Return Trip From Hell

We woke up with a cheerful wake up call from Mickey Mouse, got ready, ate breakfast then made our way to the Rockin D bar at 6:30 am. There were a ton of people who had early flights so we would all be the first off the ship. This was the earliest they would allow us off. We found our luggage and got aboard the first motor coach that left the port. We were feeling pretty good by this point about getting to the airport in time. Our flight left at 9:20. Disney booked this flight for us so we figured they would allow us enough time to get through security, check in etc. Boy were we wrong!! The Barcelona airport sucks!!! There is just no other way to put it. As we walk in we witness the longest lines and the most unorganized way to do things ever. We are flying back on a Spanish airline called Iberia. It is kind of like Southwest where they don’t assign seats until you get there and they are the slowest workers ever. Instead of just standing in your airlines row you have to look at these giant screens and figure out what counter to go too. This would have been good to know ahead of time. We were in a line that said Departures Americana’s and figured that was the right one. Sometime later we realized we were in the wrong line. By this point it is so crowded that it was virtually impossible to move to another line, it was wall to wall people and all their luggage. Not to mention we had 2 very tired kids, one stroller, 10 pieces of luggage, 4 backpacks and 2 neck pouches, plus one stressed out Kathy.


These situations do not bring out the best in me; I was neither up for an adventure nor in the mood for one today. All the people plus all the announcements in Spanish and very rude people plus the chaos was sending me over the edge. WE STOOD IN OUR LINE FROM 7AM TO 9:15 AM This was just the first line to check in. People were panicking and the airport people were assuring us that we would get on. But guess what, after the family in front of us, who by the way we let cut in front of us, being the nice Christian folks we are, got their boarding passes, we walk up to the counter hand the guy our passports and e-tickets and he starts yelling at me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The nerve of him after we had been standing in line for over 2 hours.

He threw my passports back at me and yelled that this flight is closed. Oh, I was boiling and before I even realized it I was yelling right back at him. Not one of my finer moments. He had no empathy. He acted as if we had just walked into the airport 10 minutes before we were to leave. Grampy even raised his voice too. We asked what we were to do and he shooed us away. Oh, I will be making Disney aware of this (we did their air travel program, so they made all of our ressies) because I know that they are a company that has excellent customer service and they would never treat a person this way or want somebody they are working with to treat their customers this way.

I walked up to Iberias ticket sales counter and the man their told me to go back and stand in line. Are you kidding me, the line was longer than it was when we first got there. So, naturally frustrated beyond belief, worried that we would be stuck in this Gosh-awful airport, I started crying which in turn made Madelyn cry. I do have to say though, that our kids were fabulous during this whole ordeal. They stayed with us and never ran off and they rarely complained. I think they were as overwhelmed as the rest of us. Jarrett stepped up to the plate and went and explained our situation to another ticket sales man and he actually tried to help us despite the language barrier. He booked us on the next flight to Madrid and then hopefully we would meet up with our flight to Miami with only about 20 minutes to meet the connection.

This sounded good until they told us we needed to run to meet it, plus we still needed to go through security. So off we run and we don’t know where we are going. I am pushing Madelyn in a stroller while wearing flip flops, Jarrett is loaded down with our carryons, Nathan was doing his best to keep up, poor Grampy got stuck with one of his hanging bags in addition to his carryons because they accidentally put one of the bag tags on the same bag twice and they didn’t have time to fix it. We looked like crazy people running through this airport, reminded me of the Movie “Home Alone” We get to the security line and they let us to the front, but it was crazy and unorganized too. In all the confusion, Jarrett left his neck pouch there that had his wallet and our next round of tickets to Miami. He almost started crying at this point. We didn’t have time to go back and we were in hopes that his parents grabbed it since they were behind us since Grammy had to be searched. We are in a full out sprint trying to find Gate 50 and of course it is no organized pattern. I am yelling at people, “Excuse us, Pardon.” I know we looked like idiots and we felt like them too. Finally, we see gate 50. People this is not like Tulsa’s airport, it is huge and confusing. It probably wouldn’t have seemed so bad if we weren’t in such a hurry.

Grammy and Grampy catch up to us right as we found the gate and luckily they had grabbed Jarrett’s neck pouch. Thank you Jesus! We made this flight, stinky and soaked with sweat. Our seats, of course, were in the back of the plane. This was not good as far as our next flight was concerned. We arrive and once we are in Madrid we book it toward Gate U63 and guess what, it is at the other side of the airport. As we are running again, we spot that we have to go through the whole ordeal of security again. We wait in line, some of us patiently, others of us not so patiently, and head through. Madelyn had an all out melt down when they made her put her stuffed Minnie through the x-ray machine.

We run, another all out sprint, and finally make it to our gate as “LAST CALL” is flashing above it. We hand the ticket agent our tickets and she says they are no good. Seriously, are you kidding me?????????????????

She sees the shear look of terror on all 6 of our faces, she looks at her computer and sees a note that showed up about us. She said, “Don’t panic, you can go.” Thank you God, we are finally on our way to Miami and it is only 11 am Barcelona time. I am on the plane right now, it is crowded, there are none of those cool personal entertainment systems in the front of our seats so we are having to try to keep the kids entertained, we keep smelling cigarette smoke, babies are crying, toddlers are running up and down the aisle, and I realize people in Spain must not use deodorant, because I keep smelling B.O. Oh wait, that is me from all the running and stressing today. I don’t know if we will make it home tonight but even if we get stuck in Dallas or Miami it is better than being stuck in Spain.


PS This has been one of the most amazing trips ever despite today.

PSS Don’t ever ask me to go on the “Amazing Race”: