An Iberian Adventure

You arrive.

Deliriously jet-lagged in a foreign airport, you stumble through customs or transfer halls while it's somewhere around 3am in your mind, but 9am in reality.  You feel disoriented but exhilarated, marveling over every sign and direction written in another language, soaking up the hundreds of blended voices around you, most of which you can't understand, and begin to notice even the tiniest changes in lifestyles and ways of doing things outside of the United States - little things like the fact that connecting flights are listed by times, not alphabetically by city - and it hits you that your journey has begun.  You are on your way.  

Giddy, disoriented, and delirious, you grab a coffee and make your first notes about the trip in the little blank notebook you stuck in your carry-on for just such occasions:

"Oh!  How GRAND it is to be back on the continent after 10 - 10(!) years.  My goodness!  Oh wait.  I was here in '04.  Still.  It has been 10 years for The Netherlands.  And eight is still too long by my count.  I'm sitting in a cafe - of course it's a cafe - here in Schiphol Airport, waiting for my Madrid connection.  My brain is functioning on approximately 30 minutes of actual sleep I got on the plane, and words are not forming in my mind the way they usually do.  Aah, but the delirium is all part of the fun.  Anyway, the thing of it is, and what I sat down to write this minute, is this: my coffee was served in a real cup - a glass, in fact...for there will be no to-go option here in Europe.  Of course, there is a Starbucks next door to this cafe (of course there is) if to-go is a must-have...but sitting down to have a latte with time is just how Europe roles.  Despite my jet-lag and further delirium that is sure to set in soon, I'm already having fun.  My God, travel is brilliant.  Just brilliant.  How in the world could I have forgotten that?  I am enjoying the accents, the people watching, and playing one of my favorite games - guess the nationality of all who walk past.  I must promise myself another 8 years will not pass by without another visit back to the Continent.  And now, after this quick burst of Amsterdam (well, the airport at least) it is forward - on to Madrid!"   

Then you make that connection and you arrive at your final destination.  You're still excited of course, but after two more hours on a connecting flight, the exhaustion of being up for almost 24 hours is starting to hit you, your neurons aren't firing quite as sharply as they usually do.  You might even find yourself muttering to yourself as you deplane, drawing a blank regarding even the simplest of tasks.  Thankfully, adrenaline continues to work in your favor and you navigate through baggage claim and the cab stands with surprising ease.  You climb into a cab with plans to head to the city center and your hotel.

And boom.  Here's your first language barrier.  The cabbie speaks not a lick of English, and your Spanish doesn't go too far beyond "el gato negro."  Suddenly you  find yourself relying on a series of complicated hand gestures and nods, playing an elaborate game of charades.  Once you both agree - or come as close as you can to deciphering what each of you is saying - you are off, watching the airport disappear in the rear view mirror.

You connect with your friends at the hotel - finally - and after hugs and happy exclamations of finally being in Madrid with nothing but a glorious 11 days ahead of you, you all crash and burn.  Siesta #1.  You force yourself to get up after a two hour nap, knowing you could easily sleep all the way through until the next morning.  Still, the newly dubbed "wolf-pack trio" rises to the jet-lag challenge, puts on a fresh coat of make-up and makes their way out into the city.  May the adventures begin.

The days go fast.  Your travel days fall into familiar ebbs and flows.  There are moments of sheer wonder and amazement, just as there are moments of utter and complete exhaustion.  It's an exhilarating exhaustion though and you keep going - you always keep going.  Your eyes and ears are open,  you wander from sight to city to location,  and you soak it all in.  

 Every single precious, wonderful, lovely drop.