While there are many perks to the entrepreneur's lifestyle, I think there's one that overshadows all others: working in your pajamas. Until recently, Lauren and I were enjoying the fact that we could conduct business for a few hours each morning with yesterday's makeup still caked on and 24+ hour grease-heads. It was a wonderful existence.

Our idyllic work situation came to an abrupt end yesterday when a hostel supply salesperson RANG OUR DOORBELL. At ten in the morning, we usually expect certified mail or the guy who brings butane gas to the neighborhood, not a potential supplier. You see, Lauren got us into trouble by sending out a mass email to a long list of hotel supply companies, asking for them to send us a catalog with their prices. Since then, her inbox has been flooded with responses and just yesterday, we had our first visitor.

Eduard rang up and while I told him that Lauren was busy on the phone, he insisted on making the trek to our "1st floor" (really 3 flight) walk-up. I was a bit confused (who stops by without setting up an appointment?) and Lauren was honestly on the phone so I headed him off at our door, hoping he'd drop whatever it was he brought and leave us alone. Instead, he almost forced his way inside and insisted on leafing through every single page of his catalog, while Lauren (now off the phone) and I stole horrified glances at each other and tried not to die laughing.

One would think that he would take one look at our set-up and high tail it out of there. There's just something about left-over hen party streamers and dirty dishes that just doesn't scream professionalism. While we thought this was just a freak occurrence, someone else showed up at our doorstep today. This lady was more polite in that she didn't insist on coming in and she left us samples, but our world of PJ-biz may be coming to an end.

If only real estate agents made house calls...

So trying to keep busy over the weekend, I started to email potential suppliers of things like electronic door locks, CCTV systems, mattresses, etc. I have a huge list from a hospitality convention so I sent out a mass email with my address asking people to send catalogues. I figured we might as well figured we might as well start comparison shopping, right?

Well evidentally the salespeople were not trained in the same country as our realtors. The past two days, we've had random salespeople DROP BY our apartment to sell us things. I guess they figured the address was an office. Fortunately yesterday we were still in our business attire from another meeting. But the man trying to sell maids' cleaning carts forced his way into our apartment and proceeded to sell us his wares in the midst of our kitchen table covered in my unfolded laundry. I almost died.

Today we are working on stuff at home, so we were still in pajamas when salesperson #2 dropped by. Lee lied and told her that "Lauren" wasn't home. She was dropping off samples of little shampoo and body wash bottles. Score. Lee probably looked like she needed them.

We spent last weekend in London doing some hostel research. We had the good fortune of meeting a man on vacation here in Barcelona that owns a well established chain of hostels in London (Astor Hostels). He got his start in the 70s, so he's a little ahead of the curve. It was a great opportunity to see their places and hear about his experiences. We visited two other places (The Generator and Globetrotters Inn) to see their operations. We met with managers at both places who were super willing to dispense practical advice. It was little different than our experiences interviewing Barcelona hostel managers. I guess they're not as threatened by Somnio up in London (yet!). It was also nice to catch up with friends and site-see a bit.

Back to the search here in Barcelona. We saw a place today that could be interesting for Somnio Hostel #1. The owner intended to build and run a hotel, but realized that he has no experience or interest in the business! The construction will be done April/May. The problem is that he's thinking marble and waterfalls, and we're thinking bunk beds and backpacks. So there's a bit of a disparity between his price and, well, reality. So hopefully he'll get a clue, and we can agree on something. I'll keep you posted.

Networking events continue. So between fruit supplement vendors and professional bassoonists, we're building quite a cast of characters. Lee and I keep imagining what a party would be like with these goofs, and it's pretty hilarious. Invites to follow shortly.

No go on the cool building. The nightclub below was a little too rocking for any sleep to happen upstairs. So it's back to the drawing board.

In other news, we hosted a great hen weekend here. So we're experts in planning minibus tours and embarassing brides-to-be. New business idea?