A couple of minutes can make all the difference

Riding up to the air port thoughts were running through my head. Was everything going to go smoothly, would I arrive in Spain on time, how was the weather in Chicago. I arrived at the airport on time and went to check my luggage. Security was much better than previous years making the start of my trip much more relaxing.

Everything was going as planned until I got on the plane and prepared for take off. A voice came over the speakers saying that boarding was closed for the moment because the flight was going to be delayed for at least an hour. Everyone wasn't very happy including myself but I tried to remind myself that this flight was going to go fine. After we took of I remember I kept checking my watch to see how much time I would have in Chicago. Then I remembered that Chicago was an hour behind Ohio and that the flights leaving Chicago were also delayed. Just incase mine wasn't delayed I still had time.

I finally arrived at Chicago and realized that I had about an hour. Chicago airport is huge and I think I had to walk from one side to the other. At the very end of a hall was a tiny desk that said Iberia. I thought that I was in the wrong place, but they would be able to help. I was really glad when the lady told me I was at the right place. Then she explained that my flight was delayed. She also told we that it wouldn't affect my flight from Madrid to Sanitago. I went and found a seat and decided to crochet to pass the time by. Then over the speaker came a voice saying our flight would be delayed until 7:00. This was cutting it close. Before I boarded the plane I checked to see if I would be alright on time in Madrid and they assured me that I would have and hour. I trusted them knowing that I had to go through customs and make it from one side of the airport to the other. This plane finally took off and I thought, wow this is going much better than I thought it would. Even with the delays I was going to make it on time and it would be the shortest time I ever spent in Madrid airport.

My plane landed in Madrid exactly at 9:45 and my other flight took off at 10:45. I had one hour. I waited patiently for everyone to exit the plane and we all got onto a bus to go to the airport. As I entered the doors to the airport I realized I had to get in line to go through customs. I looked up at the big clock on the wall and it was 10:15. I had a half hour left to get through customs and find my gate. Customs went smoothly and I didn't have to get my luggage because it was being checked all the way through. This was really nice. I got in another line to wait to get on another bus to go to my gate which was on the other side of the airport. The bus moved very slowly and I kept checking the clock counting down the minutes. I was going to make it. The bus dropped us off at our gate. I was looking for D 66 even though on the plane they had told me E 80.

Upon entering the building I realized that I had to wait in another line to go through security. After I made it through, I grabbed my bags and began walking rapidly to my gate. I saw D 66 in the distance and glanced at a clock saying 10:35. I had made it. Everything was going great. As I got closer to the gate I checked the t.v. screen which read Barcelona. Barcelona?? It was supposed to say Santiago. Maybe I had the wrong gate and E 80 was the correct gate like they had told me on the plane. I kept moving trying to make it in time. I still had ten minutes until take-off. I saw E 80 in the distance and as I got closer I realized that it wasn't the gate either. Then I didn't know what to do so I found an Iberia counter to ask what gate the plane for Santiago was departing from. The guy looked at me with no sympathy and said... the plane already took off. I didn't understand why it took off already because I still had four minutes. He said that they stopped boarding people at 10:35. I had missed it by minutes. He also informed me that the next flight wasn't until 4:00.

So, what I thought would be my shortest trip ever in the Madrid airport turned into the normal waiting. I would have to say that this was my best trip to Spain so far. Having my luggage checked all the way through was really nice and even though I was in Madrid airport forever, it only took me a half an hour to get through customs and to my gate which is way shorter than normal.