First travel day

Well...travel day one has started fun - not. After getting to our Delta gate, they announced a 4-hour delay. After talking to our travel agent, we decided to hang loose. Then, after they had rebooked lots of the people on the flight, they announced that boarding would begin immediately. We actually left less than an hour late. Many of the people who had rebooked hadn't even left yet. So...we got to JFK in NY wbd made it to the Admirals Lounge about 4PM for our long wait. Looking out the windows, it is a monsoon out there - actually, Hurricane Hanna. Our 7PM flight will probably be at least an hour late leaving. So...

Well...we finally boarded at about 8:40ish. But...we sat for quite a while waiting for other connecting flights. Lots people continued to board for almost an hour. Finally pushed back for departure at about 9:40ish.

As usual, I hate overnight flights. I just can't sleep very well. Luckily, we knew and planned for that with extra days in Barcelona.

Now, for something interesting..., we have never had to wait in line to get out of an airport terminal. We expect the chance that luggage will come slowly - it did; but, a big line to get out of the terminal was new for us. Happily, the seemingly very long cab line actually moved very quickly. The cab driver was pretty creative figuring how to get our bags in his little cab - but he did it.

Our suite at the Hotel Arts Barcelona is more like a small apartment. I'm sure glad we didn't have to pay real money for the suite. Would have been out of our league. But, it is a Ritz Carlton hotel - so you could expect it to be expensive.

The upside is that we have a corner suite and we look out on a gorgeous panoramic view of Barcelona. I'm sitting here looking out only a mile or so from the church designed by Gaudie. The medieval part of Barcelona is a couple miles away. We are only a couple blocks from the Mediterranean beach. I can see the dock about a mile or two away - I imagine we'll see our ship come in on Tuesday.

We plan to get to sleep early tonight so we can go out to see some sights tomorrow - haven't planned our day yet. But, there is lots to see.