Well ... my trip got off to a slow start b/c my flight got cancelled out of South Bend on Sunday due to our horrible weather ...
I woke up at 4:30am to get some things done before I had to leave .... like drop off Body Shop orders to my recent hostesses! Sorry ladies ... that was me on your porch at 6am! :) I also had to hit the office to get some things in order there.
So off to the South Bend airport to get on my flight! I had checked the loads for my standby ticket & it looked like it was all shaping up for me to get on! After checking in & speding 2.5 hours in the South Bend airport, I retrieved my luggage & Doug & I headed back home ... I actually went to sleep almost immediately since I had been up so early in the day.
Almost all the flights were cancelled from South Bend that day & there were so many passengers trying to book alternate flights that I would not have been able to fly out till Wednesday on my standby ticket.
So, we moved to plan B ... got up at 5am & Doug drove me to the South Bend airport again ... only this time, he put me on a bus! I had to take the shuttle to Midway & got off without a hitch this time. I actually got in first class ... it was lovely! I wish I got to fly that way all the time ...
Next, I was in Atlanta with a 5 hour delay ... not so fun ... but got on my next flight just as easily on my standby ticket! Perfect! And, again, I was in first class/business .... HUGE THANKS TO WHOEVER GAVE ME THIS BUDDY PASS THROUGH DELTA! you are my HERO! The flight was 8 hours .. but it was not bad at all! My seat actually reclined & had a foot rest! Even if I pointed my toes, I could not touch the seat in front of me! Wow! :) I had my own TV screen, chose my own movie, had a 5 course meal with wine & played games on my TV screen before landing. Delightful! I never knew all that went on up there in the front behind those curtains! :)
This, by the way, all happened during my birthday & it was a great gift! I joked about it with the flight attendants! Asked her to take photos so all of you would believe me!
The flight was an overnight flight ... so we landed the next day at about 9am in Madrid.
So out of the lap of luxury & into the subway in Madrid! After discussing my options with the flight attendant .... I decided to go the cheaper route & take the public transportation .. I hooked my 2 pieces of luggage together & hauled them through the airport & down to the Metro! Asked a nice local woman how to buy a ticket & put my 2 Euro into the machine, grabbed the map & off I went .... I had to get to the Chamartin train station to get out of town to the Scooby rescue. I got on the #8 line until I got to the #10 line & then I took that to Chamartin. I got some strange looks with all that luggage, but another nice person ,who spoke some English, shortened my search time by letting me follow her all the way to the ground level of the city to buy my train ticket.
I had to wait an hour for the train (cost only 12.5 euro), but watched the terminal signs & boarded it at track #5. I was on my way to Medina del Campo! Yeah! The train ride took 2 hours and I arrived at the Medina stop with only a taxi ride standing between me and my destination!
Again, I preyed on some nicer local. :) Found a man who spoke a little English and he called a friend on the cafe phone who drives a taxi .... and I was off again. Got to Scooby in about 10 minutes, pulled up, got out and met one of the vets. who I was to help almost immediately.
This section probably should not be this long because it is really for my Scooby experience, but I must tell you that I am very proud of getting to Scooby on my own. Since my flight got cancelled, I was not able to catch the ride I had hoped to and on top of it all, my new international phone service did not work until yesterday (another long story) so I had no way to call anyone or let anyone know that I had made it to Spain.
So on to my Scooby adventure!
I woke up at 4:30am to get some things done before I had to leave .... like drop off Body Shop orders to my recent hostesses! Sorry ladies ... that was me on your porch at 6am! :) I also had to hit the office to get some things in order there.
So off to the South Bend airport to get on my flight! I had checked the loads for my standby ticket & it looked like it was all shaping up for me to get on! After checking in & speding 2.5 hours in the South Bend airport, I retrieved my luggage & Doug & I headed back home ... I actually went to sleep almost immediately since I had been up so early in the day.
Almost all the flights were cancelled from South Bend that day & there were so many passengers trying to book alternate flights that I would not have been able to fly out till Wednesday on my standby ticket.
So, we moved to plan B ... got up at 5am & Doug drove me to the South Bend airport again ... only this time, he put me on a bus! I had to take the shuttle to Midway & got off without a hitch this time. I actually got in first class ... it was lovely! I wish I got to fly that way all the time ...
Next, I was in Atlanta with a 5 hour delay ... not so fun ... but got on my next flight just as easily on my standby ticket! Perfect! And, again, I was in first class/business .... HUGE THANKS TO WHOEVER GAVE ME THIS BUDDY PASS THROUGH DELTA! you are my HERO! The flight was 8 hours .. but it was not bad at all! My seat actually reclined & had a foot rest! Even if I pointed my toes, I could not touch the seat in front of me! Wow! :) I had my own TV screen, chose my own movie, had a 5 course meal with wine & played games on my TV screen before landing. Delightful! I never knew all that went on up there in the front behind those curtains! :)
This, by the way, all happened during my birthday & it was a great gift! I joked about it with the flight attendants! Asked her to take photos so all of you would believe me!
The flight was an overnight flight ... so we landed the next day at about 9am in Madrid.
So out of the lap of luxury & into the subway in Madrid! After discussing my options with the flight attendant .... I decided to go the cheaper route & take the public transportation .. I hooked my 2 pieces of luggage together & hauled them through the airport & down to the Metro! Asked a nice local woman how to buy a ticket & put my 2 Euro into the machine, grabbed the map & off I went .... I had to get to the Chamartin train station to get out of town to the Scooby rescue. I got on the #8 line until I got to the #10 line & then I took that to Chamartin. I got some strange looks with all that luggage, but another nice person ,who spoke some English, shortened my search time by letting me follow her all the way to the ground level of the city to buy my train ticket.
I had to wait an hour for the train (cost only 12.5 euro), but watched the terminal signs & boarded it at track #5. I was on my way to Medina del Campo! Yeah! The train ride took 2 hours and I arrived at the Medina stop with only a taxi ride standing between me and my destination!
Again, I preyed on some nicer local. :) Found a man who spoke a little English and he called a friend on the cafe phone who drives a taxi .... and I was off again. Got to Scooby in about 10 minutes, pulled up, got out and met one of the vets. who I was to help almost immediately.
This section probably should not be this long because it is really for my Scooby experience, but I must tell you that I am very proud of getting to Scooby on my own. Since my flight got cancelled, I was not able to catch the ride I had hoped to and on top of it all, my new international phone service did not work until yesterday (another long story) so I had no way to call anyone or let anyone know that I had made it to Spain.
So on to my Scooby adventure!
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