Our Week in Spain (part 1)
March 8, 2002
The taxi takes us to Tru-Valu hardware on Broadway so I can buy a power transformer. It has occurred to me, at the last minute, that European power is different than US power (220 versus 110 volts), so I won't be able to use my laptop without an adapter. There is an interminable seeming wait, with the taxi idling outside, before I can buy the item and run back out to the cab. He takes us to the airport, and we check in without difficulty (the usual post September 11th stuff: removing coats and passing everything through the scanning device - even my Batman hat, a first).
We fly to Minneapolis and have an hour to wait, so we find the food court and eat at the Burger King. Then we buy some snack items including, most useful, two bottles of water, and then go to the gate and wait for our flight. Before long we are on the plane, supposed to leave at 3:20 PM. The pilot announces there are favorable tail winds, and so the flight time is only seven and a half hours. This means we must wait on the ground for an additional 20-30 minutes because there is a curfew in Amsterdam, and flights are not allowed to arrive before 6 AM. With the time zones, we would arrive too early if we left on time. We must wait - but before long we are in the air.
We are in a large plane, a DC 10, where each row is two seats (A-B), an aisle, five seats (C-D-E-F-G), another aisle, and two more seats (H-I). We are in row 18, seats C and D. We get into our seats and wait for other passengers to come and fill our row. The plane is completely full, and yet through some stroke of luck, nobody comes to sit in seat E in the middle of our row. This is rare good fortune, as it gives us a spare seat to stack our stuff, which gives us more leg room. It's better than first class! We've got a storage locker and a pantry.
The flight is long. They come down the aisles and hand out headphones to everyone. I try to sleep, and catch a short nap, but am woken by uproarious laughter. There is an installment of Frazier on the in-flight movie screen, and passengers are laughing out loud. Later they feed us a choice of chicken or pasta, and much later there is a movie: Keanu Reeves in "Hardball." A film not entirely without merit.
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