A day of travel and the fiasco with the tracking poles.

At about 10:15am this morning, I arrived in Madrid, still not entirely believing that I am here and this is happening.   The flight was reasonably ok, quite bumpy getting out of New York, but uneventful for the most part.  My plane mates were surprisingly quiet and I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep.  

Upon my arrival in Madrid, I was pleasantly   surprised by how fast and efficient everyone is about getting out of  the airport. Customs was a breeze, and everyone seemed to now what to do and where to go. I did not see a single line of more than one or two people waiting.  Why can't out airports in the US be this efficient.  

By the time I walked off the plane and down to baggage claim all the bags were off the plane and ready to be picked up and within 15 mins all the bags were picked up by their rightful owners. The only problem with this was that the trekking poles that I had to check since TSA would not allow me to take them with me on the plane, were no where to be found.  I remembered Tara telling me that when she checked hers, she had to pick them up from special baggage, however after waiting for a hour to be helped, I was told that my tube with poles never made it on the plane and was still somewhere at JFK.  

The delta guy very nicely explained that me options were as followed - 1. wait in Madrid until Sunday or Monday and hope that they will arrive.  2. If I know where I will be staying on Tuesday, Delta will have them shipped there, and hopefully they arrive there on Tuesday and not Wednesday or Thursday.  Or 3. Have them shipped back to my house.  Since option 1 is out of the question and option 2 means I may never actually see my poles again, I went with option 3.  I guess the Camino is going to tech me that you have to go with the flow faster than I thought.  

The rest of the day is going seemingly smooth.  Thanks to my expert navigational skills of NYC subways, I had no problem figuring out how to get from the airport to the rain station (whih took all of 20 mins) where getting a ticket for the next train to Leon was quite easy despite my limited Spanish and the ticket guy's non existent English.  We managed to figure out that I wanted to be on the next train to Leon (in Spain... And not in France).  Good thing he asked since I probably wouldn't have remembered to point that out myself.  After reading my first letter from Michelle over a Jamon Serano on a baguette sandwich, I am now en route to Leon where I will have to find and check into my Hospideria, figure out dinner arrangements and settle in for the night so I can get some rest and be well on my way of walking the Camino blight and early in the morning.  

So as I sit here on the train in a tunnel with no scenery, here is my brief note back to my dear Michelle.  

Dear Michelle, 

Thanks for your lovely letter.  I am glad to have met you over those Russian cherry pirogies and have had the opportunity to share some great moments of our 20's with you.  I want to especially thank you for always lending an ear to hear my story or problem and always being willing to tell me the truth when I need to hear it.    

Not to mention thanks for being my tester in the kitchen whenever I decided on a new creation.  I know that life has gotten in the way in the last few months and we haven't had a chance to see each other much, but when I return, let's make it a point to get together and catch up. 

Miss you! 

Nina