I woke up on time & packed my last few things & said goodbye to my itty bitty Madrid room. I didn't get to eat breakfast at the hotel because I needed to be on my way to the airport before they opened.
I got to the airport & got checked in & through security without any problems. Unfortunately nothing at the airport was open so I couldn't get any breakfast so that was a bit irritating. I headed to my gate & we weren't allowed to actually go to our individual gates we were just in kind of a waiting area till they allowed us through. It was finally time for us to head to our actual gates & board the plane. Instead of just boarding the plane like usual we once again took a shuttle to the plane & went up the stairs on the tarmac. So strange!
I found my seat & was hoping to have another empty seat next to me for the long trip home. Unfortunately I didn't get so lucky this time as an elderly gentlemen was my seatmate. He kind of reminded me of my Grandpa Crouch looking all daper in his suit. I noticed he was a little shaky so I was hesitant to ask him to get up for anything. So I made it the whole way back to Charlotte without getting up once. Again good thing I'm short as I was at least able to straighten out my legs in front of me but my poor little feet weren't so little they were more like sausages. I slept as much as I could but even I couldn't sleep so I watched movies (believe it or not Michael) & played games.
The things I loved about Madrid...
- The Chicago/New York feel of the city while still having amazing architecture.
- Bocadillos de Calamares
- The Palacio Real was simply breathtaking
- Meeting up with old friends
- All the beautiful green spaces & flowers
- You're much more tourist friendly with your accurate maps & tourist attraction signs
- Your love of mullets
- Again not a bad glass of wine
- My three favorite things - Palacio Real, Bocadillos de Calamares & the Chicago/New York feel of the city.
It was a long long flight to Charlotte & we even arrived early which ended up not doing us any good because we had to wait for the custom workers to arrive to work. I barely had an hour & a half to deplane, get through customs, check my luggage back in, go back through security & get to my gate. Let's just say I barely made it with like 10 minutes to spare - that was a close one. Then of course we got delayed by like an hour. It was a short flight with Bears updates & I was back in Chicago.
I picked up my luggage & headed for the cab line. Holy smokes when did winter get here? It was summer when I left & winter when I came home - that sucks! Talk about a shock when coming from 80 degree perfect weather. I was happily surprised to see there wasn't a long line for a cab which is unusual for a Sunday night especially a rainy one. And then I was in a cab with LaSalle, the cabbie, he told me this when I told him I was headed to Chestnut & LaSalle.
I dropped off my bags in my apartment & gave Gloria some love & headed upstairs to get Ollie. I knocked on Michael & Danielle's door & got down on my knees so he'd see me right away. Danielle opened the door & he came running towards me & ran circles around me like a crazy man doing his Chewbaca noise while giving me his nose love bites that are simply one of my favorite things he does. We caught up for a bit & then went downstairs to settle in. A couple people gave me grief about wearing flip flops instead of tennis shoes on my trip (you know who you are). I tan way too easy & the tan stays & here's proof.
Believe it or not the ginormous box finally showed up & my melon seeds (that could have easily gotten the entire box confiscated) were still in it. Mom's gonna try & plant them this year. I hope it works.
This was an amazing experience & I'm so glad I did it. Spain will always have a little piece of my heart & I can't wait for the day when I get to return. I just hope the dollar is worth more then. May I live my life the way Spainards do...work to live not live to work. Until next time Espana...
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