Travel Day

So the day started out great. I was up at 3:30 after 7 1/2 hours of sleep, rested and ready to go. The Uber came at 4:45, and I was at the airport by 5:00. When I went to check in, the agent was surprised to see that I gave her Joe’s passport to check in. Talk about panic moments. Long story short, I was extremely lucky that Steve had his phone on. He raced down to pick me up, took me back home to get my passport, and delivered me back at the airport about a half hour before departure . Thankfully, I know everyone at this tiny airport, and with the help of the wonderful people at TSA and American Airlines, I got through and got on the plane. To say I am filled with gratitude would be a gross understatement.

The one problem was that I was too late to check my bag, which was filled with food for my Spanish friends. They let it through and gate checked it, but I had to go out of security in Chicago to check the bag as checked baggage all the way to Málaga. Small price to pay.

I am now in Charlotte—I chose this flight to Madrid because of its extremely early arrival time. If all goes well, I will make the 7:40 flight to Málaga and have plenty of time to do all the pre-Camino errands and mail my box of food.

Now that I have had a couple of hours in Charlotte to eat lunch, talk to family, and calm down, I am finally sensing that wave of camino peacefulness. It’s the sameness of it all, with lots of newness sprinkled in. I have my dirty, old and frayed backpack and my 25 year old green fleece that I’ve worn on every camino and couldn’t do without. Ready to go and hoping that my travel crises are over.Read more