Planes, Trains, Buses, and Automobiles

(not necessarily in that order) 

I'm back from a work trip to Madrid with vacation on both ends and trying to keep myself awake for a teensy bit longer so I don't wake up in the middle of the night when it's morning in Spain. There WILL be more posts - plural - forthcoming, but I thought I'd check back in and buy myself time to comb through gobs of photos by detailing my return, which went something like this: 

My missionary friend - and Spain travel companion - Ashely and I turned in early on Wednesday night, our last in-country. The WiFi at our Granada hostel was spotty, so we watched a Netflix Christmas movie on Ashley's phone. 

All was quiet as we waited for our Uber to the train station on Thursday (US Thanksgiving) morning; we'd depart for Madrid at 6:56 am.

We pulled into Atocha station just before 10:30 am and made it on the metro and then on foot all the way to Pastor Isaac's parsonage apartment for brunch/lunch from memory after having been to church there the Sunday prior. He made good on his promise to make me pan de jamón for my birthday in 2018. If you can eat Venezuelan food on the 4th of July, why not Thanksgiving? 

I had in my head that Ashley & I would have hours together in an airport lounge, but it turns out T1 and T4S are different stops, so we hugged goodbye after one last hurrah on the Madrid Metro :( 

My 9 hour Air Europa flight direct to Santo Domingo was uneventful; I finished my book. On landing, I immediately missed the ORDERLY, practically SILENT way Europeans deplane (I'd had a moment of reverse culture shock landing in Madrid!). I Ubered to Iglesia Luterana Pan de Vida to crash for the night and slept decently until about 3:30 am. Around 5, I caved and found things to do on my phone & computer until it was late enough to go (Uber) see my friends' 12-day old baby, Anza Ann. Kelsey told me her birth story; I regaled her with pictures from Portugal: story of my life. 

Almost there!

...an Uber to the bus station...

...a coach bus from Santo Domingo to Santiago...

...a sweet friend who picks you up in the middle of a productive afternoon...

...and I was HOME!

Until next time, blessings in Christ!