How to survive in Barcelona on zero euros a day

(Credit: Lolcats)

Well, I made it to Barcelona for GSMA (formerly 3GSM), and the excitement, my friends, has already begun. As my colleague Kent German described earlier, Fira de Barcelona is abuzz with activity in preparation for the world's largest mobile phone show; however, my news comes from outside the wireless world. You see, I got my wallet stolen today. I've spent the better half of the afternoon calling my credit card companies, and shuttling between local police stations. On Monday, I'll get a nice look at the U.S. Embassy. I've been really lucky to travel quite a bit in my life (internationally and domestically), and this has never happened to me before. I've had it happen to friends, but it's one of those situations where you think: "It'll never happen to me." I'm not going to lie, it completely sucks. But you know what? It's one of those situations where you can choose to let it ruin your trip, or you can learn from it and trudge on. I'm choosing the latter. There's no use in crying over what's done. Everything is replaceable, and I'm lucky to be in the company of two wonderful colleagues/friends, Kent German and CNET TV's Ariel Nunez, who have been there to support me.

Anyway, I know this post isn't technology related, so thanks for letting me rant here. Hopefully, everything will get sorted out in the next couple of days. Otherwise I may just be starting up the CNET Barcelona office. *wink*