Our flight leaving Barcelona was at the reasonable hour of 10:15am. When we arrived in Barcelona by bus from the airport 5 days ago we immediately figured out where to catch the bus back to the airport. This was before I had learned to use and trust “City Mapper” on my phone. Now we put that information to work with a plan to catch the 7:00am bus to the airport, arriving at the airport at 7:50am, plenty of time to spare before our flight.
Sally wanted to get up at 5:30am to prepare for the flight and walk to the bus stop. This gave us time for a leisurely preparation. I had cooked hard boiled eggs the night before, so other than a couple pieces of toast, breakfast was ready.
We were out the door about 6:30am and walked to the opposite side of Placa Espanya to our bus stop. We were there early enough to catch the 6:48am bus. Luckily, there were seats available and there was one was facing forward for Sally. The ride was uneventful and we arrived a little after 7:30am. There was no line for security. We were soon sitting at Burger King on cushioned seats killing time until our flight’s gate was announced. This first flight was a 2 hour hop to London Heathrow. There we had a 5 hour layover until our 4:15 flight left for Seattle.
The difference between flying on an AirBus 320 and a 787 is significant. The AirBus is like flying in a Spam can. The 787 is like flying in a BMW. We boarded on time and found our seats were the coveted ones by the middle of the plane exit doors, the ones with unlimited leg room. How did that happen? I watched the movie Contact for the first 2.5 hours of the flight, then caught up on a couple of blog posts, listened to my book, did some reading, closed my eyes for a couple minutes and before I knew it the 9 hour flight was done and we were landing in Seattle. It is weird to take off at 4:15pm, fly for nine hours and land at 5:45pm. We deplaned and headed for customs. But first, we stopped at the Global Entry office to get our Global Entry status established. This will make it quicker and easier to enter the US after a trip out of the country. We had to wait about 20 minutes as there were a half dozen people in front of us. When our turn came we entered the office. I had brought my conditionally approved status up on my phone. The officer got me registered, recorded a photo of me and my finger prints and then turned to Sally. She gave him her passport. He searched the computer and she did not show up as a conditionally approved applicant. It had been 5 months since we even thought about it, so I didn’t remember to log into the TSA website with her name and password to bring her application up. Sally remembered writing down her approval number, but it was in our checked bags which we had not picked up yet. We left the office a little confused and very disappointed that she did not get approved and I had.
We took the escalator down and picked up our packs at baggage claim. Sally took out her notebook and found her number. We asked an agent how to get back up to the Global Entry office as the only escalators we saw, 3 of them, all went down. The woman barked at us that we were to get into the the line she had pointed out to us, as if we were being told to get in line or else. We walked over to get in the line and met another officer. These two could not have been any more different. He was smiling and kind and helpful. He told us there was an elevator we could take to get back up. On our way to the elevator we found a set of stairs and climbed back up and reentered the office. Sally gave him her number and he was able to bring her application up. He was confused as to why her Passport number had not worked. We got Sally squared away. Since we both now had Global Entry, we went through that line to customs. By this time there was no one else left in the cavernous customs area. The customs agent asked us what flight we had been on because we were so far after our flight she couldn’t comprehend where we had come from.
Once through customs we stepped outside and texted the Caldwells to let them know we were ready for pickup. They were at South Center shopping. It took them about 20-25 minutes to arrive.
By now it was 7:30pm. We had awoken at 5:30am, Spanish time. That’s 14 hours, plus we need to add on the 9 hour time difference. We have been awake for 23 hours. We both had that scratchy feeling you get when really tired, but the fact that the sun hadn’t set yet had our internal clocks really confused.
We got home about 9:00pm. It wasn’t dark yet so we could see what condition our place was in after our 2 month hiatus. A quick summary showed that our lawn was 65% brown and in bad need of water, the garden was totally full of chest high weeds, the flower beds at the front of the house were bone dry with the dahlias stunted and not blooming and the house was clean and inviting.
As tired as I was, I spent an hour setting up the sprinklers to run all night and water the lawn. The raised bed with the carrots was dry and the carrots were wilted. I watered them. Then I got to bed about 10:30pm. I am not looking forward to adjusting back to our time zone. It usually takes a couple of weeks. We are both looking forward to getting together with friends, kids and especially our 4 grandchildren.
Thoughts:
It does not seem like we were gone two months. Not at all. But if you look at the heading for this entry, this is day 60. Two months.
We met incredible people on our walk. Friends we hope to keep for the rest of our lives, even though they are spread across the globe-Australia, Connecticut, Czech Republic, Germany, England, South Africa, Spain and more.
The Spanish people are incredibly kind. Every public transportation we took we saw people give up their seats to older or physically challenged people. They helped the blind find their way, they picked up dropped items and chased down the person who dropped it, they were quick to help with directions, etc. It was amazing to watch and to be a included.
The Camino was very busy, with over 400 people a day starting from Saint Jean Pied de Port. Accommodations had to be booked in advance to assure a bed each night.
Barcelona’s public transportation system is second to none. We rode buses, subways and funiculars for 5 days. They were always on time, clean, comfortable and quick-and well used. The buses were full as was the subway. In the US only those that can’t afford a car ride the buses and trains. Not so in Spain. All walks of life are on public transportation. It is safe, clean and efficient.
Beware of pickpockets. That was the first thing we were told when we shared that we planned to travel to Barcelona. We must have heard it 20 times. It was the first thing people said to us when we said we were going to Barcelona. It gave us a negative impression of the city before we even arrived. We took the same precautions we take in any large city, money belts and empty pockets and Sally wears her purse across her body, not just slung over an arm. In our 5 days there we never once felt unsafe. Not at night or in big crowds during the day. The city was clean, people friendly. The city even pays musicians to busker at particular locations in the city to add to the vibe of the areas. A really nice touch.
Spain is a beautiful country. The Pyrenees, the plains, and the coastal areas were all magnificent. Spain is as modern and put together as any 1st world country and in many respects puts the US to shame. The cell service and web connections were excellent. The country currently has over 24,000 wind turbines in operation, supplying over 30% of their energy needs, with more coming on line weekly.
It has taken them a while to emerge from under Franco’s dictatorship when it ended in the 1970’s, a disadvantage that put them behind the rest of Europe, but now they are a vibrant, modern economy.
I look forward to our next visit to Spain.
The living room/dining room in our apartment
The rooftop deck in our apartment with the art museum/palace in the distance
Bedroom in apartment
Shopping in downtown Barcelona
