Day ??- Endless Flights and Baggage Loss

I honestly don't know which day it actually is. All of this time change business and jet-lag has turned my brain inside out. I'm not sure how long we've been gone, it really feels like we have been gone for a week now. I am very tired. I am very confused. BUT I am having the time of my life.

Today was interesting, to say the least. The first flight went smoothly. We got into Chicago 15 minutes early, but ended up de-boarding the plane late because we had to wait for another plane to leave. We already had a limited amount of time to get to our next flight and this made it more difficult. Luckily, a nice man met us at the gate with a wheelchair (unfortunately, it was not for me) so that grandma could get to the next flight as quickly as possible. Struggling to keep up with wheelchair man, we ran to the gate. We were the last ones on, and shortly after finding my seat, we took off down the runway. This was my first flight lasting over three hours, and I had no idea how I would make it and still have my sanity once we landed in London. I slept for a couple hours, then listened to my iPod for awhile. Then, Narnia came on in the cabin. That kept me occupied for awhile, eventually putting me back to sleep. After Narnia, a very obscure movie featuring a fox and his family, a badger, a skunk, and other various talking rodents. This was far more entertaining than it should have been for a twenty year-old distinguished man like myself. It's the simple things, I guess. Thus ended the longest flight of the trip. Not nearly as bad as I had anticipated.

Upon landing at London Heathrow at around 10:30, we discovered that nothing was open and the whole place was basically vacant. Our next flight was at 6:25 the next morning. We didn't budget for a hotel, so we found a nice nesting place by a restaurant and set up camp for the night. My parents set out their snacks on the tables and we took turns sleeping, eating, and reading. It was quite the uneventful night, but I suppose I enjoyed it to some extent. There is a whole other world in every airport after midnight. You see some interesting people, doing some very strange things. It is enough to keep anyone entertained for a layover that may seem like an eternity. 5:00 A.M. came around and we got our stuff together and headed to the gate for the final flight. I got some tea and a Greek Yoghurt at Starbucks and we hopped on a shuttle that took us to our plane. Our plane for this leg of the trip was significantly smaller than the others and it was much more spacious. I enjoyed this flight very much. Roughly one hour and forty five minutes later, we landed in Barcelona only to discover that none of our luggage had made it onto the plane. The nice (?) man at the help desk told us that it would come in on another flight at 12:30 and they would deliver it to our apartment.

We made it to the apartment and got some lunch and stuck around to wait for our luggage. Well, we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Our luggage finally made it home at around 7:00 P.M. I was very grateful, considering I had been wearing the same set of clothes for almost 24 hours and Jorge had been stuck in my checked luggage and was getting very lonely.

We ended the night by going out to dinner with a couple of my sister's friends, one from Barcelona and the other from Madrid. They were very nice and proved to be a great source of entertainment for the night. I was able to really relax and enjoy myself for the first time since we had left Kansas City. Currently, I am suffering severely from jet-lag and haven't slept in a real bed for awhile. It is probably a good time for me to experience some good sleep and get prepared for another day full of adventures. I hope all of my readers are doing well.

Adios!

Aden and Jorge