We set off!

So, Friday was takeoff day.  We got the dogs set at the kennel, then went home to finish packing.  I think the hardest part was getting through Bentonville.  It was lunch time and we needed to eat before we left.

Probably the best flight was from XNA to Dallas.  It was 2 seats and 2 seats, and they were big enough you could lean against the back and not hit shoulders with the person next to you.

Dallas to Madrid sucked.  It was a 787, which Frank has requested we never fly again, along with the 767 (which mom doesn't like either).  I am perfectly fine with that.  This flight had okay food and stuff, but the seats were so close that you would hit shoulders.  And my back hurt pretty much the entire way.  I just couldn't quite get comfortable.  Did see a few movies on the flight:  Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Kong: Skull Island, and Paris Can Wait.  I liked all of them.  And there was yummy strawberry yogurt for breakfast.

I think Madrid is probably the start of our saga.  We got in around 9 am and our next flight wasn't until noon.  When you get off the plane, you walk up the big jetway, which was fairly long.  Then you walk all the way down the terminal.  They have 2 terminals with are both shaped like a small letter "l."  Just long straight terminals.  So you walk all the way down the terminal, taking the moving walkways if you want to. Then you get to customs.  That was pretty easy too.  We zoomed through there.  Then we found the terminal for our next flight.  It was in HJK.  They don't give you a gate assignment until 1 hour before the plane leaves.

If  you switch terminals you have to go through security again.  But you don't have to take off your shoes!  So now we had to walk up and down banks of escalators to get to the tram to get to the next terminal and then up from the tram.  We finally made HJK, and it was packed, and had a bunch of perfumey shops stinking it up. I was getting pretty hungry by now.  I get low blood sugar and all the walking and sweating and not really having breakfast was getting to me.

We passed several places to eat but they were all serving breakfast, which was mainly croissants and jam.  Not what you need when your blood sugar is low.  There were a few pre-packaged sandwhiches, but the tuna salad sandwich looked the best, and there was no way I was eating a pre-packed tuna salad sandwich at an airport.

We hung out for a while in a quieter area of the terminal.  Once we got our gate number, we found a shop nearby that had better sandwiches. I got the caprese and jamon sandwich.  It was pre-packed, but looked a heckuva lot better.  It had lettuce and tomato, on ciabatta.  I called it my JLT - jamon, lettuce, and tomato.  It was okay.  A little salty.  I only ate about a third of it and saved the rest for later.