Le Grand Voyage.

made it. and didn't even eat raw eggs.

Folks, the moment we all have been waiting for has arrived.  I'm in Europe.  I'm currently sitting in the court yard of Cat's Hostel in Madrid.  Let me tell you, getting here wasn't easy.

It all started out in PDX.  Duy and I pass through security, no problems, show up at the gate, and wait for our flight.  Not more than 10 minutes later the pilot, the captain himself, walks out to inform us that we are going to be about an hour late cause some information which is vital to our flight is mid air, en route to Seattle, and once it gets there we should be fine.  Quickly that one hour turned into three.  We finally took off at 4pm PST.

Side note: To all those who worry about me pulling all nighters, and not sleeping for multiple days: architecture school is training for flying to Europe.  I want to give a special shout out to the Figone family, who happened to be in front of me on the plane.  They are champion sleepers at times when they should not be, I don't know how they did it.  Me and Duy on the other hand slept for maybe two hours total on the way over there, which turned quickly into a 24 hour adventure, but thankfully UO prepared me well.

When we arrived in Amsterdam we went through customs smoothly and proceeded to figure out how to get to Madrid, as we'd missed our direct connection.  But let me tell you, thank God for the Dutch.  There was a whole crew of gigantic people dressed in blue to help you every step of the way, and were extremely polite.  They even help you with the bins through security, so take that TSA.  When we arrived at the 'transfer station' we discovered I was heading to Paris and Duy was heading Lyon to meet connecting flights into Madrid, and both planes were full so we were forced to separate.

After a brief layover in Charles de Gaulle, I landed in Madrid, found Duy, and discovered neither of our checked bags had arrived.  Now, I could be like this guy* and complain about how rough our travel situation was, but truth of the matter is Delta/KLM/Air France was extremely helpful at all stages.  

Too tired to figure out the transit system, we took a taxi and arrived at the Hostel, and quickly realized that nearly no one speaks english.  Thankfully we've made some friends here in the hostel from the states, and have befriended a few of the restaurant owners who quickly figured out we're American and quickly figured out we have no idea what we're doing and have been extremely helpful.

*this is more of a shout out to one of the best writers around, your friend and mine, Truman Capps.  The Mozart of complaining.

As I finish up this post, our bags have arrived and we are good to go, enjoying all that is the beautiful city of Madrid.  Another update is soon to come, before we arrive in Paris.

Happy Birthday Mark!