Barcelona
Ok, so its taken me a while to finally get over the jet lag and sit down and write. I guess the fact that I hate to write and wished that I was much more articulate has kind of made me put it off as well. This is the kinda blog you want to get just right, you know?
There are so many things that I could say...the trip was amazing. Since I have been home, I can not even count the number of times that Matt and I have been asked..."So what was your single-most favorite thing in Spain?" Our hands-down winner, without even a flinch or a second-thought would most definitely be non-other than Jerry. Even now as I write, I get emotional. We could not have had a better host in the world.
So I guess I will start at the beginning. We left Tampa at around 2:00 PM on Tuesday. This first of many flights was to Miami where we would then go through customs and fly to Madrid and Madrid to Barcelona. This first flight should have been an indicator of things to come. Much to our surprise on this flight we were asked to walk out on the tarmac and board a prop plane that was equipped with only 19 seats. I am not afraid of flying, but I do have a tendency to get really sick. Thank goodness that this was only a 50 minute flight. This flight brought new meaning to the word turbulence and the poor girl who was sitting behind us (it was her first flight) was fighting back with everything she could not to vomit. I am not sure who was greener when we landed me, or her.
Once in Miami, it felt like we had already left the country...thank goodness I do understand quite of few words of Spanish, otherwise we would probably still be waiting for our plane. We took off about an hour late and flew all night. Unfortunately, I have never had the knack of sleeping on a plane so this was a really long flight for me. We made it in to Madrid late. Knowing that we had to go through customs and board the next flight quickly Matt and I were a little nervous. We were ushered through customs and not even stopped!!!! We didn't even get our passports stamped. In the end I guess that was to our benefit because by the time we got to our plane it was already near final boarding. Already exhausted, we settled in for the short flight from Madrid to Barcelona. After flying all night all I wanted to do was take a shower and change my clothes. As we landed in Barcelona our excitement was bubbling. Not only were we about to set foot on foreign soil but we were also about to re-unite with Jerry whom we had been dying to see since leaving him at the hotel breakfast table in Little Rock. As we waited at baggage claim, and waited, and waited some more, it became quite evident that our luggage had not faired as well in Madrid as we did. After an hour and a half at the baggage claim counter we resigned to meeting our buddy and leaving our luggage to the fate of Iberia airlines. The same luggage that we didn't see again until 4 days later. Anyone who knows me knows...that Mel without at least 4 pairs of shoes can turn ugly quick!
On the upside... After all the turmoil, there was Jerry and that beautiful grin and sexy dimples. Never in my life did I think that the first few hours of our trip would be spent with Jerry trying to buy me underwear. Being that all sizes in Spain are metric that led to a sort of embarrassing guessing game. Jerry took it all in stride and never once made me feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately what was uncomfortable were the underwear that never really fit quite right for the next 4 days.
Barcelona was beautiful! Her beauty led to misty eyes several times as I tried to overwhelmingly take it all in. Thousand year old churches during Palm Sunday and Gaudi architecture I have found can sometimes steal your breath. Ancient ruins and Roman walls take you back in time and cobblestone streets and narrow alleys still reside. The Mediterranean , the bluest water in the world and Matt's favorite, the topless beaches were inviting, regardless of the 60 degree weather. We spent the next 9 days taking it all in...and explaining it all could take me a life-time, which I will spare you. Those 9 days made the getting there and getting home all well worth it. But getting home is a story all on its own....
Leaving Jerry again was hard enough...but what happened after that was one of the longest days of my life. We boarded our plane to Madrid on a very early Wednesday morning. We made it into Madrid without an issue and were then attacked once again by what I have dubbed as the "Curse of Madrid". As we boarded the plane that would take us to Miami we had no idea what would transpire next. For the next 2 hours we sat on the runway while flight attendants taped up the emergency exits and informed us that there had been a fire on our plane!!! Restless children ran up and down the aisles and we hadn't even taken off yet. Slightly uneasy, I settled in for what looked to be a very long day. After what seemed like years we reached Miami only to miss our connecting flight to Tampa by 30 minutes. We made our way to the American Airlines counter where they tell us that the next flight is not until 9:27 PM (2 hours away) and that the flight is full but they would put us as the first standby passengers. "It should be no problem." Well 9:27 PM rolled around and they informed us that there was just enough room on the plane for our luggage but not for us. Another words...our luggage was headed to Tampa and we were stuck in Miami. They also informed us that they had graciously confirmed us for the 8:00 AM flight for the next morning. I pretty well lost it at this point, I had serious jet lag and just wanted to go home and to bed. They told us that our best bet was to go to the Iberia Airlines counter and see if we could get a voucher for a hotel room for the night. As we reached the deserted Iberia counter we were told that they had been closed since 5 PM. Desperate, we headed over to the Airport Hotel where they said that they had been full since 5 PM and being that it was Easter weekend that every hotel in the area had been booked for months. It was at this point that we realized that we would be spending the night on the cold concrete floor of the Miami airport. 8 AM came slower than Christmas and we were never so happy to leave that damned Miami behind. (Seriously, If I never go back to Miami again it will be too soon) Tampa Airport never looked so good! After 31 hours we made it home and thank goodness our luggage had arrived unscathed.
Moral of the story...Long-live Barcelona...to Hell with Madrid and Miami!!!!
I hope that this blog isn't misconstrued...the trip was one of a life-time! And, for all the Evanescence nerds...the "My Immortal" mecca was amazing and certainly one of the highlights of the visit. But, in all honesty it is Jerry that made it all worth-while and the bond between us is unbreakable. We love you Jerry, and we can't even begin to thank you enough for this experience that you have given us and the hospitality that you so graciously offered. We miss you with every fiber of our being. Until we meet again....you are in our hearts!
There are so many things that I could say...the trip was amazing. Since I have been home, I can not even count the number of times that Matt and I have been asked..."So what was your single-most favorite thing in Spain?" Our hands-down winner, without even a flinch or a second-thought would most definitely be non-other than Jerry. Even now as I write, I get emotional. We could not have had a better host in the world.
So I guess I will start at the beginning. We left Tampa at around 2:00 PM on Tuesday. This first of many flights was to Miami where we would then go through customs and fly to Madrid and Madrid to Barcelona. This first flight should have been an indicator of things to come. Much to our surprise on this flight we were asked to walk out on the tarmac and board a prop plane that was equipped with only 19 seats. I am not afraid of flying, but I do have a tendency to get really sick. Thank goodness that this was only a 50 minute flight. This flight brought new meaning to the word turbulence and the poor girl who was sitting behind us (it was her first flight) was fighting back with everything she could not to vomit. I am not sure who was greener when we landed me, or her.
Once in Miami, it felt like we had already left the country...thank goodness I do understand quite of few words of Spanish, otherwise we would probably still be waiting for our plane. We took off about an hour late and flew all night. Unfortunately, I have never had the knack of sleeping on a plane so this was a really long flight for me. We made it in to Madrid late. Knowing that we had to go through customs and board the next flight quickly Matt and I were a little nervous. We were ushered through customs and not even stopped!!!! We didn't even get our passports stamped. In the end I guess that was to our benefit because by the time we got to our plane it was already near final boarding. Already exhausted, we settled in for the short flight from Madrid to Barcelona. After flying all night all I wanted to do was take a shower and change my clothes. As we landed in Barcelona our excitement was bubbling. Not only were we about to set foot on foreign soil but we were also about to re-unite with Jerry whom we had been dying to see since leaving him at the hotel breakfast table in Little Rock. As we waited at baggage claim, and waited, and waited some more, it became quite evident that our luggage had not faired as well in Madrid as we did. After an hour and a half at the baggage claim counter we resigned to meeting our buddy and leaving our luggage to the fate of Iberia airlines. The same luggage that we didn't see again until 4 days later. Anyone who knows me knows...that Mel without at least 4 pairs of shoes can turn ugly quick!
On the upside... After all the turmoil, there was Jerry and that beautiful grin and sexy dimples. Never in my life did I think that the first few hours of our trip would be spent with Jerry trying to buy me underwear. Being that all sizes in Spain are metric that led to a sort of embarrassing guessing game. Jerry took it all in stride and never once made me feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately what was uncomfortable were the underwear that never really fit quite right for the next 4 days.
Barcelona was beautiful! Her beauty led to misty eyes several times as I tried to overwhelmingly take it all in. Thousand year old churches during Palm Sunday and Gaudi architecture I have found can sometimes steal your breath. Ancient ruins and Roman walls take you back in time and cobblestone streets and narrow alleys still reside. The Mediterranean , the bluest water in the world and Matt's favorite, the topless beaches were inviting, regardless of the 60 degree weather. We spent the next 9 days taking it all in...and explaining it all could take me a life-time, which I will spare you. Those 9 days made the getting there and getting home all well worth it. But getting home is a story all on its own....
Leaving Jerry again was hard enough...but what happened after that was one of the longest days of my life. We boarded our plane to Madrid on a very early Wednesday morning. We made it into Madrid without an issue and were then attacked once again by what I have dubbed as the "Curse of Madrid". As we boarded the plane that would take us to Miami we had no idea what would transpire next. For the next 2 hours we sat on the runway while flight attendants taped up the emergency exits and informed us that there had been a fire on our plane!!! Restless children ran up and down the aisles and we hadn't even taken off yet. Slightly uneasy, I settled in for what looked to be a very long day. After what seemed like years we reached Miami only to miss our connecting flight to Tampa by 30 minutes. We made our way to the American Airlines counter where they tell us that the next flight is not until 9:27 PM (2 hours away) and that the flight is full but they would put us as the first standby passengers. "It should be no problem." Well 9:27 PM rolled around and they informed us that there was just enough room on the plane for our luggage but not for us. Another words...our luggage was headed to Tampa and we were stuck in Miami. They also informed us that they had graciously confirmed us for the 8:00 AM flight for the next morning. I pretty well lost it at this point, I had serious jet lag and just wanted to go home and to bed. They told us that our best bet was to go to the Iberia Airlines counter and see if we could get a voucher for a hotel room for the night. As we reached the deserted Iberia counter we were told that they had been closed since 5 PM. Desperate, we headed over to the Airport Hotel where they said that they had been full since 5 PM and being that it was Easter weekend that every hotel in the area had been booked for months. It was at this point that we realized that we would be spending the night on the cold concrete floor of the Miami airport. 8 AM came slower than Christmas and we were never so happy to leave that damned Miami behind. (Seriously, If I never go back to Miami again it will be too soon) Tampa Airport never looked so good! After 31 hours we made it home and thank goodness our luggage had arrived unscathed.
Moral of the story...Long-live Barcelona...to Hell with Madrid and Miami!!!!
I hope that this blog isn't misconstrued...the trip was one of a life-time! And, for all the Evanescence nerds...the "My Immortal" mecca was amazing and certainly one of the highlights of the visit. But, in all honesty it is Jerry that made it all worth-while and the bond between us is unbreakable. We love you Jerry, and we can't even begin to thank you enough for this experience that you have given us and the hospitality that you so graciously offered. We miss you with every fiber of our being. Until we meet again....you are in our hearts!