Vacation Journal, Day 1 - Getting There is the Hardest Part

The preparation, packing, and flying were the toughest parts of the trip. I have long been notorious for heavy packing, but my friend Mindi (who made a dang good post today about one of the best and most entertaining Aggie basketball players in history) took my hand and brought me to the other side. I am now a die-hard light packer. With two suitcases and one backpack in hand, we were ready to go. It sounds simple, but it took multiple lists and me sitting on the suitcases while David zipped them to get things done. We had plenty of clothing and we packed an additional collapsible backpack to bring back our purchases. Although I love the carry-on method, I am sad to say that I passed up on some cool items because they wouldn't fit in the bags. It helped my budget, but there are some things I wish I would have brought home with me.

We were lucky enough to have the direct flight from DFW to Madrid. We departed right on time at 5:45 p.m. Neither of us had ever taken a trans-Atlantic flight before, and I will have to say that it was the best time I have ever had. I admit that I am a control freak who has issues with flying. My issues do not stop me from flying, but they do give me anxiety in the air. Needless to say, I needed to sleep on the plane. Our flight would arrive in Madrid at 10:00 a.m. the next morning, and I had a full spreadsheet of activities for the day, so we had to hit the ground running. Our flight was only about half full. We were lucky enough to have an empty three-seat middle row next to our row, so David got to sleep there and I "slept" in our seats. David took an Excedrin PM, but my control issues (how can I fly the plane when the pilots die if I am drousy from my Excedrin??) prevented me from taking one. After watching Inglorious Basterds on the iPod, we turned in. David passed out immediately, but I dozed in and out for several hours. At some point in the middle of the Atlantic, we hit some major turbulence that caused me to believe that our destiny involved punching the numbers "4,8, 15, 16, 23, 42" into a computer every 108 minutes to survive. Although that did not happen, sleep did not really happen much for me after that turbulence, either. We made it to Madrid right on time, got through customs, rode the airport shuttle bus around the airport twice (thank you, large woman with 20 suitcases blocking the exit) before finding the metro station. We were definitely tired and grumpy, but ready to see the city.

Things we did right:

• Taking the direct flight. This saved so much time and it was no more expensive than the other flights. There are direct flights from DFW to all sorts of places in Europe, so even if you live in Amarillo, the short haul to DFW to get a direct flight is probably the easiest way to go.
• Downloading movies on our iPod. One of the in-flight movies was the recent remake of "Fame." No, thank you.
• Buying these Eagle Creek collapsible travel pillows. They were packable and much more comfortable than the airline pillow. These eye masks were great, too.

Things we did wrong:

• Packing a blanket. AA said they are charging $9 for these, but that's on domestic flights (according to the flight attendant). They provided the blanket (sanitized and packed in a sealed plastic bag) for each passenger.
• Packing too much. I set out everything a week in advance and cut out several items before we packed. I could have cut more and had more room to bring things home.
• I should have taken that stupid Excedrin PM.
• If you ever go to Madrid, do not try to find the metro terminal to pick up your pre-paid metro passes. Go into the city and pick them up. The airport is very spread out and this is a waste of time.