Spain Tour Day 1-2 (Expect the Unexpected)

The Spain tour got off to a great start. We loaded the bus on campus in the early afternoon and headed towards Omaha to catch our flight to Detroit, then to Amsterdam and arrive in Madrid around 3pm on Day 2. That was the plan anyway. We even left campus 8 minutes early, but then Murphy decided to join us.

Our intended plane arrived in Omaha from Detroit, with a sick lady aboard. We would find out later, that it was Swine Flu. By the time they disinfected the plane there was no way we would be able to make our connection in Detroit. The helpful lady at the counter found all 22 of us a different flight so we boarded the next plane to Minneapolis. Now the funny part is that by the time we reached Minneapolis, we could have driven there from Sioux City faster. Irony can be interesting. We made a connection to Amsterdam, and finally got across the Atlantic. Unfortunately by the time we got to Holland, we missed our plane to Madrid. The next available flight for 22 people was in 8 hours.

To make the best out of a rough start we all grabbed a train and headed downtown (see photo). Amsterdam was not on the itinerary but we enjoyed walking around for a while and getting a bite to eat. Amsterdam is a bike town, and there were more bikes in the city than cars. Unfortunately I had left mine at home. We caught our late flight to Madrid and I finally got to my hotel at around midnight on Day 2 (May 12). More later. Cliff