LYNN’S SPAIN/MOROCCO
JOURNAL
Day 19, Monday, May 27
Travel Day Home (Madrid to Munich to San Francisco)
Last night, being Sunday, was quieter than the first night—people partied all night long on Saturday. But I woke up a couple of times anyway, nervous that I would sleep through our alarm and miss our plane. Getting away was easy: get up, get dressed, finish packing, check out, wait for a taxi. This time the taxi driver charged the right amount: 22 euros, not 45 like the first taxi driver. I was very grateful! At Barajas, we had time to eat breakfast (I had coffee and churros) and go shopping (more olive oil and cream sherry for me). It was a 2-hour flight to Munich—we ate breakfast (again) and slept.
The Munich layover was quite long—5 hours. We debated going into Munich downtown, but it was rainy and cold (12 degrees Celsius). So we decided against. Spent our time shopping and eating. I tried to get into the Lufthansa airline club with my silver Premier Exec card (I had been told I could use it for international flights), but the Lufthansa people said I needed a gold card (turns out the United people told me the wrong thing).
Lunch was in the big shopping area one floor below. I had potato soup (delicious if a bit salty), and Philip had sausage and pretzel. We bought German bread and pretzels in the grocery store to take home. I also bought a small cotton square for Mom—with flower embroidery (it was made in Austria). I had seen stuff like that last year while in Munich but decided against. I did most of my shopping in the duty-free shop near our gate: Lancome Vitabolique, Lancome HydraZen, Bulgari Green Tea perfume, Haribo GoldWaren gummi bears for Arthur (his favorite), and chocolate candy for work and for Philip. I also bought cigars in another shop: 5 cigars for $15 from the Dominican Republic (for Uncle Keith).
We boarded the plane on time, and here we sit flying home. So far we have eaten, filled out forms, and were trying to watch A Beautiful Mind (the sound has gone out and is still out). We saw parts of Iceland and Greenland—tall peaks like the Himalayas--Philip took pictures. This time we have the two seats on the side—unlike the flight over when we sat in the middle in the long row of seats (forgot to ask for our favorite seats). Marisa and Arthur are supposed to pick us up—last communicated with them on Friday (from Ronda).
Greenland
Iceland
The sound system never came back on. Read, slept, wrote in my journal. Customs was no problem, despite saffron and having been on a farm. The Department of Agriculture put us out the wrong door—had to go around to meet up with Marisa. She had seen a friend get off the same plane so knew it had landed. Arthur was circling around in the car. They took us home and went out to get pasta dinner. Marisa had bought groceries for us. We took showers and went right to bed. I forgot to take my Melatonin—got up at 3:30 a.m. to take it and went right back to sleep. Good to be home but also sad that our odyssey is over—but many great memories.