Dearest Celia ~ we don't know one another beyond your Substack, and there's no way I can know what is right for you.
But I do know this: whenever you go to Spain to be with your son and daughter (in-law is such a stupid phrase, and I won't use it), you seem to enter a different zone - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. A more contented, more at-ease, stronger, and somehow less burdened zone. It suits you. It becomes you. You become it!
Also whenever you go to Spain, and share your first Substack post to let us know you're there, I notice that I smile from ear-to-ear and my heart fills and sometimes (like today) tears well up. It's such good news.
I love that you are there, and with Lewis alongside. I love that we'll see the beauty of your experience through your eyes and ears and words for the duration of your stay.
And selfishly, I hope - because I am also gladdened by your love for being there - that you stay a good long while, if it suits everyone involved.
Thanks for being you. Just as you are. Much love to you and yours, and to everyone here in this community. And some serious scritches and love-ups to Lewis!
Abolish the TSA, USDA, ... ah screw it, abolish 98% of the 434 federal gov agencies. Arrest dubya, the cheneys and a host of many other traitors for 9/11 that gave us the DHS, TSA and who knows what else. Glad you made it back... :)
I almost wept when I read "...because I will never willfully become a slave to bureaucracy, which I consider the root Demon of the downfall of the United States."
I've been thinking and feeling this for so long. Kafka nailed it too.
I'm not sure that Covid vaccines are the cause of incompetence and stupidity. I have been noticing it for many years. Maybe 20...?
It keeps getting revealed to me, someone who was below average in academics and wit, that I am often now the smartest person in the room. It's scary.
Ah, academics and smarts don't correlate! Many of the smartest people I know didn't do well in school. And yes--I tend to think of it like this--JFK assassination and Sept 11th--the two big lies of our time--were also psychological warfare with the concomitant result that people living in fear comply and do not question--that was one of the payoffs--and yes, I think, why you've noticed this for 20 years or more.
I'm terrified of flying. Haven't flown since my honeymoon in 1992. My son lives in Germany and has visited us so picking him up or dropping at the airport makes me very nervous. It's so chaotic and noisy and disorganized and ambiguous. We were supposed to see him get his master's degree in 2020...we all know what happened there. After his last visit, he said it's our turn to visit. This coming December. I got a book called Cockpit Confidential which is supposed to be helpful. I immediately started researching drugs to knock me out while flying. I will only fly on an Airbus. I will find the shortest flight possible and pay extra if necessary. I don't know how people fly all the time. I'm dreading this. Even writing this is making me hyperventilate.
I flew ONCE and never have flown since. I can feel your anxiety. Knock out pills may not be a bad idea, in fact, it's probably just what you need. Best to you Carla. I'll be thinking of you in December. I remember when I flew that one time I literally thought I could not allow myself to sleep nor could I relax because every fiber in my being felt like I was personally holding the plane up. I get how you feel.
Leesy... my compadre! When I last flew, every minute felt like an hour. Time dragged. Every bump put me in a panic. I panicked when people walked to the bathroom because the floor jumbled. The thought of being in a confined space, in the air, for that amount of time...Nope! Definitely need Put Me Out pills. Thank you for understanding. The other issue is traveling with my husband who is not the most compassionate person when dealing with anxiety ridden females 🤭😉
You are doing your preparation, and you will till the day you get on a plane. I got a laugh out of Cockpit Confidential. Make sure the drug has a timeline to wear off for arrival. You have someone to hold your hand, so you'll be fine.
Alison, you made me chuckle. Why did Cockpit Confidential make you laugh? I haven't finished it yet (actually I started reading it in 2020, but after the trip was cancelled, I forgot about it) Yes, I'm considering the timing of the drugs. I have time to figure it out. I just don't want to have a panic attack on an airplane...
Cuz it sounds like the title of something that might let you in on something about what goes on in the minds of the pilots, and what all goes on up there. Hope it's reassuring. Practice breathing techniques for panic attacks.
You cannot get a boat to Europe, at least last time I looked you couldn't. I have a terrible time with overseas flights because my legs always spasm non-stop. Some people I know take Zanex. As with most things, it can usually be dealt with by not thinking about it. Find a good book, pretend (a bit of a feat) that you are in your living room and get a direct flight.
Oh I've never taken Zanex, I just have friends who do. I hate pills. Magnesium oil is an interesting suggestion however. I have some frankincense oil that I have used--but it seems more prophylactic than not.
I'm moderately tall (6' 1") and I can't even sit properly in economy class on a commercial airline the seats are so constricted. Profits over people? Of course. Who needs it? No thanks.
Exactly. I'm like 5'9" but I am all legs and I am literally crammed in like the cliched sardine in a can. This space has been shrinking all of my adult life to the point where it is completely intolerable. I can sit like that for about an hour. After that much misery ensues.
At the risk of belaboring the point, I've seen the leg room shrink over the decades also. (I first flew commercial flights back in the 1960s.) I imagine if they, the airlines, can make a couple of thousand more per plane flight by jamming another four or six seats in the back of the plane they have done so.
I guess my responsibility as a consumer is to do some research and find out what airlines provide adequate leg room to taller people. I can skip the peanuts if I can instead arrive at my destination without sore knees.
Wonderful, Celia. You are such an amazing writer. My hero! I'm glad you made it. The ending with the little girl in the dress brought tears to my eyes. The best is yet to come. God bless you and your continued travels.
A thousand cheers for Lewis and Celia!!! A perfect homecoming ‘cat portrait’ photo too, such old world warmth for a new beginning 💕 The people with *three* cats was just perfect. The entire piece is at least for this reader, a joy to read. I do believe I meet those criteria for the magazine readership! I perhaps shouldn’t be mixing topics but- the recent interview of James Thorp by Michael Nevradakis was powerful; toward the end the bouquet to you (and one other?) was lovely & so appropriate.
I know what you mean about Spanish officials and attention to foreign documentation. Zero is the word. Nada! I spent a small fortune getting Pet Passports for my two dogs and a cat. Like you, I was borderline hysterical by the time we came to travel. When I drove across the border from France, just prior to the Pyrenees, nobody stopped me, nobody cared to see my carefully prepared paperwork!
I felt ripped off by British bullshit....
Anyway - I am thrilled that you decided to move to Granada. It seems to suit you. I look forward to hearing about your travel news from now on.
You're bringing back memories of transporting one of my mother's Persian cats (she was a cat breeder) to her sister in Oaxaca, Mexico, and just barely, barely, barely making the connecting flight in Denver to Mexico City. But my best airport and time story: When I was about 12, in the late 1960's, my entire family--parents, sister, and I--went on a trip to Europe, my first overseas adventure. My mother was horrible with time, always late to everything. We were flying from Kennedy and the car trip there was about 4 1/2 hours. I remember sitting in the back seat of the car, in the driveway, my father behind the wheel, as we waited. . .and waited. . .and waited for my mother to join us. All the while, I was getting more and more panicky as I kept glancing at my watch and calculating the ever-shrinking window of time we had. And, after more waiting, I suddenly realized, to my horror, that there was now absolutely no way we would make it to the airport in time, I panicked and blurted out loud to my father, who seemed uncharacteristically calm about things, "We're going to miss the flight!!!" At which point he informed us that, knowing his wife well, he had told my mother the flight was 4 hours earlier than it actually was. By the time my mother finally got in the car, we were all laughing hysterically. When we explained why, she was not amused. But she did appreciate that we were, with our suddenly gained hours, able to stop at her sister's in the Village and take showers, before we went on to JFK and got our flight. You do what you have to do. . . .
I just sent you an email as I mentioned something that I can't make public but anyway, ... I've no idea if you see this but omg I just finished reading your latest article and woooow !
Me too, it made me feel so sad and guilty about having to get Summer, our Bichon, vaccinated for Rabies in order to fly to Central America. Pfff... I literally begged the vet to squirt the shot into the sink and I'd still pay for it of course but she, in her blie Novartis lab coat lectured me on the dangers of rabies... only for us to discover that in Nicaragua they actually have a massive problem of stray dogs. None of them have rabies so clearly this rabies shot thing for animals is, yet again, a TOTAL Big Harma scam.
Surprise surprise. 🙄
I think that was one of my favourite articles of yours. I laughed and felt nervous (could so relate to the entire Newark airport débâcle !!!) and at the end, I got weepy.
Anyway, I'm sooooo happy that you made it over here : home. ❤️
Maybe one day we will even meet. I would love to show you my adoptive country, Belgium.
Oh my my. I well know the horrors. I've been flying with animals since before Sept. 11th. Sometimes, in emergencies (sudden death in the family) I have snuck a dog on board, I have forged a health certificate and, with some shame I even bullied my way through line--once--when my flight from Mazatlan to Phoenix had been so delayed that I literally had 10 minutes to sprint at full speed across the (huge) Phoenix airport and shout my way cutting through the security line or else spend the night in the Phoenix airport. In 2016 my mother was dying and I had to do several flights with my dog to go visit her. Incredibly stressful. I am pretty sure my name is flagged in the TSA system because, since 2001 and the installation of the microwave devices, I have refused to ever go through one. I've been held for as long as 45 minutes with my purse and all my money five lanes away, sitting unattended, as smug TSA person refused to help. I've had my bare feet wanded. The last time I flew home to my dying mother was the worst. I don't get freaked out when people touch me--I am not overly personal about my body--but the last hand scan I had was a rub down violation the likes of which I wouldn't wish on anyone. The woman was literally rubbing my crotch. I was so angry--my face was bright red, not a normal thing for me, and yet I couldn't risk missing the flight by complaining or confronting authority further. They had delayed me for so long that my flight was starting to close when this happened. Isn't this always the way? She sensed my grief, as well as my fear of missing the flight, and maximized my torture. My dog--whose ticket cost more than my own and who was properly documented--she completely ignored and didn't even ask for that paperwork. It wasn't about safety or compliance --but was just pure fuckery. This was also the last time I flew. Almost every stranger has always been kind to me--but bureaucrats and TSA staff, and anyone who had the witchcraft of power at their disposal, have always been evil. It's to the point where I think I have PTSD on dealing with anyone in power, if I am at their mercy. Finally, and sorry for the long comment--I am so happy for you. I am so glad you are out of New York and in Spain--I find it a relief. Be well and flourish, you have earned it, I say.
You made your way through airport security. The airport nerds are under the impression that the global megamachine is making the way for them, but as Fabian Scheidler author of The End of the Megamachine says, minds set on "linear thinking" don't make a way, but rather load all personal sense of obligation or responsibility onto the job protocols-- http://youtube.com/watch?v=mqGHZayGAZM . So, I get a sense of what you're talking about in facing sadistic smiles with your dog in a pouch. I get a sense of what you're seeking in Malaga. Remoteness from the veangeful reaction that must set in when the fools realize how low on the totem pole of human regard their dedication to the job and ideological outlook finds them.
Usually a late bird here... I had a similar situation with my mother at an airport. After waiting over an hour just get my carry on scanned, I was flagged for stupidly saving a bag of epsom salts. As the guy pulled it out and began to check it, I desperately showed him my ticket and told him to throw it away... Thinking that made me suspicious, but he let me go. I grabbed the case running with my mother who barely kept up. Of course it was the furthest gate and I figured the plane was long gone by now (20 mins after scheduled takeoff). When I got to the gate nobody was there but we ran down the hallway anyway to find the door was shut.
Miraculously, it was running late AND one person was at the door and opened it for us. It took a long time to calm down after that but it was a miracle.
Fine writing. Your travel neurosis is exactly my condition as well. Even for a short trip to a place already visited numerous times, I pull and all-nighter, agonizing over what to pack, imagining every even remotely possible accident or situation that may occur (balking only at the imagined step of packing a parachute), then at the last minute, jam everything into carry-on bags (only---Boston lost my suitcase once) and hit the road. I agree that US airports are an exercise in Kafkaesque "Chinese molasses torture", while Spanish airports are a relaxed laissez-faire experience. I dislike travel so much that my trip to Japan has now extended to 5 decades here, and in my one 3-year return to the U.S. back in the early 1990s, I realized 100% that the U.S. is no longer the country I grew up in. I left during the end of the Nixon era, but by the 90's, things had become palpably worse. I remember a layover at the George HW Bush airport in Texas, where every 10 minutes or so, an announcement was played stating that it was not permitted for passengers to make jokes about the security procedures at the airport... reminiscent of the CCP's warning to the relatives of students slain at Tianmen Square when after many years they were finally permitted to visit the site, but only under the condition that they were not allowed to smile.
Oh, oh OH!!! Love this. My husband just arrived back from Tasmania. On the way back he flew from Hobart to Sydney, Sydney to Auckland, NZ (he wanted a skybed in economy, NZ is the only one) and from Auckland to Houston. Everything was going swimmingly until he hit the US. Plane arrived late, baggage carousel broke, he had to go through customs, then through a security line to get to the domestic terminal. He didn't make his 6:30 pm flight, got on the 7:30, which was delayed until 1045. He finally got into Atlanta at 2, and had to wait until 4 for the shuttle home. He has been in a funk ever since. He says walking back into the tension and confusion of the US, a la Houston airport, has sucked all of the good stuff from the trip out of him.
Oh, and we're moving to Tasmania if all goes well with my visa. He's a NZ citizen, so a bit easier for him. Can't wait to hear about your adventures and getting used to the new place. I will take notes and apply in a few months accordingly.
Glad you arrived safely, good job on navigating the catastrophes! And karma is a bitch, airport meanie.
Your account of landing in Spain, documents not scrutinised, helpful man with tape despite his family tragic losses ... all this reminds me of landing back in Portugal after visiting grand/children in U.K & Switzerland. I heave a huge sigh of relief -- and feel I am back 'home'.
Celia, what an incredibly beautiful, poignant humorous, and harrowing storytelling of your adventure! I’m so incredibly happy you made it there. This should be one of the first pieces in the travel magazine!
Dearest Celia ~ we don't know one another beyond your Substack, and there's no way I can know what is right for you.
But I do know this: whenever you go to Spain to be with your son and daughter (in-law is such a stupid phrase, and I won't use it), you seem to enter a different zone - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. A more contented, more at-ease, stronger, and somehow less burdened zone. It suits you. It becomes you. You become it!
Also whenever you go to Spain, and share your first Substack post to let us know you're there, I notice that I smile from ear-to-ear and my heart fills and sometimes (like today) tears well up. It's such good news.
I love that you are there, and with Lewis alongside. I love that we'll see the beauty of your experience through your eyes and ears and words for the duration of your stay.
And selfishly, I hope - because I am also gladdened by your love for being there - that you stay a good long while, if it suits everyone involved.
Thanks for being you. Just as you are. Much love to you and yours, and to everyone here in this community. And some serious scritches and love-ups to Lewis!
^^like (button doesn't work for me)... Ditto this... Celia writes in such a raw and relatable way.
yeah the like button is broken again today. the javascript went awry i guess. it’s mercurial and arbritrary!
It hasn't worked for weeks now - nothing I try corrects it. I can like a post but the comment "like" doesn't work.
works on this device…
Abolish the TSA, USDA, ... ah screw it, abolish 98% of the 434 federal gov agencies. Arrest dubya, the cheneys and a host of many other traitors for 9/11 that gave us the DHS, TSA and who knows what else. Glad you made it back... :)
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Amen, and amen, Tuesday!
I almost wept when I read "...because I will never willfully become a slave to bureaucracy, which I consider the root Demon of the downfall of the United States."
I've been thinking and feeling this for so long. Kafka nailed it too.
I'm not sure that Covid vaccines are the cause of incompetence and stupidity. I have been noticing it for many years. Maybe 20...?
It keeps getting revealed to me, someone who was below average in academics and wit, that I am often now the smartest person in the room. It's scary.
Ah, academics and smarts don't correlate! Many of the smartest people I know didn't do well in school. And yes--I tend to think of it like this--JFK assassination and Sept 11th--the two big lies of our time--were also psychological warfare with the concomitant result that people living in fear comply and do not question--that was one of the payoffs--and yes, I think, why you've noticed this for 20 years or more.
I'm terrified of flying. Haven't flown since my honeymoon in 1992. My son lives in Germany and has visited us so picking him up or dropping at the airport makes me very nervous. It's so chaotic and noisy and disorganized and ambiguous. We were supposed to see him get his master's degree in 2020...we all know what happened there. After his last visit, he said it's our turn to visit. This coming December. I got a book called Cockpit Confidential which is supposed to be helpful. I immediately started researching drugs to knock me out while flying. I will only fly on an Airbus. I will find the shortest flight possible and pay extra if necessary. I don't know how people fly all the time. I'm dreading this. Even writing this is making me hyperventilate.
I flew ONCE and never have flown since. I can feel your anxiety. Knock out pills may not be a bad idea, in fact, it's probably just what you need. Best to you Carla. I'll be thinking of you in December. I remember when I flew that one time I literally thought I could not allow myself to sleep nor could I relax because every fiber in my being felt like I was personally holding the plane up. I get how you feel.
Leesy... my compadre! When I last flew, every minute felt like an hour. Time dragged. Every bump put me in a panic. I panicked when people walked to the bathroom because the floor jumbled. The thought of being in a confined space, in the air, for that amount of time...Nope! Definitely need Put Me Out pills. Thank you for understanding. The other issue is traveling with my husband who is not the most compassionate person when dealing with anxiety ridden females 🤭😉
We must be soulmates! Perhaps in some other life?
You believe in reincarnation? I do...
You are doing your preparation, and you will till the day you get on a plane. I got a laugh out of Cockpit Confidential. Make sure the drug has a timeline to wear off for arrival. You have someone to hold your hand, so you'll be fine.
Alison, you made me chuckle. Why did Cockpit Confidential make you laugh? I haven't finished it yet (actually I started reading it in 2020, but after the trip was cancelled, I forgot about it) Yes, I'm considering the timing of the drugs. I have time to figure it out. I just don't want to have a panic attack on an airplane...
Cuz it sounds like the title of something that might let you in on something about what goes on in the minds of the pilots, and what all goes on up there. Hope it's reassuring. Practice breathing techniques for panic attacks.
I have considered it, but...I have a thing with water as well. I'm a sad sack! We have been travelling all over the USA all these years.
You cannot get a boat to Europe, at least last time I looked you couldn't. I have a terrible time with overseas flights because my legs always spasm non-stop. Some people I know take Zanex. As with most things, it can usually be dealt with by not thinking about it. Find a good book, pretend (a bit of a feat) that you are in your living room and get a direct flight.
Ah, yes, the mind can do wonders in your favor. Forget the Zanex, take some magnesium oil with you to massage your legs if they get squirmy.
Oh I've never taken Zanex, I just have friends who do. I hate pills. Magnesium oil is an interesting suggestion however. I have some frankincense oil that I have used--but it seems more prophylactic than not.
I'm moderately tall (6' 1") and I can't even sit properly in economy class on a commercial airline the seats are so constricted. Profits over people? Of course. Who needs it? No thanks.
Exactly. I'm like 5'9" but I am all legs and I am literally crammed in like the cliched sardine in a can. This space has been shrinking all of my adult life to the point where it is completely intolerable. I can sit like that for about an hour. After that much misery ensues.
At the risk of belaboring the point, I've seen the leg room shrink over the decades also. (I first flew commercial flights back in the 1960s.) I imagine if they, the airlines, can make a couple of thousand more per plane flight by jamming another four or six seats in the back of the plane they have done so.
I guess my responsibility as a consumer is to do some research and find out what airlines provide adequate leg room to taller people. I can skip the peanuts if I can instead arrive at my destination without sore knees.
What is the long way? I don't see how you can do it from America. Unless you mean from the Pacific coast down through Panama Canal?
Wonderful, Celia. You are such an amazing writer. My hero! I'm glad you made it. The ending with the little girl in the dress brought tears to my eyes. The best is yet to come. God bless you and your continued travels.
I had the same reaction. As I read that part, I saw only the top of the photo. When I scrolled down and saw that little angel? ❤️
A thousand cheers for Lewis and Celia!!! A perfect homecoming ‘cat portrait’ photo too, such old world warmth for a new beginning 💕 The people with *three* cats was just perfect. The entire piece is at least for this reader, a joy to read. I do believe I meet those criteria for the magazine readership! I perhaps shouldn’t be mixing topics but- the recent interview of James Thorp by Michael Nevradakis was powerful; toward the end the bouquet to you (and one other?) was lovely & so appropriate.
It is done! Fabulous news!
I know what you mean about Spanish officials and attention to foreign documentation. Zero is the word. Nada! I spent a small fortune getting Pet Passports for my two dogs and a cat. Like you, I was borderline hysterical by the time we came to travel. When I drove across the border from France, just prior to the Pyrenees, nobody stopped me, nobody cared to see my carefully prepared paperwork!
I felt ripped off by British bullshit....
Anyway - I am thrilled that you decided to move to Granada. It seems to suit you. I look forward to hearing about your travel news from now on.
Enhorabuena! xx
Welcome home, Celia and Lewis!
You're bringing back memories of transporting one of my mother's Persian cats (she was a cat breeder) to her sister in Oaxaca, Mexico, and just barely, barely, barely making the connecting flight in Denver to Mexico City. But my best airport and time story: When I was about 12, in the late 1960's, my entire family--parents, sister, and I--went on a trip to Europe, my first overseas adventure. My mother was horrible with time, always late to everything. We were flying from Kennedy and the car trip there was about 4 1/2 hours. I remember sitting in the back seat of the car, in the driveway, my father behind the wheel, as we waited. . .and waited. . .and waited for my mother to join us. All the while, I was getting more and more panicky as I kept glancing at my watch and calculating the ever-shrinking window of time we had. And, after more waiting, I suddenly realized, to my horror, that there was now absolutely no way we would make it to the airport in time, I panicked and blurted out loud to my father, who seemed uncharacteristically calm about things, "We're going to miss the flight!!!" At which point he informed us that, knowing his wife well, he had told my mother the flight was 4 hours earlier than it actually was. By the time my mother finally got in the car, we were all laughing hysterically. When we explained why, she was not amused. But she did appreciate that we were, with our suddenly gained hours, able to stop at her sister's in the Village and take showers, before we went on to JFK and got our flight. You do what you have to do. . . .
Your father was a very shrewd man. (Perhaps with the anomalous exception of marrying your mother?) No offense. Just sayin'
They were well matched in many ways, but when it came to their sense of time, it was a whole other matter, that's for sure!
Dear Celia,
I just sent you an email as I mentioned something that I can't make public but anyway, ... I've no idea if you see this but omg I just finished reading your latest article and woooow !
Me too, it made me feel so sad and guilty about having to get Summer, our Bichon, vaccinated for Rabies in order to fly to Central America. Pfff... I literally begged the vet to squirt the shot into the sink and I'd still pay for it of course but she, in her blie Novartis lab coat lectured me on the dangers of rabies... only for us to discover that in Nicaragua they actually have a massive problem of stray dogs. None of them have rabies so clearly this rabies shot thing for animals is, yet again, a TOTAL Big Harma scam.
Surprise surprise. 🙄
I think that was one of my favourite articles of yours. I laughed and felt nervous (could so relate to the entire Newark airport débâcle !!!) and at the end, I got weepy.
Anyway, I'm sooooo happy that you made it over here : home. ❤️
Maybe one day we will even meet. I would love to show you my adoptive country, Belgium.
Warm regards,
Donnie Huybrechts xx
Oh my my. I well know the horrors. I've been flying with animals since before Sept. 11th. Sometimes, in emergencies (sudden death in the family) I have snuck a dog on board, I have forged a health certificate and, with some shame I even bullied my way through line--once--when my flight from Mazatlan to Phoenix had been so delayed that I literally had 10 minutes to sprint at full speed across the (huge) Phoenix airport and shout my way cutting through the security line or else spend the night in the Phoenix airport. In 2016 my mother was dying and I had to do several flights with my dog to go visit her. Incredibly stressful. I am pretty sure my name is flagged in the TSA system because, since 2001 and the installation of the microwave devices, I have refused to ever go through one. I've been held for as long as 45 minutes with my purse and all my money five lanes away, sitting unattended, as smug TSA person refused to help. I've had my bare feet wanded. The last time I flew home to my dying mother was the worst. I don't get freaked out when people touch me--I am not overly personal about my body--but the last hand scan I had was a rub down violation the likes of which I wouldn't wish on anyone. The woman was literally rubbing my crotch. I was so angry--my face was bright red, not a normal thing for me, and yet I couldn't risk missing the flight by complaining or confronting authority further. They had delayed me for so long that my flight was starting to close when this happened. Isn't this always the way? She sensed my grief, as well as my fear of missing the flight, and maximized my torture. My dog--whose ticket cost more than my own and who was properly documented--she completely ignored and didn't even ask for that paperwork. It wasn't about safety or compliance --but was just pure fuckery. This was also the last time I flew. Almost every stranger has always been kind to me--but bureaucrats and TSA staff, and anyone who had the witchcraft of power at their disposal, have always been evil. It's to the point where I think I have PTSD on dealing with anyone in power, if I am at their mercy. Finally, and sorry for the long comment--I am so happy for you. I am so glad you are out of New York and in Spain--I find it a relief. Be well and flourish, you have earned it, I say.
You made your way through airport security. The airport nerds are under the impression that the global megamachine is making the way for them, but as Fabian Scheidler author of The End of the Megamachine says, minds set on "linear thinking" don't make a way, but rather load all personal sense of obligation or responsibility onto the job protocols-- http://youtube.com/watch?v=mqGHZayGAZM . So, I get a sense of what you're talking about in facing sadistic smiles with your dog in a pouch. I get a sense of what you're seeking in Malaga. Remoteness from the veangeful reaction that must set in when the fools realize how low on the totem pole of human regard their dedication to the job and ideological outlook finds them.
Usually a late bird here... I had a similar situation with my mother at an airport. After waiting over an hour just get my carry on scanned, I was flagged for stupidly saving a bag of epsom salts. As the guy pulled it out and began to check it, I desperately showed him my ticket and told him to throw it away... Thinking that made me suspicious, but he let me go. I grabbed the case running with my mother who barely kept up. Of course it was the furthest gate and I figured the plane was long gone by now (20 mins after scheduled takeoff). When I got to the gate nobody was there but we ran down the hallway anyway to find the door was shut.
Miraculously, it was running late AND one person was at the door and opened it for us. It took a long time to calm down after that but it was a miracle.
Sounds like a definitely unforgettable, moment to moment experience.
Fine writing. Your travel neurosis is exactly my condition as well. Even for a short trip to a place already visited numerous times, I pull and all-nighter, agonizing over what to pack, imagining every even remotely possible accident or situation that may occur (balking only at the imagined step of packing a parachute), then at the last minute, jam everything into carry-on bags (only---Boston lost my suitcase once) and hit the road. I agree that US airports are an exercise in Kafkaesque "Chinese molasses torture", while Spanish airports are a relaxed laissez-faire experience. I dislike travel so much that my trip to Japan has now extended to 5 decades here, and in my one 3-year return to the U.S. back in the early 1990s, I realized 100% that the U.S. is no longer the country I grew up in. I left during the end of the Nixon era, but by the 90's, things had become palpably worse. I remember a layover at the George HW Bush airport in Texas, where every 10 minutes or so, an announcement was played stating that it was not permitted for passengers to make jokes about the security procedures at the airport... reminiscent of the CCP's warning to the relatives of students slain at Tianmen Square when after many years they were finally permitted to visit the site, but only under the condition that they were not allowed to smile.
Oh, oh OH!!! Love this. My husband just arrived back from Tasmania. On the way back he flew from Hobart to Sydney, Sydney to Auckland, NZ (he wanted a skybed in economy, NZ is the only one) and from Auckland to Houston. Everything was going swimmingly until he hit the US. Plane arrived late, baggage carousel broke, he had to go through customs, then through a security line to get to the domestic terminal. He didn't make his 6:30 pm flight, got on the 7:30, which was delayed until 1045. He finally got into Atlanta at 2, and had to wait until 4 for the shuttle home. He has been in a funk ever since. He says walking back into the tension and confusion of the US, a la Houston airport, has sucked all of the good stuff from the trip out of him.
Oh, and we're moving to Tasmania if all goes well with my visa. He's a NZ citizen, so a bit easier for him. Can't wait to hear about your adventures and getting used to the new place. I will take notes and apply in a few months accordingly.
Glad you arrived safely, good job on navigating the catastrophes! And karma is a bitch, airport meanie.
Velcome to the USSSA! Sieg heil!
Your account of landing in Spain, documents not scrutinised, helpful man with tape despite his family tragic losses ... all this reminds me of landing back in Portugal after visiting grand/children in U.K & Switzerland. I heave a huge sigh of relief -- and feel I am back 'home'.
Celia, what an incredibly beautiful, poignant humorous, and harrowing storytelling of your adventure! I’m so incredibly happy you made it there. This should be one of the first pieces in the travel magazine!
Congratulations!