Traveling to Europe

As you might have read, I just got back from my first European vacation. I was glad I was traveling with someone who had been to Europe before and knew what he was doing. I may have gotten lost had I traveled alone. The first leg of the trip, from home to Chicago, was easy enough. However, we almost had a disaster getting to our connecting flight. The monitor indicated that it was delayed, so we took our time eating dinner. On our way to the gate, we heard, "Last call for ... you have two minutes before the plane leaves." Holly cow! We ran as fast as we could, arriving just as the door was closing. The let us on, but I'm sure everyone was staring at us, thinking that we delayed the flight. After that run, I realize that I was way out of shape. Once we found our seats, which were the last three to be filled, we buckled in for our long cross-Atlantic flight.

We were seated in the center isle, with a bulkhead (the bathrooms) behind us, so our seats didn't recline, plus there was NO leg room for tall people like my brother and I. Anyways, after an hour into the flight, they served food. Having just eaten a large burrito, I wasn't ready to eat, but I never pass on a meal opportunity. Traveling on a foreign airline, Iberia, is like traveling on a domestic airline five years ago. They serve a hot meal with metal forks and knives. The food wasn't very good, second grade chicken, but I got a very small can of beer at no extra cost.

I tried several times to sleep, and just when I was about to doze off, the lights came back on and the airline attendants were out with the carts serving another meal. Was this breakfast? It was only 9PM Pacific time, but 6AM local time. So much for sleep - time to start the next day.

The was rising as we landed in Madrid, where we were in for a three hour layover. After disembarking the plane, we had to go through passport control. I showed the customs agent my passport, and he stamped it without even talking to me or looking at me. This was my first stamp ever, and he used a page in the middle of the book. After killing a few hours by trying to sleep on the airport chairs, it was time to fly to Barcelona. That flight only took one hour, but we had to take a bus from the gate to our plane, and that trip took about five minutes. Apparently, there are not enough gates for all the airplanes.

When we landed in Barcelona, we gathered our checked luggage and headed outside to find the forth member of our crew, Karen.
Never once was my carry-on baggage checked. I was nervous because I had prescription medicine, and I was afraid they might think the pills were some illegal drug. I even brought a copy of my prescription to prove they weren't. From the airport, we took a cab to our hotel and after checking in, the fun began.