Hostel Territory

So we've set off to Barcelona to live the dream and open our very own hostel. We're keeping this journal online to keep everyone updated of our progress, adventures and mishaps navigating Barcelona's booming tourism industry, Spanish bureaucracy, and daily life in Catalunya.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009


We organized another calรงotada this weekend. We just can't seem to get enough of that oniony goodness (and all of the vino, cava, botifarra, crema catalana, etc. that go along with it).

Above, Lauren is demonstrating her charcoaled hands, evidence of severe calcot chowing. Further proof of her gluttony are the wine stains on her bib. Mom could probably dig up some old photos of Little Lauren at dinner time that are uncannily similar to this snap. However, this time Lauren and her mess were in good company.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Somnio's now on Twitter! You can see all our updates at www.twitter.com/somniosays

Just trying to stay current. It's a lot easier than updating our website in Dreamweaver or even posting to the blog. Just short little snippets about what's going on in Barcelona and any great finds we happen upon.

The craziest thing is that one of the first "tweets" I posted was about a seafood restaurant Lee and I went to on Friday night. Crazy enough, someone saw the post and sent me a message saying they were there too. I figured out later that they were twittering away at the table next to us. I think that's how twitter is ideally supposed to work. Needless to say, my mind was slightly blown.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

If you want to catch the Lee & Lauren Show, this week we will be giving a presentation to the Entrepreneur's Network of Barcelona about the process of starting a business from scratch in Barcelona. It's going to be kind of like school but with free cava.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Lee and I have been on a big PR push this week, and it's starting to pay off!!

Go Now: Barcelona (featuring Somnio Hostels) -from National Geographic Traveler

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Okay. So said Italians don't embarrass too easily. Italiano #1 just asked to take a cell phone picture with me to prove to his friends that he is, in fact, in Barcelona and not the office.

Fortunately for him, I chose to wear my "This Guy's in Barcelona and Not at the Office" t-shirt with an arrow today.
Do Italians think their language sounds that much different than Spanish?

I just checked in a pair of guys in their late 30s from Rome. They proceeded to come out to the computer, look up the hostel on the booking.com and compare all of our photos, ratings, customer reviews etc to everything else in the price range. Out loud. I get the impression that one guy booked the hostel, and his friend was expecting a hotel and wasn't so stoked.

It was fun to tell the guys a few minutes later that I had lived in Milan. I threw a little "come si ciama" at 'em. I think they were mildly embarrassed.
I came across this diet food brand in a pharmacy window yesterday.


Is this a sick(en) joke?

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Happy Anniversary to Somnio!

March 6th, we'll have been open and welcoming guests for a year. Here's to many more!

Check out our press release here.