Winding down

When we planned our beach vacation during our trip to Spain, we tried hard to make it coincide with the plans Jesus and family already had so we wouldn't miss seeing them when they were in Madrid. Fortunately, that also freed up a car for us to use and Nacho and I didn't hesitate to head back to the coast near Almeria. We have loved that serene, almost deserty landscape on our previous trips south and it provides ample coastline for exploring. Taking the advice of Jose and Irene, we opted to try a different area this time around in the province of Murcia--their old stomping grounds--and made our base in Lorca. It was an odd choice for some reasons and a perfectly positioned one by other standards, allowing us to head in all directions toward different beaches each day. My only regret was that it didn't leave much time for exploring the old town of Lorca which survived a powerful earthquake in 2011. So on our last morning of the trip, we decided to take a little stroll after breakfast in the historic center and see what Lorca had to offer. Elisa posed for me in front of a mural and managed to convince her papa to take her into a little olive store for some locally sourced aceitunas and pickles. While Carolina was happy noshing on a chocolate croissant and climbing around the stone steps near the cathedral. The heat was definitely a limiting factor in our walk about town, but we had a road trip to get started on anyway. So without further ado, we were off!

Making it back to Encinar in under 5 hours was fairly easy and the girls did a great job hanging out on this long travel day without too many complaints. We enjoyed sitting down to family dinners once again and finally tuning into the Olympics in Rio. The girls were mesmerized by the women's gymnastics and liked cheering on Team USA (sorry Spain, you weren't represented!). We also got back on our siesta schedule after a busy week of beach jumping. Yes, these girls were fitting right in. It was also nice to see the cousins again after our mutual hiatus and a movie night to see Mascots (aka The Secret Life of Pets!) in the town of Villa del Prado was scheduled. The kids were so excited to hang out and a good time was had by all. We also soaked up a few more days swimming and splashing around in that Spanish sunshine. Jesus and Cristina hosted a barbecue and we feasted all afternoon. Two and a half very full weeks were winding down and we were all going to miss this. 

Of course, there's nothing like a world-wide power outage from your air carrier the day before you want to leave to throw a little drama into the proceedings. Since we fly standby and rely on a few passengers missing their connections or deciding not to travel, it made matters all that more exciting. I tried to keep a calm outlook, but it wasn't easy. Nacho was wracked with anxiety and made a habit of reviewing the seat information on an almost hourly basis. When we lost water for most of the last evening there and still couldn't get much information on the resumed flights the following day, we made the executive decision to postpone our travel. We'd hopefully not regret it, we thought. But arriving at the airport 2 days later at the crack of dawn to a sea of disorganization and irritated travelers was not the sight I'd hoped for. Nacho could see nearly 100 open seats on a not-normally-scheduled flight to Atlanta, but what we didn't know is if that would stay looking good as the mile long line of passengers filed up to rebook their previously canceled flight. The New York-bound flight was showing negative numbers in the double digits as we checked in for it. But we didn't really have a better option. I wasn't sold on Atlanta and we couldn't send bags there and then switch. It didn't help that the flights were 5 minutes apart either. Whatever happened, we might be watching our only real shot leave without us. 

I write all of this so I will remember what that feeling was like with two small kids in tow in a foreign country stressed to the gills with a husband who kept second guessing everything. I love him. But damn, he's a terrible traveler. So I took a stand for NYC and we put all of our eggs in that basket. We'd run the numbers again after passing through passport control and it looked even worse. We weren't going to make it, I thought. We talked about Nacho leaving us behind to get back to work stateside. I imagined hopping in a cab and heading downtown to Madrid for a little overnight adventure. But there was no guarantee that tomorrow would be any better. And just like that, in the space of another 10 minutes, Nacho refreshed the loads on his iPad (thanks to the 30 min free airport Wi-Fi) and we had a reason to smile. It looked good. It looked like all the non-revs would make it. Nacho was huddled with a bunch of other employees all craning their heads to see his screen and listening to his messiah-like message. I was compelled to tell them not to listen to this man. He's crazy. But he was right. A few more minutes passed and Elisa and I had our boarding passes for our first-class trip home. Carolina followed and finally our most nervous traveler had his. Yes, we were all on and it was such a fucking relief. The flight back was mostly restful though I dealt with an upset stomach for a bit and watched Room which was devastatingly good but didn't help my tension levels. Landing in NYC always feels good, but this trip was marred with a long wait in immigration control and a hot, muggy slap in the face on the way outside. Ugh, it was so hot I was dry heaving next to the car before we climbed in to ease our way home. Home. Yes, that was perfectly preserved chaos and I was glad to see it. So much happened in June and July that I was feeling tons better after this little vacation. Now to keep that feeling.