Trip to Barcelona

Places
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My GF had some airline miles and decided at the last minute to book us a trip to Barcelona. The whole east side of the city has a few miles of (man made) beaches, and there are many nicer beaches that extend north all the way to the French border.

We’ve been out three mornings in a row so far (by 11am it’s too hot for us): once to Barceloneta (crowded, a bit grubby tbh, and beset by thieves who will steal all your stuff while you’re swimming – no joke), and twice to Platja d’Ocata, about 25 minutes north by commuter train. Platja d’Ocata is a super nice “town beach”, for sure.

For women from teenage to 50+, at least 3/4 are wearing thongs. About 1/3 of the women from 20+ to 60-ish are topless as well. Guys in board shorts, 95%; guys in swim briefs, 4.98%; one naked guy (not me); one guy in a thong (me in a Skinz M67). That being said, nobody seems to care, as far as I can tell. One woman commented that she liked my suit as she was leaving.

Background: My GF doesn’t like guys in thongs. She’s worn them for years and goes topless wherever it’s not expressly forbidden. But guys in thongs? Not her thing, a bridge too far. Which makes the rest of this story especially funny to me, kind of the ultimate “Cambridge Guy’s rule” test.

We were heading back to the showers, both wearing just thongs. I wanted to rinse off, put on boardies, then go to the chiringuito by the showers to get a cold drink, but she says, “no, let’s get a drink first”. So she walks to a shaded table on the sand in nothing but her thong bottom, sits down and asks, “you coming?” Um, ok, so I go grab a seat at the table. She says, “Hmm, I think you should go order at the bar”, so I go up to the bar wearing just my thong and the waitress doesn’t blink and eye and says “I’ll bring you a menu”. Which she does, so we order and have our drinks, and my still topless GF tries to flag down the waitress with no luck and says “Why don’t you pay up at the bar”, so I walk past 10 other tables wearing just a thong to pay the bill, and nobody blinks an eye. Then we both walked past everybody in the place to the showers, rinsed off and headed to the train.

For someone who doesn’t like guys in thongs, she sure seemed to be putting me to the test. :laughing:

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I hope the test earned you a passing grade and your girlfriend realized it was perfectly fine because no one batted an eye. I would say your trip was a huge success and it should give you a lot of confidence to wear thongs in public.

I wish I could have been there in the vicinity so she could have seen more than one guy in a thong. It would have definitely added credibility to your desire to wear thongs, especially in public.

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This is great … not sure if she was showing you off, helping you with some exhibitionism, confidence or what … but isn’t it great when the significant other is into your thongs as you are! … my wofe wore her first thong on the beach a few weeks ago and realized it was fun and nobody cared. Now my wife is insisting we get matching thongs. Kinda corny but if it gets her into a thong, let’s go!

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My guess is she’ll still say she doesn’t like seeing guys in thongs :rofl::rofl::rofl:

FWIW, I’m not much of an exhibitionist and it’s not really even confidence. It’s more like, unless I am causing genuine distress or offense, I just don’t give a fuck. It’s a beach, who cares?

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I think she was trying to call your bluff and see if you had the chutzpah to do it!

Or perhaps she was trying to show you off a bit?

We have a pool membership at a local club and decided to head over yesterday. My wife asked if i was going to wear a thong underneath my board shorts and I said no…too many kids and I have never seen a woman in a thong there. She thanked me!

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She’s got a sense of humor, this is my guess :laughing:

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When you went to pay the bartender, did they say “ is your wallet in there too?”

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You laugh, but pickpocketing is a huge issue here, so I got a tiny wallet made from Tyvek that holds just 4 cards and a few folded bills. It would fit down the front of an M67, but the profile would be, um, interesting.

(The company is called Paper Wallets)

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Day 4, trip to Costa Brava with a guide and 6 other people (a pilot in training, a woman visiting from Buenos Aires, and an American family of four – mom, dad, high school daughter, junior high son). We took a coast walk to a large beach and same deal: 2/3 to 3/4 women in thongs, 1/4 topless. It still seemed a bit risky to take off the board shorts, and I did bring a suit slightly larger than my black M67 just in case.

But no worries, I took off my board shorts, waded into the water, and got zero reaction from anyone, despite being the only guy in a thong. (I did wonder if mom or dad would object or if the 17-yo girl would raise an eyebrow, but nope. Not a peep.)

After swimming we walked to and hung out at a refreshment stand and no big deal.

Then a walk to a rocky cove. Lots of women in thongs on the sidewalk along the beach, so me as well. Spent a few hours swimming and jumping off cliffs, then back to Barcelona. Four hours in just a thong chatting with the other folks in the group and zero reaction, which of course is the goal – normalize them.

At this point, I seriously wonder why more guys don’t give them a try. I’ve been wearing thongs now for 4 summers and AFAICT literally nobody cares at all, home or abroad.

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Day 5 – Today we tried an in-town beach (Bogatell) and thongs/topless are as ubiquitous here as in the out-of-town beaches. We did our usual 2km open water swim, sunned for a bit, took a walk down the beach, went to another chiringuito (but this time she had her top on), and all good. As always, all the guys were in board shorts except me. I do wonder if even one person is thinking, “Yeah, I’m gonna give that a go.”

Tomorrow we’ll do an out of town beach, and Thursday an early morning SUP session. She asked, “You aren’t really going to wear a thong while you’re out SUP’ing, are you?” I said, “Yup!” (We’ll have to see if I really do because it means carrying a board two blocks from the rental store to the beach, which might be frowned upon.)

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Today we went south of Barcelona to the town of Castelldefels. Apparently Lionel Messi has a home here. There is a beach about two miles long, very wide, and I’ll spare you the details except to say “the usual”. Recommended!

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Last day in Barcelona, so we did a 7am SUP session at Barceloneta. There were a lot of cute girls carrying their boards the two blocks from the shops to the beach wearing just thongs, so I did as well. Some sketchy drugged-out guys at the beach laughed, but whatever. We did a nice 75 minute SUP session, then – alas – had to head out so we can fly back home this afternoon.

Successful trip! If you’re looking for a confidence booster, Spain is a good place for it.

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Hah hah, one final note. My GF still can’t stand guys in thongs. She claims it’s purely on aesthetic grounds: “women are beautiful, men not so much”. I said this sounds both like objectification of women and shaming of men, but she remains unmoved. I mean, I also prefer looking at women so it’s hard for me personally to refute a purely aesthetic argument, and a few thousand years of western art supports her position. (“Male gaze”, anyone?)

That being said, I said “We’re all at the beach. Thongs are awesome, it’s all about wearing the right tool for the job, and we should all be able to wear what we want.” She at least agrees with that. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Great story! If your GF doesn’t like guys in thongs, how did you wear it? She didn’t mind/ let you?

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Well, she’s not my boss. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: Just because she doesn’t love them, doesn’t mean I’m going to not wear them.

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Thanks for the detailed trip report, @cambridgeguy. Although your girlfriend doesn’t love seeing men in thongs, it at least sounds like she’s accepting of your preference. Perhaps her opinion will change over time.

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