Failed trip to Barcelona ends us up in Málaga... worth it?

Moral of this post: BRING YOUR PASSPORT

I got myself situated on the plane to Barcelona when suddenly I got a call from my friend telling me to get off within the last few minutes before takeoff—she was prohibited from getting on the plane. It did not occur to her to need her passport to travel, and as a consequence of her error, we were stuck in the Malaga airport at 11pm.

It is pretty ironic how much planning in advance, preparation and attention to detail was required to plan this trip, but the one thing that halted everything was forgetting to bring a pocket-sized legal document.

There were 2 options I could have done within the few minutes before the plane started moving:

1. Get off the plane to not leave my friend stranded and alone in Malaga

2. Remain on the plane and go to Barcelona by myself to do all the activities planned and PAID for

I'm a really good friend.

We checked in to a nearby hotel (the man at the desk asked to see a passport) to get some sleep and think about our plan for the next day. I suggested we take advantage of being in Malaga and spend the day exploring! Although our plans went down the drain, I didn't let that stop us from having a good time in Malaga.

For one, Malaga's weather was MUCH more preferred than Barcelona's rainy week. We had so many gorgeous views of the Mediterranean Sea. This was the first time I visited Spain's coasts, and it was such a gorgeous site to be at!

We took a metro and walked to the center and visited the Picasso Museum— Malaga is the birthplace of the famous artist. We also hiked up to the Alcazaba of Malaga, which is a Medieval Morrish palace, giving us beautiful views of the sea and barrios.

Alcazaba (below the Roman Theater)

My friend and I walked around the center and saw pretty buildings and delicious restaurants.

We took the bus back to Granada in the evening, and now lives on an inside joke with my host family about how much I love Barcelona and how it's my favorite city in Spain. I have to be honest, but I am still frustrated about the Barcelona incident, but I do hope it's a lesson for my friend to never take it for granted.