Day Zero: No problem!

We’re sitting in Barbara Pardo’s apartment in Barcelona, eating churros and drinking chocolate. It’s  ten o’clock Thursday morning Barcelona time, and we almost didn’t make it.

First there was the snafu with American Airlines. An hour before we were due to head to the airport, the airline called each of us to say that due to an equipment problem (read, a plane did not show up due to inclement weather), our flight from Boston to New York was cancelled. They discussed various options ranging from putting us on a later flight (which would have caused us to miss our New York connection) to arranging ground transportation—a four-hour drive to Kennedy.

Barbara finally talked them into putting us on a Delta flight. No problem!

Ooops, there is one problem. The Delta flight gos earlier than our original one. Also, in order to get the Delta ticket, we must first go to American and check in. The two airlines are in different terminals, so that required some logistical fancy footwork, which Dan Sinnot pulled off masterfully. At last, we were on our way to New York!

But the plane was delayed at the gate to the point where our connection looked a little iffy. Could we make it from one end of JFK to another in 30 minutes? We scrambled around stragglers, hustled past a broken moving sidewalk, took a train and two escalators, and finally arrived at our departure gate just in time. The flight boarded, we settled in for the overnight flight and all seemed well until the next morning when we got to…

…Baggage claim! We might have made it to Barcelona, but our bags seemed to still be in New York. Or maybe in transit over the Atlantic on a later flight. Or maybe in Cleveland. Who knows? We hope to hear from the airline this afternoon, at which time we can all shower and change out of our grubby travel clothes. Until then, we’ll just have to enjoy this good Spanish chocolate and these fresh, hot churros.

No problem!