Getting to Salamanca Part 1

Getting to Salamanca Part 1

First of all, sorry for my sourness yesterday in my post. I started to go back and erase all the negative part, but I decided that 1) that's how I felt and so needed to be expressed to the world and 2) I had been putting on a happy face for my companions all day long and one can only mask stress so long. Ok, from the top shall we?

Saturday: I awoke 10 'til 6 a.m. to pack up my last bag-- the funny smelling one. (See previous post about bag crisis.) I didn't really get around to actually packing it until about 6:30. I have no idea what I was doing in those 30 minutes but nothing really productive. So I found myself running late because one of my travel buddies was driving into to Dallas to catch the flight with me and was due to arrive any minute. She arrived at my house and everything was scatter-brained for a moment and then Greg arrived as well. My travel companion, Dominque, and I hoped into the truck with Greg and my mom and dad jumped in their car and off we went after a breakfast and gas pit stop. And so we drove to Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport with lots of talk and some sleeping too.

Once we arrived at the airport, Dominque and I found Katie and Sarah already waiting, so we all got in line to discover that the airline's computer was down so it took forever to manually check us in to the flight. I was so scared that either I or my luggage wouldn't make it to Madrid because the guy's handwriting that checked me in was terrible. Others of the group began to arrive and went through the line too. As we waited for everyone to get through the line, we said our good-byes and said a prayer for our safety--yes, I did tear up and yes, mostly for leaving Gregie-poo behind, but also for you, mommy and daddy dearest. We went through security with no hitches and proceded to wait for our flight... for several hours. I tried to read some more of my Spain history book, but wasn't entirely successful.

We finally boarded our first flight to London with handwriten ticket in hand and yes, I got that blasted seat right smack dab in the middle of the plane. Now, on this particular airline, there were nine seats in a row but they were seperated in groups of three, instead of the 2-5-2 formation I had been dreading, so I was comfortable enough with two of my companions--April and Ashleigh on either side of me. We took off and were served a drink and then dinner; I chose a beef stew type thing which wasn't bad. After dinner I watched a movie on MY screen-- I was so excited that the cheapy seats had the personal tv's and still had the choice of movies like the others. I watched The Astronaunt Farmer, about what else besides a farmer that blasts himself into space. Very inspirational and not half bad. After that I went to sleep and that is where I will leave you for now because we are headed to la tienda dolar. (That's the dollar store. ) :-)