Flying

I'm flying again, though this time for reasons unblog-able and not for my usual "I get to go see my husband!  And my cat!  And eat non-Spanish food!  And walk around carrying coffee!!" reasons.  I will still get to eat non-Spanish food, so I suppose that is a win.

But this trip is more stressful and less joyful than normal.  I'm already exhausted, and I know it's just started.  The exhaustion is not really my fault.  My flight today left Bilbao at 6:50.  In the morning.  Which meant I got to the airport when they opened at 6.  Which meant I had to be up around 5.  And going to sleep around midnight**, that left me with 5 hours of sleep at the start of a very, very long few days.  When I rolled out of bed at 5, little did I know the fun was just beginning.  I headed down to the lobby - all my stuff in tow at around 5:30, so I could grab breakfast and catch whatever shuttle departure happened between 5:45 and 6.  The airport is 5 minutes from the hotel, so I figured I could cut things a little close.   I was anxious to get this show on the road though, since I am not flying my usual Iberia-everyone-shows-up-late-including-the-pilot-and-crew airline.  Instead I am flying on a German airline, so I assumed (correctly) an on-time departure.

I was minding my own business, digging into my croissant and yogurt and various meat and cheese products that they laid out in the "pre-breakfast" buffet, when four super-drunk Basque guys stumbled in. At first, the demanded a drink at the hotel bar from the poor front-desk guy.  When he said he couldn't serve them, but they could have breakfast, they stumbled over to the buffet.  They were thinking about food and then started chucking rolls at each other.  Then they progressed to the canned peaches.  When I got hit with one, I decided it was time to get out of dodge and headed out to my shuttle.  The driver was loading my suitcase in the van, when we heard some screaming and shouting from inside.  So the driver ordered me to get in the van and then locked me in.  Which was good because it turns out the drunk dudes were throwing punches in the lobby and the tiny front-desk guy was trying to break up the fight.  So my driver was a bigger guy and headed in to try to break up the fight.  The fight then spilled out into the parking lot and there was more screaming in Basque and punching.  Then (this is why it's good the van was locked), a dude tried to get into the driver's seat.  Eventually, they got tired of fighting and the police came and my driver was able to drive me to the airport.  But not without cutting it sort of close.  I made my flight, and hopefully my bags did too!  The Spanish gate attendant was not even remotely concerned about it, but we'll see when I get to baggage claim, I guess.

My flight to Frankfurt was uneventful, though seemed really long (largely because it was not the quick 45 minute hop from Bilbao to Madrid.  Anyhow, I'm going to try to relax and enjoy the Frankfurt airport as much as I can before my flight leaves in just under 3 hours.  I'm hoping beyond hope for a little sleep before I land, since I'm sure I can use the relaxation.

** I TRIED to go to bed at 10, but when you are used to staying up late, and you're stressed and anxious, and you're already not the World Champion Sleeper, sleep is not easy to come by.