Kia Gear Up: Arriving at the Barcelona Airport - (MoVernie Travel & Tourism)

We took the Air Canada Rouge flight from Toronto to Barcelona. The flight took approximately 8 hours to complete. Throughout the whole flight, the flight attendants were courteous and hard working. I really admire their energy level, smiling and coordinating every well with each of their crew members. The food was on-point. Nowadays, most airport food is much better taste than in the past 10 years or so because they hire special chefs and nutritionists to plan the meal.

Bread, Alfredo chicken with vegetables, corn salad, chocolate cake with bottle of water.

Alfredo chicken with vegetables

Air Canada rouge

I tried to sleep here and there but I was only able to take long naps in between. That’s mainly because I was super excited about this Kia Gear Up trip to Barcelona, Spain.

As we landed at Barcelona, it was early in the morning. Andrew and I grabbed our luggage from the baggage claim area. The Barcelona Airport was quite a large airport. More importantly, it was super modern, clean and high-tech. That’s my first impression of this airport.

Barcelona Airport – We have ARRIVED!

As we strolled out of the airport gate, I saw two greeters wearing their special white Kia Gear Up light jackets, holding their signs that read “Welcome to Kia Gear Up”. I got to say, their white Kia Gear Up jackets were so sharp and stylish. The greeters introduced themselves and welcomed me and Andrew.

As I mentioned from my previous blog, I thought there will only be a photographer and a videographer to film me. That was only based on my own assumption from my past experiences. Which I was totally dead wrong! There was a whole crew of TV staff waiting at the airport gate, standing by to film me. There were two greeters, one on-site director, producer, TV host. At least there were 8-10 photographers and then 6-7 videographers. All eyes on me, all lens on me and all equipment on me. I felt like a celebrity! You know when you watch on TV, how all camera flashes on you? That was exactly what happened to me. It was cool and unbelievable. Let me tell you, Kia Canada chose the right person, which was me because I didn’t think the paparazzi style was for everybody. I was fine with it, I love every bit of it. It’s MoVernie after-all you are talking about. A whole crew of 30 people were filming me. This was an experience that I would never forget. Let me tell you, there were other family members who were there to wait for their love ones to arrive from their respective flights. They all had walked over to take photos of me. I think they just wanted to take some photos and videos of me just in case I am some superstars from Korea or China. Who knows, maybe they thought I was PSY. LOL

After walking for a short distance, the TV Host told me to stand at a certain spot. He told me that he will ask me some questions about my flight from Toronto to Barcelona and how excited I was to participate in this Kia Gear Up trip. He then walked over to consult with the rest of the directors to check on the lightning, the camera angle and everything. Boom! Cameras rolling, he asked me those questions and after a minute or so, my interview was complete.

Then, one of the greeters who greeted me before, he was a young guy. He came over and introduced himself to both me and Andrew. His name was Silvio. Silvio told us that he will be our buddy “aka Guide” for the entire trip. Silvio told me that he will take care of my belongings, if I ever need any beverages or needs, I would let him know. He also told me that he will assist taking photos and videos for me during the whole entire trip, especially he knew how important those images and footages for my blogs and my social media coverage.

To be honest, at this point, I was feeling what a celebrity had to go through during their everyday lives. I felt like Jay-Z or Beyonce throughout this trip. Wahoo! I got to be a celebrity for this whole trip. Awesome! Silvio also introduced us to a cameraman, he accompanied us onto the vehicle from the airport to the hotel. As you could tell from my blog so far, how big a magnitude of this Kia Gear Up campaign was. The amount of human resources needed to make this project work and the experience they were trying to create for each and every one of our Global Ambassadors. At the same time, I got to see all the organization, teamwork and the coordination among every Kia staff involving with this Kia Gear Up project.

As we walked out of the airport, Silvio, Andrew, a photographer and a videographer and I walked towards the VIP parking area. I never knew they had VIP parking spots at the airport. I am sure my peeps know how much I love the Exclusive VIP treatment. It was a short walk from the airport and every step of the way, the cameras were snapping photos and footage of me. Let me tell you, no matter how much I am used to being in front of the camera, the first 10 minutes, it took me a bit to get used to the camera crew. What I meant was…when the cameras were on me, do I look back at the camera and being polite and courteous? I was afraid that if I know the cameras were there but I don’t acknowledge them I felt like I am being a snob. But after 10 minutes, my struggle was over, I told myself that the camera guys probably want me to be natural and prefer me to pretend they weren’t there at all. I felt they most likely didn’t want every photo to have me looking into the camera. So, I will just be myself and just look out the window or talk to Andrew or Silvio the rest of the way.

VIP Parking Spot

At the VIP parking spot, there was a number of Kia vehicles parked there. We hopped on the Kia Sportage. Sportage is a compact SUV that is also available in the Canadian market. You can click on this site here to check out what the Sportage looks like. We all hopped in and off we go! The weather in Barcelona was beautiful. It was breezy, cool and just perfect. Love the sunny blue sky already. I was fascinated by the traffic rules, the circular streets and the more abundance of motor cyclists and the architecture of the historical buildings throughout the streets. There were many historical buildings every block of the Barcelona streets but yet they were well-maintained and kept very clean.