I am in Barcelona for the month. The Spanish taxpayer is paying for my modest accommodation in the UAB (Universitat Autonoma Barcelona) campus residences through a research grant that my host was awarded. The Canadian taxpayer is paying for the flight over and some living expenses through a grant I was awarded. They are paying for bringing my expertise to help the research projects of my host and his students, and the expertise and contacts I have access to here, respectively. I consider this to be a legitimate use of (international) taxpayers' money, but you can be the judge of that.
While here, I took a weekend off and flew to London to visit an old high school friend of mine. He has remained a close friend, although we only see each other every couple of years on average. No taxpayer paid for this trip, of course, and it was a bit of an extravagance. The trip began at about $360 excluding some spending I did there. Because I can spare that much money, I didn't think of it as an especially expensive trip compared to the cost of a visit from Vancouver. Keeping up with old and important friends is one of the things that makes life worth living.
I was due to come back late Sunday night, but not so late that I couldn't take the bus downtown to Placa Catalunya and then the train "home" to my UAB residence room (total cost about $10). However, the plane was delayed by about an hour and there was no way I would have made the last train back to UAB. I took a taxi instead, which cost $100. It was nice to have enough money to be able to do that without real hardship. There are always cheaper alternatives. I could have taken the bus downtown and looked for an inexpensive place to stay (hostel) or just stayed awake for four hours until the Monday morning trains began. I was happy to just pay the money, get back to my room, and go to bed.
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