Sunday, October 22, 2023

October 18th Travel Day Florida to Madrid (Wednesday -18th thru Thursday-19th)

 

October 18th Travel Day Florida to Madrid (Wednesday -18th thru Thursday-19th)

Pre-packing saved us the Last minute woes before heading to the Orlando airport, though I was still freaking out a bit because I wasn’t sure if I had everything I needed!
 

Jane on the Road Again!!
12th Century monastery - Soria
Ian came to pick us up and take us to Orlando, no worries there. However, at check-in the Delta lady asked what our final destination was because she showed it as only Miami nothing afterwards, meaning our travel agent did NOT link the confirmation numbers together and that we would have to pickup our luggage and check in with them and then go back through security. Things only got better! We are both members of “clear” but our metrics were not working within their  computer system neither eye scan nor fingerprints worked!! Yet the screens showed our photos and profile details but they could not allow us to pass into the secure area. The flight to Miami was uneventful….more to come….Carousel  6 held our bags until we ambled up to the Baggage claim office. Next , we had to use the elevator to reach the top floor and Air Europa check in counter after walking from check-in # 350 to approximately # 500 the Clear lady looked at her guide sheet and said go  back the way you had come but keep on going until you see counter#  257 opposite Bldg door #14. Well that was wrong too, we had to go way back!

Miami Airport is huge but not too crowded but not a single moving walkway nor one damn courtesy buggy running! We saw many parked but with no drivers!  Needless to say, Jane & I had step counters approaching 10,000+ damn steps! By the time we got to the Turkish Sky Lounge we were wiped out! Eventually we headed out to the Gate for departure which involved going down in an escalator and then an elevator towards the gate, needless to saying a few cuss words were being suppressed! Take off was at 9.30 pm and we had been travelling since 1pm, my feet were rebelling.

Road to Logrono not raining now.
Anyway, we got on the plane expecting a drink…not a chance, Air Europa does not serve alcohol before take-off! So we had to endure until we were in the air. We eat late, as a rule, but not at 10.30pm! We were so tired I couldn’t eat much so I settled down to sleep. The lie flat beds were not as wide or as comfortable as Deltas, but I slept for about 4 hours, Paul was less, he thinks. The feet were not happy to start walking the next morning but walk Our car was actually parked in slot #411 and we were walking up and down the rows WITHOUT UMBRELLAS which were packed inside checked luggage on the card we were pushing!!  It was literally pissing down in Madrid and they were not sure where the car was!

View of Soria from Parador room.
Things have not started well! The car, when found, is quite nice but not a clue how to start it! Everything is electronic over here! Anyway we prevailed and set off for Soria.

Raining cats and dogs in Madrid with very poor visibility all the way to Soria. Lots of trucks on the road throwing up vast amounts of water. The rain did stop completely when we did the usual pit stop at the turn to Medinacelli on the A2 highway.

We lived in Spain , in total, 7 years or so and I do not remember ever seeing rain this hard! In retrospect, perhaps we should have stayed closer to Madrid, a topic for another time!


 

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