We're going to Spain! I have to admit, this was not a country on my bucket list. Knowing German makes me more predisposed to the German-speaking countries and countries where German might be heard. In German, they have a saying: "Es kommt mir spanisch vor." That means "It's Spanish to me", which is their version of "It's Greek to me". When we've been in Mexico, my brain has automatically switched to German in an effort to find something it understands. (It didn't work, of course.)
But, here we are heading to Spain. Why? Because my husband will be playing at the international ClarinetFest in Madrid. We've often hooked family vacations on to these conferences. And this is a family vacation-both daughters took off work to go. Funny, they didn't take off when it was in Louisiana last year.
Our younger daughter came to our house the night before our departure. She felt this would be easier than picking her up at her apartment before going to the airport. Besides, we both HATE packing and this way, we could stress out together.
At 7:35 am, we left the house and drove a couple of blocks to pick up my husband's colleague, who would be taking care of the car for us and picking us up at the end of the trip. It also lets him borrow the car, while his car is being worked on.
I got us to Orlando International Airport by 8:12. Within 20 minutes, we'd finished checking in for USAir flight 603 to Charlotte, North Carolina. Even though we'd had some breakfast at home, we had some Egg McMuffins at the McDonald's in the airport food court. It would be a while before we'd eat again.
We were lucky enough to be in the PreCheck line. So nice not to have to take off shoes or take things-other than the iPad-out of the bags.
By 10:15, we were seated in seats 17A,B and C. We took off an hour later and landed uneventfully in Charlotte at 12:05.
Charlotte was a great first stop for us, as our best man and his wife live there, and we don't see them very often. As we taxied to the gate, my husband let him know we'd landed. He picked us up outside arrivals and took us to Saigon Palace, a Vietnamese restaurant that was not far away. His wife was waiting there for us, which was a wonderful surprise. These are the type of people that you can fall into talking to, as if you just saw them recently.
The food was almost as good as the conversation. My daughter and I often order two things that interest both of us and split them. So, I got chicken with shrimp and she got beef. Both were delicious. We also enjoyed spring rolls.
At 2:30. we had to head back to the airport and his wife had to go back to work. It was a short visit, but so much fun!
After going through security (still PreCheck!), we headed for Gate D3, where our older daughter was waiting, having flown in from Washington, DC. It was a shame, that she hadn't been able to arrive in time for lunch, but it was terrific that she and my husband had managed to arrange for all 4 of us to fly to Barcelona on the same flight.The daughters would be in 30A and B and we would be right behind them in 31A and B.
The plane was not full and many of the folks in the center 4 seats had at least 2 seats to themselves. When trying to sleep, that might have been nice.
We took off about 5 pm and my husband immediately settled in to try to sleep. I figure, I've paid for the meal as part of my ticket and I'm going to eat it. Besides, there is no way I can fall asleep that early, even though I've been getting up earlier and earlier every day for for 2 weeks. Today, I got up at 3 am but there was no way I could fall asleep this early.
So, my daughters and I decided we'd eat his meal. We had a choice of chicken or pasta. I chose chicken for me and his meal would be pasta. All of a sudden, the plane dropped! There' d been no warning and it was incredibly scary. Then, we dropped again! It wasn't as much this time, but still...
What really concerned me was that the captain did not come on the intercom to explain what was going on. The guy across from me had a tomato-based drink, which went everywhere. I had the presence of mind to put my hands over my tray and spared myself a mess. I did wake up my husband, because there was no way I was going to die next to him and have him be asleep! The captain finally came on and told us it was due to "clear air turbulence". Sometimes, this happens and there is just no warning. My husband went back to sleep.
I watched " The Second Best Marigold Hotel" during the rest of my meal and then prepared to sleep. To help my legs, I put on compression socks. I've also been having pain in my left knee and put a brace on to try to help that. Both helped, but sleep was difficult. The crying baby didn't help. I tried listening to music, but the classical channel didn't work. Sleeping on an overnight flight is not the easiest thing for me.
But, we're off on our two-week adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment