traveling blues.

Another airplane, another sunny place...

As I'm sure you would assume considering my streak of luck in Europe, my travels back to the States have been anything but normal! It all started before we even got to the airport.. Emily and I packed all my stuff up and dragged ourselves onto the metro with the luggage (I found out today that all 3 pieces together weigh over 200 pounds! Sweet! At least it's not 200 kilos! :)). We had planned accordingly to catch the 11:00 metro to the airport. Well, when we got to the station to change metro lines in direction towards the airport we were informed that the last metro to the airport had already left! Uh-oh! We dragged the luggage upstairs and roamed out onto the street where Emily miraculously spotted a taxi, and I flagged it down like a mad woman. I think the driver may have been intoxicated, but that's another story... we got to the airport rather quickly considering we drove 40 kilometers over the speed limit! :) While I didn't enjoy the cost of the taxi ride, I'm glad it happened. I am happy I got to drive through Valencia one last time and soak it all in, especially at night. Oh, how I miss it..

Our bad luck streak didn't end at the airport. When we got there the Iberia desk informed me that my suitcases had to be under 33 kilos, and even then, I'd have to pay a fee. Oh, they also said my carry-on was too big. Even when the suitcase was empty it wouldn't fit in the stupid bin! This caused me to become very stressed, especially when the hateful lady at the desk informed me that they would examine my carry-on carefully and tag it to make sure it was the correct size. I was veryyyy frustrated, but Emily got me a Coke and helped me to repack (along with the Saint!)! We changed items from one suitcase to another and finally got both suitcases down to 32.5 kilos a piece! As for the carry-on.. well, that's another story. It never got any smaller.

Emily and I were both exhausted at that point, but we had to write a paper. It's a pretty awesome paper. Okay, maybe not. Thanks to my brother for explaining the last bit of it so I could finish writing it! :)

4:30 finally rolled around, and I finally went to check-in. Well, I realized I could check in at a machine, so I did, but then when I went to take my luggage up to the desk, the problems started. My flight was on Iberia, but it was a connecting flight for a British Airways flight. Since BA was taking me over the ocean, I was supposed to follow their luggage rules, which state that I can have up to 33 kilos per bag until November 2008. Well, Iberia's rules are different; you can have 23 kilos without paying, but after that, it's 50 euros but only up to 32 kilos. When I explained to these people that I was following BA's rules, they told me I'd have to wait until 5:30 when the Iberia office opened.. so we waited. The Iberia office opened, and I put up my fight. I was very stubborn, and I repeatedly explained to them how BA said I could have 33 kilos on my connecting Iberia flights because I was going over the ocean with THEM, and that was what mattered. Well, Iberia didn't care. They told me they didn't have any evidence I was flying BA, even though they checked my bags to Chicago, and I was flying BA to Chicago. In the end, they made me cry by telling me I wasn't going to be able to board my flight, but then they felt bad for making me cry, so I got to take on my very large carry-on.. so whatever. It worked out okay, I guess. Stupid Iberia.

My flight to Madrid was supposed to take an hour, but we miraculously ended up landing 30 minutes early! This was good for me because I was afraid it'd be a long trek to my next gate. However, the extra time I ended up having didn't really end up mattering much... my flight got delayed by over an hour, and we then had to switch gates anyway. By this time, I knew there was little hope for me to make my connecting flight in London on time, but dangit.. I tried! When we finally landed in London (way behind schedule), I grabbed my carry-on and ran through Heathrow. Yes, ran. :) I got on the bus to take me to a different terminal, and the lady at the security put me on a "fast track" line because she knew I was rushed. I still had 30 minutes before my flight was supposed to depart, so I thought I'd be okay until I reached the British Airways desk and they told me they couldn't issue me a boarding pass any longer. Oh, sad day. He redid my entire flight schedule and put me on a later flight to Chicago and an even later flight to Tulsa. I was discouraged, and I think he sensed that, so he bumped me up to the "World Travelers" class, which is apparently even better than First Class!

My new class change allowed me to board the plane early, but once again, it made no difference because our flight was delayed AGAIN! UGGH. We taxied around the runway forever, and I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, we were in the air, and they were making announcements about our delays. Yippee. I wish I could have taken pictures of my above First class cabin, but I felt too awkward doing so.. to give you an idea what it was like, I felt like the Unsinkable Molly Brown on the Titanic, meaning that I felt very out of my "class"! The cabin was very spacious; the chairs even swiveled! However, I was probably the only person in it below the age of 50. Everyone else was either really old or clearly a business professional. They were all wearing 3-piece suits, and I was rocking the torn, faded jeans, a t-shirt, and Pumas. Oh, and let's not forget that since I spent the night in the airport the previous night there was no showering for me.. yum! :) Still, our cabin was pretty sweet and very comfy, which allowed me to sleep a lot. I also watched two movies: Pearl Harbor and P.S. I Love You. Unfortunately, the dinner on first class was no better than second class... we had chicken curry that tasted like nasty. There was pineapple, though! That was good. However, there was no cranapple. That is bad. They did give me mini bottle after mini bottle of wine. I guess they thought I needed it considering I lost my legal status when I landed in the U.S. :) I was happy that they provided us with newspapers --- in ENGLISH! There were some great articles in there about how much Ryanair sucks. I couldn't agree more, although Iberia is a close second.

When we landed in Chicago, we were already late, and then we couldn't plug in to a terminal, so we taxied around some more. Oh, the fun. We did, however, see the largest plane in the world. It was... large. Once I actually got off the plane in Chicago, things went surprisingly well. It was nice to finally have the advantage when going through passport control -- yay for being a U.S. citizen! :) Some nice man helped me get all of my luggage off of the conveyor built because when I tried to lift it it moved so fast that I almost hit someone with it! He also helped me lug it over to Customs, and Customs looked at my slip of paper, told me they were impressed that I could fit 5 months worth of stuff in 3 suitcases, and sent me on my way. :) Fortunately, the American Airlines desk was located right behind Customs, so I was able to check-in for my flight and drop my luggage off without problems!

I had plenty of time to get from one terminal in Chicago to the other. In fact, I was pretty frustrated with how much time I had; there was about a five hour gap between my flights. I did get to talk to lots of people on the phone, though! My mom, Harrison, Henry, Jessica, Michael, etc, etc, et. I gotta admit.. it's nice to have a cell phone again and be able to HEAR people!!

Currently it's 10:23pm. My flight was supposed to have already landed in Tulsa, but guess what? It got delayed!! And it keeps getting delayed.. and keeps getting delayed.. and they keep changing the gate. People are getting really frustrated here in the K section of Terminal 3. Let me just say this, though.. it is SOOO nice to be surrounded by Okies again! Europe has just reinforced my belief that Okies are the friendliest people on earth. :)

Anyway, that's my story for now. I will eventually make it to Oklahoma, but exactly when that will be has yet to be determined.. on the bright side, as far as I am aware, my luggage is not lost! Or at least it did make it to the U.S.! For now, I'm going to go continue to watch the screen roll back the time of my departure. :)

I'm lucky; I know, but I want to go home...