Bilbao

I made it to Bilbao with a minimum of stress.  The woman who works at my apartment building offered me a ride to the bus station.  I bought my bus ticket in Spanish, and the torrential downpour that occurred all day stopped while I waited for the bus.  The bus ride is a very easy hour.  Then, I got to the airport and the shuttle for the hotel came a few minutes later.  The hotel is literally 5 minutes from the airport.  It's a pretty standard Holiday Inn Express, but there's a bar and a large lounge area.  It's brand new, so it's all very clean and shiny.

I got to my room and started getting a little bit panicked about my trip.  So, I paid for a little bit of internet time and bought dinner from the vending machine.  They actually have food delivered daily in the vending machines and then you can heat it up in the microwave.  Not gourmet.  But not as terrible as I was expecting.  I might go down to the bar in a few minutes to have a glass of wine (and so I don't spend my whole evening watching BBC or CNBC).  Tomorrow I'm up bright and early for breakfast and the shuttle back to the airport.  I'm trying to figure out what to do with my 2.5 hours in Madrid.  I'm sure I'll find something to do in the terminal.  Unfortunately, they only post gates until about 45 minutes before the flight, so you can't really go and sit at the gate and read.  The part I'm dreading the most is the 9.5 hours from Madrid to Miami.  Hopefully, I will be able to sleep a little bit ... I'm not terribly optimistic since on my flight on the way here I had four seats to myself and I still couldn't sleep due to turbulence.  Send your good travel vibes my way so I don't miss my connection in Miami ... and maybe catch a few hours of sleep!