Off to Spain!!

Welcome to the Spain 2022 blog!

Over the next 4+ months, I’ll be posting periodic ramblings to bring everyone up to date as Norma and I travel for our first post-retirement/sabbatical journey to warmer winter climes. In this case, we will be spending 3 months in Estepona, Spain, on the Costa del Sol, just east of Gibraltar.  We left Cazenovia in light snow & freezing rain, and got off to an inauspicious beginning by boarding on time, and then sitting on the plane dealing with a mechanical issue in for 90 minutes without leaving the gate in Syracuse… So we ended up missing our first connecting flight in Chicago, and after spending several hours in various lines to get rebooked (including an aborted attempt to route us through London instead of Madrid (which required a rapid Covid test!), we headed off to rough it overnight at the airport Hilton (both Norma and I both are way too old to sleep at the gate- retirement upgrade #1). The American Airlines booking agents were kind, but clearly frustrated with all the chaos they were being asked to unravel- our’s declared that we had the most screwed up booking they had ever seen!  

So... have you ever wondered how far you walk when your are in airport hell? Just for kicks, I tracked our day two wandering in O'Hare on Strava... apparently it's quite a lot! 5.8 odd miles going back and forth in one line after another ;-)

Eventually, we managed to board the proper flight to Madrid, 24 hours late, and that brings us here to the Priority lounge where I’m putting this post together.

Norma snagged us a great deal on a credit card (Chase Sapphire Visa) that includes access to private airport lounges all over the world, and it’s paying for itself nicely today.  It’s comfortable, uncrowded, and includes free food that is a big step up from the typical airport fare at ridiculous prices ;-) (retirement upgrade #2!). We have an 8 hour layover here, so it’s really nice to be able to relax and take advantage of this, as well as the free WiFi!

So… so far, so good. We are enjoying being in Spain already, as we breezed through customs and the Covid health check points, and we’ll be on our way to Malaga this afternoon.  From there, we have a rental car that will take us to Estepona, and our home-away-from-home for the next three months!  More on that in the coming days! Cheers :-)