October 1^st-2^nd Off we go into the Wild Blue Yonder - Not so fast there buddy

Today is our first travel day and it started out quietly enough , but soon got INTERESTING. Our plane was waiting at the gate when we arrived and we boarded right on time. They pushed back from the gate and as we sat on the tarmac away from the gate our pilot came on and mentioned that one of our ‘check engine’ lights was on, now as I’ve always said, “I’d rather be on ground impatient to be in the air than in the air and praying to get on the ground”. So after a couple minutes she came back on and said we would be pulling back to the gate. Once at the gate we were told that they would do an engine run-up and evaluate its condition, so off of the plane we go and start the process of trying to get timely information to make SNAP DECISIONS. 30 minutes pass, no definite word, so I saunter over to the customer service counter to see if there is another plane going our way that will get us to Dulles in time to make our connection. No Joy, the next flight available would get us there too late to make the connection. Plus in order to get on the standby list for that flight we would need cancel our seats on the current flight and separate our reservations leading to other potential complications, like one of us getting on as a standby and the other not. Our best option was to wait for a definitive statement, which came a little later (now an hour later) and it was duly reported that our plane was not fit to fly and they would TRY to find another plane. So we were SOL, so now I ran back to customer service to find out if they could route us through Frankfurt with a connection to Madrid arriving 7 or so hours later. Amazingly as I was waiting for a service rep. they announced that wonder of wonders they had another plane available. So after all we took off 2 hours late and arrived in Dulles with a little over an hours to our connecting flight to Madrid. The flight to Madrid even more amazingly arrived an hour early . HooRah!

October 2^nd –First day in Madrid

It was full on night when we arrived at 6:30 am Madrid time and the sun was only coming up as we left the Airport at 8 am. They are still on daylight savings time here I think. Anyway our hosts, Julia and Jose met us at the airport and we took a taxi back to the apartment. Julia and Jose did a house exchange with us once before about 5 yrs ago when they came to visit their son in Denver so we are familiar with them already and that makes the transition so much easier. They showed us their apartment and then left us to unpack and get a couple hours rest. Deb got a couple hours nap and I took my usual walk in the neighborhood to get my body clock reset. Around 1:30 we joined Julia and Jose for a lunch at their favorite little bar/bistro just up the block from their apartment. This is going to be great, because the food in our new local hangout is very good and not expensive. A full 2-3 course lunch with wine and beer was 45 Euros for 4 people. I had my first Fabada which is a bean soup larded with non-smoked bacon and chorizo, umm umm good, followed by a plate of fried chicken wings and frys. Deb had a salad compose of Tuna and boiled eggs covered with a house made tomato sauce followed by a leg/thigh of herb roast chicken which was equally good. Julia and Jose had similar selections to ours. Lunch also included a small Cervesa and a bottle of very creditable red wine, as I said all for around 45 euros. After lunch they took us on a short walking tour of our neighborhood showing us the super market and bakery as well as a market where we can get organic food when we desire. They were both emphatic regarding pickpockets here in Madrid, both of them have been targeted within the last year, which reinforces what we read in Rick Steves book on Madrid so we will take extra precautions. Only one day’s cash in a wallet, with extra cash and credit cards in a money belt. We’re very happy to be here and look forward to our visit. We watched Spanish television last evening to start tuning our ear to the language. I got to watch a little footie, Barcelona vs. Benfica, Barca was ahead 2 to nil when I shut it off at 10 pm and went to bed. We will be limited in where we can update since we have no internet connection at the apartment, and while we want to share with our friends we’re not going to make staying connected our top priority. So be patient and we’ll keep you up to date.