We Roam Review — Barcelona — Polaris 2017
This is an ongoing review of the We Roam Polaris 2017 travel program.
Barcelona, Spain
HOME: Melon District. It was a very nice student hostel. I got a studio unit with my own kitchen. Other Roamers find it quite small but I felt it was perfectly fine. Other Roamers had units with no kitchen so they had access to a community space and this where I usually work (got an extra key card from reception) from instead of the co-coworking space. WiFi was average at best. On video calls, sometimes I had to disable my video upstream for a smooth connection. TV only had local channels so didn’t watch any. The swimming pool on the rooftop was amazing and we can get a pretty nice view of the sunrise and sunset. Laundry was pretty expensive at a total of EUR 6.5 for washing and drying. There are vending machines available for coffee, soft drinks, and snacks. so you don’t have to venture outside if you’re feeling lazy. A hostel cafe is also next door and it is cheap but options are very basic.
WORKSPACE: Cloud Coworking, Carrer de Sardenya, 229. This was a good 30-minute walk from home so most of the time I worked at home. Access is via fingerprints and for 24/7 access they’ll provide a key for the lobby door. We had access to 3 floors. Plenty of hot desking area but sometimes it gets really crowded, so WR had booked a few dedicated meeting rooms for us. Bookable private rooms for calls or meetings are on every floor. It was a very nice space and the terrace garden has a beautiful view of the Sagrada Familia. The few times I went to the workspace, I preferred to work at the terrace garden to get some sun and cool breeze.
ACTIVITIES: The very first day we all gathered at the event space in the hostel cafe and I got to meet everyone that was on the trip. The next day at the coworking space, someone from the language school pitched us on Spanish language classes but even at a discounted rate, it was still expensive compared to online tutors you can get at iTalki. After that, we had a Roamer Intro session where the new Roamers would introduce themselves and everyone gets to ask questions. There was also a Welcome Party but I wasn’t able to attend due to a work meeting. The first free activity of the month was a team building activity at The Escape Hunt Experience Barcelona. Potluck lunch at the coworking space where I contributed an orange juice and lemon ice cream! Volunteering was an overkill with over 20+ of us raining down on a small kindergarten to build a few pots from second-hand car tires for their garden. We were done in like 10 minutes. A fellow Roamer also hosted a Murder Mystery Party where I was the murderer.
TRANSPORTATION: Barcelona is a very walkable city. I mostly walked all around but some places may be too far away. Local taxis are good and they accept credit card payments. There’s no Uber but you can use something similar, Cabify (6 EUR off for your first ride).
FOOD: Many choices here but be aware that if you miss the lunch window, you’re out of luck till dinner! Most places are open till late night so you can always find food even after midnight. Tipping 10% is customary if the service is good and they accept credit cards everywhere. The most popular food delivery service is Glovo and I use it regularly almost every other day.
Originally published at asadzulfahri.com on July 22, 2017.
