Nathan Kessler, 33, a brown belt at Trident Jiu-Jitsu in Minneapolis, returned from a seven-day anniversary trip to Barcelona last week claiming he and his wife Lauren had ‘basically toured the whole city.’
Kessler visited four jiu-jitsu academies across four neighborhoods during the trip. He did not enter a single Gaudi building.
‘Barcelona has an incredible jiu-jitsu scene,’ Kessler told coworkers Monday morning, still wearing compression shorts under his khakis. ‘The culture there is just… you can feel it on the mats.’
When asked about La Sagrada Familia, Kessler said he’d seen it. Technically true. He caught a partial view of the basilica’s spires from the rooftop changing area at his second gym, Maresme Combat Club in Eixample, where he trained Tuesday and Thursday evenings while Lauren ate dinner alone at a tapas bar she’d found on Google Maps.
‘It looked amazing from up there,’ Kessler said. ‘Really put the armbar seminar in perspective.’
Park Guell was ‘experienced’ through the window of a taxi on the way to his third academy. Las Ramblas was traversed on foot, but only because Kessler’s fourth gym was on the other side of it. He described the famous pedestrian boulevard as ‘kind of crowded, honestly, hard to walk fast with a gi bag.’
Lauren, a dental hygienist who does not train, visited La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, the Picasso Museum, Casa Batllo, and the Gothic Quarter. She did all of this alone. She ate seven dinners solo. She took 340 photos. Nathan appears in four of them, all taken in the hotel lobby.
Kessler’s daily itinerary, reconstructed from gym check-in posts on Instagram:
- Monday: Open mat at Ferro Jiu-Jitsu Eixample, followed by ‘recovery acai bowl’ (alone).
- Tuesday: Fundamentals class at Maresme Combat Club. Lauren visited La Sagrada Familia (alone).
- Wednesday: ‘Rest day.’ Kessler watched competition footage in the hotel room while Lauren explored the Gothic Quarter (alone).
- Thursday: Evening no-gi at Maresme Combat Club. Lauren went to the Picasso Museum (alone).
- Friday: Drop-in at a no-gi school near Barceloneta. Lauren sat on the beach (alone, but at least on purpose this time).
- Saturday: Competition class at Catalonia Grappling Academy. Lauren packed (alone).
- Sunday: Flight home. First activity Kessler did not do alone.
Kessler rated each academy on guard-passing style, mat cleanliness, and ‘vibe,’ compiling his findings into a Google Doc he shared with his home gym’s group chat. The document is fourteen pages long. His anniversary card to Lauren contained eleven words, six of which were ‘Happy anniversary babe love you so much.’
When asked about the trip, Lauren provided a one-sentence review: ‘Barcelona is beautiful and I would like to go back with someone who wants to see it.’
Kessler interpreted this as confirmation that a return trip is on the table. He has already identified three additional gyms in the Gracia district.
Lauren has since requested that future vacations be taken separately. Kessler told training partners this was ‘actually ideal’ because it would allow him to attend open mats without feeling guilty.
‘She gets her museums, I get my rolls,’ Kessler said, failing to detect any subtext whatsoever. ‘It’s a win-win.’
At press time, Kessler had purchased a rashguard with the Barcelona flag on it and was referring to himself as ‘internationally trained.’