Mobile solutions: Exploring Barcelona with mobile devices

“That’s the last one then.” Hank Snyder lifts the heavy suitcase from the baggage carousel and puts it down next to the other two. He, his wife and two children have just landed at El Prat Airport in Barcelona, Spain, where they are looking forward to spending a week vacationing during the Easter break. Hank looks around for the others. Where have they gotten to now? A moment later he catches sight of his wife Annie, who is engrossed in a lively conversation with their 17-year-old daughter Laura. Their son Paul, who just turned 15, is a few feet away, yet again fooling around with his new mobile phone. “Paul, can you help me with the bags?” calls out Hank over the heads of the other passengers.

Without taking his eyes off his smartphone display, Paul ambles over to his father. “Dad, I’ve looked up when the next train leaves for downtown. The R2 will take us straight to the main station. It leaves in 12 minutes. From track 2.” “How did you find that out so fast?” “I loaded the app as soon as we got off the plane.” Typical, thinks Hank. His son’s what they call a digital native – unlike Hank.

“Can you please make sure to put that app of yours on our smartphones, too?” Naturally, each member of the family of four has their own smartphone. Both Hank, a self-employed civil engineer, and Annie, managing director of a publishing company, need their smartphones mainly for their jobs. As their daughter Laura freely admits, life without a smartphone is “like impossible.” And Paul, who used a hand-me-down phone of Hank’s for three years, has been the proud owner of a state-of-the-art device since his last birthday. So apparently he doesn’t always use the contraption just to play games, thinks Hank. “Cool. Then get your sister and Mom moving as well. And take these two bags here.”

Hank moves off to look for the ticket counter. It’s easy to find – mainly because of the long line of people waiting in front of it. That’s going to take too long, he thinks. There are some ticket vending machines close by, and they’re easy to operate: Just select your destination and enter the number of passengers. To pay for the tickets, Hank simply holds his smartwatch in front of the reader – and the vending machine prints out four tickets and a receipt. The whole procedure takes no more than 20 seconds. 

Hank’s smartwatch was a Christmas gift from Annie. Even though she has little time for “big boys’ toys,” as she calls them, she knows how much her husband loves his gadgets. And Hank really does revel in every opportunity to use his toys.

On returning to his family, Hank sees that Annie is still talking on her phone. Typical, he thinks: Phone calls between his wife and mother-in-law can often last over an hour. But why here at the train station – with all this background noise? The train should be arriving any minute. Hank gives Annie a signal to wind up. She smiles and gives him a brief nod.

“Okay, Mom, gotta go. Our train’s coming. Call you tomorrow. Bye!” At that moment the train pulls in. Annie puts her smartphone back in her purse and reaches for her suitcase. “Did your mother understand one word of what you were saying with all the noise here?” asks Hank as they take their seats on the train. “She’s sort of hard of hearing.” “Nope, it was no problem at all. She understood everything and I could hear everything she said loud and clear.”

About 20 minutes later, the family is standing in front of Barcelona’s main station. Hank is typing something into his smartphone. “It’s just under two miles from here to our hotel. That’s half an hour on foot, which I think is too far with our luggage. Let’s grab a taxi. Can you see any?” “I think I saw a sign for taxis when we came out of the station,” says Annie. “They probably wait on the other side of the station.” “Not a problem, we’ll call one.”

Hank opens an app, confirms their location and orders a taxi. “It’ll be here in a minute,” he announces. Just a few moments later a cab pulls up in front of the family. The driver jumps out and starts putting the luggage in the trunk. Hank climbs in the back seat with the two children and lets his wife, who speaks fluent Spanish, sit in the front next to the driver. “Gallery Hotel,” says Annie. “Sí, Señora,” says the driver, pulling away from the curb.

After checking in, the family meets up in the parents’ room. Hank is relaxing on the big bed. “First thing I want to do is chill out for a while. The last few days were pretty hectic.” “What I’d like is an espresso. I saw a little café opposite the hotel. Want to tag along?” says Annie. “Well, actually, Paul and I wanted to take a look around,” says Laura. “OK,” says Annie with a sigh. She sometimes has trouble accepting that her “babies” are gradually growing up and getting more independent. Her husband obviously takes a more relaxed view of things: He’s already fallen asleep and is snoring softly. “But stay together. And don’t get lost!” “Oh, Mom, take it easy!” says Paul, rolling his eyes. “We’ve got GPS on our phones. Everything’s gonna be just fine.” Annie can’t help laughing. “Then get out of here. We’ll all meet up in an hour in the café downstairs.”

Annie has just downed her second café cortado, when Hank crosses the road and takes a seat next to her at the table. He stretches his arms and yawns. “So, honey, have a good sleep?” “Yeah, it really did me good. Hey, where have the kids gotten to?” Annie glances at her phone. The display shows a map with two points close together that are moving slowly: They show the location of Laura and Paul’s mobile phones. “They’re on their way here and should turn up any moment.” Hank grins. “When we were that age and out on the town, we had nothing like that.” “How true,” admits Annie. “But I really like having this virtual leash; it’s reassuring always knowing where the kids are.”

At that moment, Laura and Paul appear. “Come on, sit down. Thirsty?” As usual, both of the kids are busy with their phones and just nod. Annie gives the waiter a wave and orders two mineral waters. “I’m actually really hungry,” says Paul, looking up from his phone for a moment. Annie isn’t surprised – she knows her son. “Great,” she says.

“That suits us just fine. I’ve been surfing the net and found a cute little restaurant. It’s gotten over 300 positive reviews and it’s just around the corner. Looks really nice.” She passes her phone around for them to take a look. “What about we have dinner there this evening? I can make an online reservation.” Just a few clicks and it’s all done and dusted. After that, Annie goes to the bar to pay for their drinks. They have a compact reader at the cash register, and she simply has to hold her mobile phone close to the reader and the check is paid. As the amount was under 25 euros, she didn’t even have to enter her PIN. “Nifty,” says Annie as she returns to the table. “You don’t have to lug so much cash around with you.”