Day 3

Barcelona to Sevilla – Tuesday September 24

As you can see today is a travel day. And, as has been par for the course on this adventure, the airline was great however one out of two airports were not good. We arrived more than two hours early at the Barcelona airport and barely  made it to board the plane. Every step took way too much time. The last leg, after security, we were unable to find wheelchair assistance. It seemed like we had to walk almost a mile which was very very difficult.

At the Sevilla airport were met by a middle age, smiling Spanish woman, we collected our luggage (three larger bags and Karen’s portable wheelchair) and found our transportation without delay. We over tipped her and received an even broader smile! A truly great finish to this part of our journey.

The Finnoff’s had changed their schedule to meet us in Sevilla. Sure enough Chris was waiting in front of the hotel to greet us. I first met Chris in Omaha in the late 60’s or early 70’s. We were competing for the sale of a Learjet to Mutual of Omaha. We had a new one in inventory (we speculated by ordering new aircraft ahead) and Chris was the Learjet factory salesman. I got the sale – then Chris took my Mother and me to lunch and I ordered four more LearJets. It was obvious by the count of airplanes sold who was the best salesman. We have been the best of friends since.

The hotel is amazing – the building even more amazing. Pat was taking a nap so the three of us held court in the open atrium with delicious Mojitos and even more delicious Iberian Ham. Life is good.

Our hotel was hosts to a cross country automobile adventure. The old Bentley was the star of the show. And a new Porsche “Spider”. You all know I love automobiles!

We met in the lobby at 5:30 to find the 6:00 Flamingo show. The very young sweet concierge said it was a six minute walk. I guess what she meant is she could run there in six minutes – it took us more like 45 and we missed the show. Rolling with the punches we found a terrific taxi driver to return to the hotel. It all goes back to what I said before – people.

We topped off the day with dinner outside at the hotel. Our waiter was special – so kind, so attentive. It was a fine evening to another wonderful day.