn't always return the money (although there have been two occassions when I've got back more money than I put in - like a slot machine!). I eventually managed to get hold of Juan, only to find out he was working that day, but that we'd be able to meet up late that evening, so we agreed on a time and place to do so.

One of my more memorable stays in Barcelona was a lengthy vacation where dear Juan let me have use of his apartment for several weeks. This was right on the main street Las Ramblas, and in one of the historic buildings around the incredible Bouqueria market. I walked past this on my re-orientation tour and mentally waved hullo to my old haunt. Despite the fact that the apartment was on the top floor, one hundred and ten steps up from street level, with no elevator, I did have a happy time here. Unfortunately Juan no longer lives here, and the building has gone downhill, with a Dunking Doughnuts store on the ground floor.

I had lunch in a tiny cafe in the old quarter of town - one of countless tiny cafes that mainly caters to residents and workers and employers in the immediate neighbourhood. Obviously a family concern, the mother looked after the counter, and kept up a friendly banter with all the locals that called in, referring to nearly all of them as 'darling'. My lunch selection was a salad of cooked vegetables, followed by lamb chops (you can take the Kiwi out of NZ, but you can't take the kiwi out of Kiwi!), accompanied by bread and a glass of rather rough white wine. The son was rather annoyed at the time my main course took to come out, so I also got a free serving of meat balls from the tapas selection.

Spain has a wonderful institution in most cafes and restaurants called 'el menu del dia' - the menu of the day. For a set price of around 11 Euros (depending on the venue) you get a limited selection of appetiser, main course, sometimes a small dessert/yoghurt/fruit, plus a drink and bread.

Having well and truly started my cultural assimilation, the next step was to have a siesta, recovering from my long walk around town, and hoping to get my body clock on to local time. After the siesta, dinner, and some more wandering around town it was time to meet up with Juan. He was the first friend I'de made here when I was working for NBC during the 1992 Olympics, and had become a real special friend. As soon as we saw one another in the street we recognised one another, had a huge warm hug, and started catching up on a lot of gossip. When we first met JUan was working as a cartographer for the Catalan government, but after a number of career and life changes he was now in catering. He'd started the life I left! This meant that he'd had a long day, and had another ahead of him, so we had to finish the catch-up before too long so he wouldn't fall asleep on the way home. It was great to be in touch again though, and to start making plans for more time together.

Chapter Three involves significant spending.

Yesterday I did a big reconnoitre along Orchard Rd, working out what I wanted to buy - today was the actual shopping day. Gina and I caught the bus in to town, sharing the trip with the lovely French woman who is Gina's ballet teacher. Don't worry - Gina isn't planning a new career on the stage, it's a way to keep fit and limber!

Once again we called in to Paragon and started the spending frenzy in Muji, Gina helping me decide on several items of apparrel, and also bought several items for her home. I was peeved to discover that the advice I'd been given on tax-back shopping at the Armani store yesterday was incorrect - I didn't need to produce my passport every time I made a purchase after all, so I could have done some of my shopping yesterday - although of course the assistance and good taste provided by Gina was invaluable! Uniqlo provided me with a few more shirts, and Gina bought a shirt for Mike after admiring the one I picked up yesterday. I was also pleased to find G2000, a great clothing store I'd been familiar with in Hong Kong. I'd bought a few pairs of black trousers for work that lasted very well, despite the hard wear and tear that my waitering work inflicted upon them, so I'm planning on returning for a few more quality items.

Lunch was eaten at Marche, the astonishing Swiss theme-park/restaurant that I've written about earlier. When I called in the day before it was just being set up for the day, but Gina and I called in when food service was in full swing. It is probably easiest to describe as a food hall, except that instead of a variety of ethnic cuisines, each stall sold a particular aspect of Swiss-themed food. There was a soup stand, a salad stand, a rosti stand and so on. I was very brave and got a rosti with a chicken and escargot sausage! The sausage was very tasty, and the snails were not discernible. We checked out a few more shops, and then caught the bus back home - time for afternoon tea, sorting out my shopping, and packing ready for the flight to Barcelona. The BBC weather reports have been rather worrying for both Barcelona and Venice, with temperatures in the single digits, so our shopping had been planned with layering of clothing in mind, and everything light and summery was unloaded and held at Pine Grove for my return.

After dinner, it was time for a bit of TV before catching the taxi out to the futuristic Changi airport and on to the next stage of the trip.

Chapter two involves significant retail therapy.

Gina and I saw the family off to school and work this morning, and then we caught the bus in to Orchard Rd together. Gina was off to meet someone to help her break in to publishing in Singapore, and I was scouting out some of my favourite shops. First stop was Paragon, an up-market arcade which was Paradise when I was last here about 15 years ago, and still is. Shops don't open until 10am or later here, and we'd got in to town at about 9.15 so we had plenty of time to window shop in the literal sense. Gina and I worked out what outfits I should buy at Armani Exchange, and also scouted out the locations of a few other favourites, Banana Republic and Muji. Gina then went off to meet her publishing contact, and I went to look for a cafe for a coffee and a pastry.

That was a bit more of a mission than I expected - lots of Asian options were in the area I was scouting through, but nothing French like I was hoping for. One near possibility was a rather over the top Swiss Cafe/Restaurant/Food hall called Marche. The staircase down to the main portion of the shop was lined with an hilarious pseudo-Swiss scene with animatronic sheep, goats and a St Bernard!! The pastries and coffee were available, but the seating area was still closed, so I ended up across the road at Coffee Connoisseurs in Penakan Place. This is a lovely portion of colonial-era Singapore that I remember from my last visit 15 years ago - great to come across it again.

By then all my favourite shops had opened.... I checked out the stock (lust!!) and the prices (shock!!), and decided that I should leave the more expensive purchases to another day when I had my passport on me to do some duty free shoppings, claimimng the GST back on my departure. Another chance encounter of an old favourite - Giordano which sells cheap my nice cotton clothing, and the first purchases of the day were a pair of chinos, a belt and a t-shirt.

I've been meaning to replace my tatty old wallet for a while now - the brown leather Fossil wallet was purchased in Honolulu about 15 years back and was getting to the end of it's usable life. Tangs had a great selection, but nothing quite right. A fruitless search of several other stores killed some time, but then I chanced across a Fossil store, stocked full of their wonderful watches, leather-wear and wallets.... goal realised, and at a good price.

Gina and I met up for lunch in the food hall at a new futuristic shopping mall called Ion, where I had a very cheap, tasty and filling Malaysian mutton murtabak. That was two thin crepes with a finely chopped layer of mutton and onions in the middle. Gina then went off to do some parenting at Olivia and Isabella's school and I explored more shops. Another discovery was Uniqlo - a Japanese clothing store with some great clothes at reasonable prices. I got a great sweater - and a weather-proof jacket to help keep me warm and dry when I head north to Barcelona and Venice. Weather forecasts show that daytime temperatures are only just starting to reach double digits, which is going to be a shock after steamy Singapore!

Time for more food - as Gina and Isabella met up with me after school, and we had afternoon tea at an ice-cream parlour. All the usual favourites, plus some Asian specialties like Red Bean, spicey Chocolate, Green Tea etc. Then, home to do homework and unpack shopping, and out again for dinner in Holland Village, meeting up with Mike on his way home from the office. So, no Culture today, but a thousand and one ways to observe and enjoy Singaporean culture during the day!

Chapter One - In which I arrive, and get very moist.

Oh what a busy day or two it's been! Sunday was spent catching up on stuff at home, tying up a few loose ends at work, visiting Dad and Alison, and then having a bon voyage dinner at Diana Wong's. Diana is a wonderful hostess who always has a wonderful group of talented and interesting people at her dinner parties. She's about to head off to the USA to visit family. From a tiny, cluttered kitchen in her Grey Lynn villa a huge Chinese buffet emerged that filled us all up.

I had to leave the dinner early, heading home to do the final touches of packing, then out to the airport. First impressions of Singapore Airlines were favourable - because I'd checked in on-line I got to go straight to the internet check-in counter which had a queue of just one - unlike the regular line which already had built up to quite a length. Unfortunately the 11.10pm check-in meant that most of the airport shops were closed, or in the process of closing so there wasn't much to do.

Boarding at last, and a bit of dissapointment at the aircraft. I'd been a major aviation buff in my teens (yes, that was a long time ago!), and Singapore Air had always impressed me as an industry leader in service and innovation. The reality was rather under-whelming. Admittedly, it was unfair to compare an airline's mass-produced supper, served at 2am, with the magnificent banquet Diana had prepared earlier. The in-flight entertainment selection was not great either - quantity rather than quality seemed to rule here. Still, it was a comfortable flight, and I managed to doze through most of it.

We landed at Changi a little earlier than expected, 6.20am, and the Singapore experience started! The airport is huge, and at that time of day it was deserted, so there were acres and acres of vast, shiny, clean, futuristically designed spaces to pass through. My suitcase came through very quickly so I headed off through the 'nothing to declare' aisle, which seemed to be unattended.... damn, I could have bought a few more bottles of wine over for my hosts after all!

First stop was an ATM to get a handful of SingaDollars, then a taxi to Gina and Mike's. Gina had sent me a txt with instructions for the taxi dricver, which I'd accidentally deleted so I hoped the less detailed address on my itinerary would work. The taxi driver had to check his map a couple of times, but we eventually made it through the early morning traffic to Pine Grove. This is massive complex of sixteen high-rise condominiums, a far cry from the lovely Mount Eden bungalow they left in Auckland! The exterior and public areas werew a little grim, and for a few minutes I was scared I'd been delivered to the wrong Pine Grove, but it didn't take long to be reunited with my old friends!

Big hugs and kisses and more hugs all round - a hurried tour through the apartment, and then Mike went off to work, and Olivia and Isabella headed off to school, leaving Gina and I together to catch up on gossip and go exploring together. The apartment is stunning, very bright and spacious, and with nice views over some incredibly lush communal gardens. I had a quick shower and shave, towelled myself dry.... and immediately felt wet again in the hunidity.

Gina had bought me an Ezi-pass pre-loaded with about $13 credit and we're going to have fun using this hopping on and off the great public transport here. We caught a double-decker bus in to Orchard Rd and had breakfast at one of the cafes in Raffles. Expensive but tasty..... and we were fuelled to explore the beautiful colonial-era hotel. Then time for a bit of culture at SAM, the Singapore Art Museum. The building was stunning - a former 1850's catholic school, but much of the current exhibition focussed on the political turmoil and massacres in Indonesia. Sobering, moving stuff....

Then it was time to meet Mike for lunch at a funny Japanese sandwhich cafe (yes, the Japanese take on sandwiches.... think sushi between two slices of Molenberg....). Next move was to return to Raffles and to try out the famous Singapore Sling in the equally famous Long Bar. Bad move - the place had filled up with tourists since we'd popped our head in earlier in the day, service took ages, and the drink was vile. And expensive. Hideously expensive. And, while we were suffering that, the afternoon rains arrived. The afternoon rain here completely redefines the meaning of the word deluge. It suddenly became a challenge to finish our plans to explore a few of the more desirable shops - especially Emporio Armani. Stunning clothes, jaw-dropping prices.

Then, Gina and I did a spot of grocery shopping and made it home to play at being domestic goddesses in time for the girls arriving home from school. Well, Gina did her usual gifted routine making dinner and checking the girl's homework, and I had a nap. Now dinner has been eaten, my presents have been handed out, and apparently it's 1.40am in New Zealand..... probably sleep time again!

and another reason......

This time next week I'll be in steamy, sultry Singapore. Not my favourite place, but some of my favouritest people live there. So, I'll be stopping over to visit my very gorgeous and lovely twin god-daughters Olivia and Isabella.

Here they are using Uncie Leigh as a bridge - they're bigger now and fortunately don't do that any more, but they are still very funny and incredibly entertaining.

and why?

Well, it's probably a silly question, I mean who wouldn't want to take a holiday in Barcelona and Venice?!?! But there is a bit of history behind the reasoning.... quite a bit of history. You see, there is sea-salt flowing in my veins....

My great-grandfather Thomas Kennaway worked his way from Glasgow to Auckland on the maiden voyage of the ss Navua, arriving in Auckland on September 8th, 1904.

My grandfather William always resented his older siblings having experienced the journey out here by sea, but in 1923 he ended up having a brief spell as 'Boy' on the coastal trader ss Huia.

My father Tom also worked on coastal traders, and I have memories of visiting him at the Onehunga wharf and touring the ships he served on.

In 1989 I finally got my chance - a chef I was working with at the Northern Club gave me the details of a recruitment agency in Switzerland. I wrote off with my CV, and next thing I got a phone call telling me to be in Vancouver in ten days time. I'd been employed - sight unseen - as a waiter on the Royal Viking Sea. And so six years of adventuring started!! My first four-month contract saw me experience three cruises up the west coast of the US and Canada, a Pacific crossing, and then a tour of Asia, India, Sri Lanka and back to New Zealand via Australia.

I was hooked - there was sea water in my blood! The first contract was not all smooth sailing - no pun intended. Royal Viking Line was a Norwegian cruise line, started in 1972, and operating three ships; the Royal Viking Sea, RV Sky and RV Star. When I joined the company it was about to undergo some major changes. The three older ships were due to be sold off, and two new ships had been built, the Royal Viking Sun (at 39,000 grt, significantly larger than her three predecessors of 28,000 grt), and the Royal Viking Queen, a smaller boutique ship of just 10,000 grt).

This meant a lot of the crew, many with decades of service, were facing redundancy and an uncertain future. The atmosphere was not good! Despite that, I made some really great friends, and we shared some really magic times together.

After several weeks at home after my time on the 'Sea' I managed to get a new contract - on the 'Sun'!! It was great to be back at sea, on a newer, more modern and more comfortable ship, and with crew who were the cream of the crop. More exciting ports, great friends, exciting travel and good times. And the highlight was 1992 - the ship was chartered by NBC to house VIP guests during the Barcelona Olympics. My interest in sports has always been minimal, but to be in an Olympic city during the games is an awe-inspiring experience. And Barcelona... what a host city! Two thousand years of an incredible history and culture that I'd never really been aware of before. For three weeks I had a blast, met some great local friends, and fell in love with the city. For the next three year I visited Barcelona as often and for as long as possible. I cemented the friendships that started during the games - Amics per Sempre = Friends Forever.

One of the best holidays I had in Barcelona was spent with my great friend Gina, who was living in London and working for MTV. Gina is now married to the lovely Mike, has adorable twin daughters (my fairy god-daughters), and lives in Singapore... ;-(

In this amazing internet age we live in, it's pretty easy to maintain the connections with long-lost and distant frends. Occasional e-mails keep me in touch with Xavier and Juan in Barcelona, and sporadically with Lucio in Venice. Xavi came and visited me here and we did a great tour of the North Island together, but it's been a long time since we've really been in touch.

Late last year I was missing Gina and her recently departed family, and thinking about what to do for my next holiday, when I came across an ad for special low airfares to Europe via Singapore. Brilliant - catch up with a whole bunch of friends I thought! Tickets booked, and soon I'll be off!