….an adventure begins. Not that the last almost 20 months haven’t been an adventure of sorts. We never thought we’d be as satisfied staying at home so long, but we really didn’t have any issues. Other than, well, you know, the whole pandemic mess! But, finally, we are vaxxed, we are boostered, and we are…..ready. Our plans have changed about a bizillion times since we booked this trip. Cruises canceled, flights changed, destinations in flux, but we think…think mind you…that it is all set now.

To say we are nervous is probably an understatement. What will we find when we finally go abroad? Is the paperwork correct? (And let me tell you about the paperwork! Sheesh, we can tell you how many passenger locator forms and health forms we’ve filled out!) Will our COVID test be negative? We pass our first hurdle – we’re negative (thank heavens!), then we upload all on our info to United Airlines and the Spain locator system, holding our breath, and phew, we are approved. Systems ready for take off.

We get to the airport really early, anticipating a long check in process with forms, etc., but no. Nobody even looks at all the forms we supposedly need. Oh well – we have them, that’s all that matters! Flights go off perfectly, although the boarding process at Dulles was crazy. They were trying to use facial recognition which was not cooperating, so finally they just turned it off and we boarded successfully.

The flight to Frankfurt was great – Premium Economy the way to go. We even slept. Amazing – particularly for Ed! We had a ton of time in Frankfurt before our connection to Barcelona, so we figured we’d head to a club to hang out. But no, all the available clubs were outside security! And, uh, not a chance! We were worried enough with the Spain forms, we didn’t have any Germany forms to get us in or out of the country, so that plan was dashed. Probably for the best anyway because we had to stand in a huge long line to pass through the passport/health control just to get to our connection gate. That burned some time – like 30 – 45 minutes!

Once through (they DID look at our forms), we just hung out at the gate, sipping on expensive coffee and munching on a small salami sandwich. Not too terrible. And then, finally, we are on board and on our way to Barcelona! Let the adventure really begin!