You see, Chris had sent me his itinerary which showed him arriving to Barcelona from Frankfurt (where he had his connecting flight) at 12:15 pm. I got to the airport at 12:15 pm exactly and waited, and waited, and waited. I knew that Chris did not have a phone that worked in Europe so I didn't want to leave the area where passengers exit the security area. So, I first talked to the woman who was guarding the exit area. She said that it is unusual that Chris had not yet exited and perhaps his bag was missing and went to make a claim on it. I then found and called the number (the airline that was to fly him to Barcelona from Frankfurt). They did not have him on the roster for the 12:15 arrival flight. But when I told them that he originated his flight from DC with United airlines, they said that United would have them on their roster. I then contacted United. They asked me for Chris' flight confirmation number or ticket number. I had neither. They said that they could give me no information about this passenger without one of these numbers.
It was now 1:45 pm and I was growing panicky. I knew he reached Frankfurt because I got a text message from him there. I knew that he was carrying a lot of ingredients for Thanksgiving day and I thought that maybe that he was stopped by Customs in Barcelona and was being detained there. I thought that maybe traveling to Spain two times within a six month period may not be allowed. It's amazing how many absurd thoughts one has when you are in a state of bewilderment and panic.
I also left a message for my friend Gerardo, who works at the airport at Hertz in Barcelona. He called me back but really had nothing else he could advise me after hearing that I had gone through all my prior steps. As I was talking to him I turned around and who was standing 3 feet from me was Chris with his bags checking his phone. I quickly told Gerardo that I found him, hung up the phone and was both happy and relieved to see him and huged him and at the same time calming myself down from the worry I was feeling over the last hour and a half.
It turns out that Chris had a flight change but he did not realize that the hour had changed for his
Getting My Spanish Driver's License
In order to resolve my state tax issues, I was advised to surrender my state driver's license. I did that simply by calling the Department of Motor Vehicles. They were able to process it over the phone. I didn't need to mail them my license. It's a weird feeling not having a driver's license. I had one since I was 16 years old. Chris and I will need to figure out how I'll get around since I won't be able to drive there when I am there over the Christmas Holidays.
