Spain whispered, “Hola”

I prepared for my Spanish adventure by having tapas and Tempranillo wine on the plane.  Which plane?  I rode on five planes from Arizona to Malaga...The good news is I arrived safely.  However, I waited 10 hours in JFK for plane to Malaga via Stockholm.  During the trip, I found the USB port on the plane didn’t work so my iPad was dead.  When I leaned over to pull the cable out, I spilled half a bottle of water into one of my shoes that I had toed them off to get comfortable.  I blew up the neck pillow that was inserted inside my new scarf and settled down to sleep.  Nope.  It didn’t happen and 8 hours later, I landed in Stockholm.  Customs questions.  Approved.  Passport stamped.  Doors unlocked.  And then I had no idea where to go.  Nobody was in the next very large room, stairs echoed nearby and the elevators took me to two different empty floors.  Where was everyone?  Where was I supposed to go next?  I knew I had another 7 hours to wait for my flight to Malaga.  Why, oh why did I choose this roundabout flight to save $200?  Never again.

I saw a crowd of people far down the concourse and I followed them.  At last!  Airport life.  Since I’d arrived at the international arrivals, I had to figure out where to go next.  My water bottle was empty so I filled it up at one of the neat water fountains with a special bottle filler.  More people.  More signs to follow and I was told Terminal 5 took me to Malaga.  Yay!  And then security took my bottle of water...I should have filled it AFTER security.  I’ll remember next time.  

So, I’m in Stockholm, Sweden and my money belt has euros and dollars.  Everything was in kroners.  I could not make myself use a credit card for a bottle of water, but I wanted a book since my iPad was dead.  Book in hand, I studied the beautiful book cover and wondered at the strange book title.  Lucky for me, I flipped through the pages at the cash register:  all in Swedish.  Ugh.  I found the English books but I was getting rummy.  Maybe I couldn’t read anyway.  My body cried for sleep and yearned to lay myself down, but I still had hours to wait.

I decided to people watch.  I saw a Jewish man with the long curl of sideburns, a woman with a baby tied to her back, a young girl dressed in her native attire...and a 2 year old playing a game on a cell phone as she scrunched her pacifier every time she concentrated on the animation and it started to slip out of her mouth.  The world is so big.  

On the plane to Malaga at last and my seat mate was Swedish.  Our interesting conversation lasted the entire four hour trip until we arrived at 1:00 a.m. I thought I was sleepy, but guess talking won out.  Oh, and the tapas and wine.  My dear friend, Lyn, was picking me up and when my feet hit Spanish soil, I felt like kissing the ground.  And then my luggage didn’t arrive on the belt.  I ran to customs where the baggage clerk promised me it would be waiting since I’d been transferred for hours...not there.  My heart was skipping beats by then.  Back to Menzies, where the lost baggage clerk gave me a form to complete alongside another woman whose bag was lost as well.  We commiserated with each other.  I couldn’t find my baggage receipt and the woman wasn’t happy, couldn’t track my bag and my Spanish became stilted.  But —- the other woman tapped me on te shoulder as she’d found her bag.  “Yours is there too.”  What?  She led me back to customs and this time I DID kiss my bag.  

And then I got lost again.  It was the middle of the night and everything was closed.  Nobody was around as they’d all left with their bags and Lyn was waiting somewhere in arrivals.  Up and down the elevator.  Rental car people stared at me (not sure why because I’d only walked back and forth about three times). And then I spied the Arrivals sign.  And there was Lyn, all smiles and I let out a long breath that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. 

Now, after sleeping fifteen hours, I am good as new.  And I’ve already enjoyed lunch with Lyn and Bobbie in a town near Almogia called Pastelero.  Boquerones and Tinto Verano, the food I have missed since leaving Spain.  

Tomorrow I PICK UP MY MINI COOPER!