Alright, another new year, another new trip!

Today marked the beginning of my 3 1/2 week Jordan/Egypt trip.

Of course, the title of this blog is a tad bit misleading but, trust me, I’ll be in Jordan and Egypt soon enough.

In fact, I’ll be in Jordan tomorrow but, as always, I try to find a cheap flight into Europe (usually London or Paris) and then find another flight on one of the discount airlines to my final destination.

So, to start this trip, I booked a flight into Paris, a flight from Paris to Madrid and, finally, a flight from Madrid to Amman, Jordan tomorrow.

On my way!

I started the day nice and early at 8am.

After getting ready, giving the cats some love, and putting the last couple things in my backpack, I was out the door at 9:30am.

From where I live in the suburbs of Vancouver, it takes about 2 hours to get to Vancouver International Airport.

Normally I’d abhor a two hour ride on BC’s transit, but today I didn’t really care.

After all, this was the start of a very long day and, let’s face it, transit and I are going to be very good friends over the next few weeks.

I got to the airport at 11:30am, a full two hours before my flight at 1:30pm.

Again, it was way more time than I needed as I had checked in online and just had to get through security which only took about 20 minutes.

Part of me really wants to tighten that time to arriving an hour before my flight but I’d rather be at the gate early than running to the gate praying I don’t miss my flight.

Vancouver to Paris

I had chosen seat 44C for this flight.   It was an aisle seat on the second to last row which meant I was one of the last groups to board.

I used to not care which group I was boarding with and, in fact, I used to purposely just sit there and watch everyone else board before boarding at the very end.

Of course, with a carry-on backpack, that’s no longer the luxury I have as there’s always limited room in the overhead compartments and if you’re one of the last to board, well, your luck may be out and you’ll have to check in your bag instead.

Anyway, with this flight, there was no issues boarding in the last group as I got on the plane, found my seat and stored my bag above me.

And then I played a 15 minute game of “is someone going to sit in the seats next to me, or not?”

As I was in the last boarding group, there weren’t that many more people coming onto the plane and, when I sat down, no one was beside me in the two seats to my left.

Each time someone starting working their way towards the back of the plane I thought “oh, okay, this person must be in one of the seats next to me.”

Nope.

And then again.

Nope.

And, well, then the doors closed and they made the announcement that the flight had boarded.

And, wouldn’t you know it, a whole row to myself!

They played their little safety and security video and soon we were taxiing away from the gate.

And then, we sat there and waited.

And waited.

And then the dreaded announcement came over the speaker…

We were heading back to gate as there was a maintenance problem.

Sigh.

I mean, I guess it could have been worse and they could have had us all disembark but, in the end, we sat there at the gate for a good hour while they worked on the plane.

Of course after all that, we now had to wait for a refueling truck and we had burned off fuel during this whole episode so that took some time as well.

In the end, our 1:30pm flight ended up in the air at 3pm, a full 90 minutes later than anticipated.

After binge watching some shows, and maybe a couple hours of sleep, we had landed in Paris.

Lunch in Paris

When I was planning this trip entry I had purposely given myself a few hours in Paris before having to catch an afternoon flight to Madrid where I’d spend my first night.

I was sooooo smart.   I had it all planned out.

I was landing at CDG airport and I knew how to get into town, where I was going to store my bag, where I was going to lunch, the nice scenic route along the Seine back to the metro, and finally, the route onto my departure ORY airport to the south.

Yup, I had it all planned…

Of course, I had also planned on arriving at 8am in the morning.

With the flight delay, we were now landing at 9:15am.

So, yeah, I had to do some last minute shuffling around and trip planning.

Storing the bag?   Yeah, not happening.

A scenic walk along the Seine back to the metro?   Hah, as if!

A leisurely hour long lunch?   Yeah, nice try, how about 20 minutes?

But…

In the end, I did it – I had lunch in Paris!

Even if I was only out and about in downtown Paris for a mere scant 45 minutes, half of which was walking to the gluten free cafe I had picked out, I set out a goal, and I accomplished it.

I didn’t even need to look at the menu when I arrived, I knew two months ago what I was ordering.

One Croque Monsieur, s’il vous plait.

Luckily there was only a couple of other people in the cafe so it didn’t take long to order or for them to make my sandwich.

I had ordered it to-go but ended up just sitting at a table eating it out of the box because I was blessed with 15 minutes to eat it before I had to head back out onto the metro.

So, was it the lunch in Paris I had envisioned?   Nope.   But, like I said, I set out a goal to have lunch in Paris, and dammit, I did it.

Paris to Madrid

My flight to Madrid was leaving at 2:30pm so I took the metro down to Paris’ secondary airport Orly.

Again, I was in the last boarding group but, unlike earlier, there was no space left for my backpack when I boarded.

Well, shit.

This was a first for me.   I had never had this issue before.

I assumed that the flight attendant would see this big bag in my lap and take it, check it in, and I’d have to go stand by that stupid carousel when I arrived hoping and praying my bag didn’t get lost.

Nope.   She came by my aisle and I waved her over to show her the bag and she just shrugged her shoulders and said I’d have to keep it there in my lap.

Well, wasn’t expecting that.

I’m pretty sure it’s a safety thing and I know other airlines are always so adamant about making sure your bag is stored safely under the seat in front of you.

But, nope, Air Iberia just said keep it there.

Thankfully it was just a short 2 hour flight but, damn, sitting in a middle seat with this big backpack squished in front of me between my legs was not overly enjoyable.

Dinner in Madrid

By the time we landed in Madrid at 4:30pm, I had been in transit for 23 hours.

Thankfully, because it was a flight from another European city, we didn’t have to go through immigration again and it only took a mere 20 minutes between the time I got off the plane to the time I was sitting on a metro heading into town.

By 6pm I was walking up to my hostel.

It was a grey night as it had rained pretty much all day but luckily I arrived just as the rain had stopped.

After a quick checkin, setup of my things in the room, and a much deserved shower, I was back out the door 40 minutes later.

I had a mission.

And that mission was tapas.

As I was researching this trip, I had come across a handful of different tapas restaurants that offered gluten free options with one even being dedicated gluten free.

Hot damn!

A celiac’s Spanish dream!

I had three places bookmarked on my laptop and I just couldn’t decide which to go.

So, I did what any self respecting person who was on a mission to have tapas in Madrid would do…

I went to all three!

First stop was La Concha.

I arrived just before 7pm and the little place, while pretty full, had a little spot in the corner for me to sit.

Soon after the place was packed so it looked like I arrived just at the right time.

I went to the counter and ordered a trio of tapas and a sangria.

The first course today was: Cured duck with orange on toast, a pork Loin in a three cheese sauce on toast, and a tower of tomato and mozzarella with a vinaigrette sauce.

In total, 25€ ($38).   Well, that wasn’t cheap.

Ah, well, I’m on holiday…

On to the next…

My second stop was just down the road at a dedicated gluten free tapas bar called Lalina.

Again, like with the last place, I seemed to arrived just before it filled up.

Second course today was Russian salad with toast and Bravas (potatoes) with salmon and tartar sauce.

Oh my god!   So good!   But so filling!

Okay, I was getting quite full by now and that sangria was going straight to my head.

Another 22€ ($33) on the credit card and it was on to stop number three.

Finally stop was another place just down the street called La Cabra en el Tejado.

I chose them to be my last course because they had gluten free savory crepes on their menu and who doesn’t like a crepe for dessert, right?

Yeah, I didn’t.

Man, that sucker was so dry and I could barely eat that first mouthful.

In the end I just picked out the insides, drank my latte, paid my 9€ ($14), and was on my way.

By 9pm I was back at the hostel and, that was it.

This boy was super tired.

It was an exhausting first day in transit, as it is with every trip, but at least I got to have lunch in Paris and dinner in Madrid!