(Days 1 & 2) Our Trip Of A Lifetime: 12+ days Cruising the Mediterranean

Days 1 & 2: Takeoffs, Landings, & Bon Voyage !
(These 2 days became one as we traveled back through 7 time zones to get to Europe.)

Up and at 'em... our daughter Jaclyn (aka Jaci) and grandbaby Nolan (aka Charlie) took us on the early morning drive to the St. Louis airport and off-loaded us at the American Airlines terminal.

Our plane was on time and, a short 40-minute flight later, we made it to Chicago for a windy, wobbly, and hard landing. Not to worry.

After a typical 2-hour layover in O'Hare Airport, plus an additional 1-hour delay due to the high winds... we were finally off to Madrid, Spain on Iberia Flight 6274.

The long flight was uneventful... well, for the first few hours or so anyway... the flight was smooth but the seats were cramped.

Then, out over the Atlantic Ocean, an oriental, pregnant, young lady in the seats in front of us became sick and passed out!

Her husband quickly got help for her and she was okay after a while, but it caused a stir for the rest of the flight... doctors, stewardesses, and well-wishers checking on her continually. She apparently got a touch of food poisoning somewhere before the flight, but was much better when laid out across several seats and given cool washcloths.

In a "small-world-isn't-it" happening on the plane... the young, 20-something girl and her husband sitting next to Kathy were from Phoenix, AZ. When Kathy talks to the girl, she discovers that she grew up and went to school in Lawton, Oklahoma as an Army-brat, too!!!

No way!!! Strange... but true!
So, the two of them kicked around old Lawton, OK memories until they finally went to sleep.

That "sleep" didn't last more than about 45 minutes all "night"... because they soon had us up for our "breakfast in a long box". This breakfast consisted of a fruit cup, a kit-kat chocolate bar, a small ham-like sandwich on a small, very hard roll, juice and coffee.

We soon arrived in Madrid after the 7-hour flight... it was 8:30 a.m. their Madrid-time... but, actually 1:30 a.m. on our bodies' time!

So, we were officially in Europe now... and "Day 2" is off and running!

We had to scramble and walk nearly 2 actual miles across and around the Madrid terminal to finally go through Customs and find our connecting airplane to Barcelona. All signs are in Spanish (duh) and sort of confusing... and not many workers speak English (go figure). We found our connection with just minutes to spare... and it was an even more cramped Iberia plane.

BUT... guess what?

As we were boarding this plane to Barcelona, a young, 20-something, American girl said to Kathy, "I'm going to the same place you are!"

Kathy was surprised and said, "What? How do you know where I'm going?"

The young girl and her traveling friend laughed and pointed to Kathy's carry-on... which had her Disney Cruise Line ID tag on it. They all laughed and, of course, started talking about the cruise. This young girl told Kathy that she has been on 5 or 6 Disney cruises already and that we would love how they treat us.

BUT... that's not the most unbelievable part...
this girl (on the right) was ALSO born and raised in Lawton, Oklahoma as an Army brat!!!
(This is getting too spooky, eh?)

We all made the quick flight to Barcelona, grabbed our luggage, and headed for a Disney kiosk where handlers whisked our luggage away to the ship for us.

We were guided to a Disney rep who held up a "Mickey Hand" sign on a stick (which we would get very used to looking for over the next 2 weeks). Then we loaded on a bus and started our 30-minute drive through downtown Barcelona to get to the port where our ship was docked.
Driving through Barcelona was astonishing... everything was so jam-packed with old, medieval buildings mingled with new high-rises... and people everywhere coming and going.
They say the city of Barcelona is not very large, but... to a small-town couple like us, it is spread out, bustling, and HUGE!
And then... THERE SHE IS !!!

The Disney "MAGIC"... pride of the Mediterranean and our "home" for the next 12 days!

It was huge, colorful and very organized!
We shuffled our way along the reception and check-in lines where we were greeted, passports checked, and then each given our "Key To The World" room card.

This magical "Key To The World" card was: a room key, a charge card for all things on the ship, and our personal ID cards... from that point on, no cash, credit, or other charge cards are used onboard ship! Amazing!

Then it's a winding walk to the gangplank and finally... we are onboard "The Magic"!

Disney staff are everywhere... all smiling and greeting you happily! They even "announce" your entry onto the ship and welcome you onboard.

We followed well-marked hallways to our room 2582 on the second level and found our luggage waiting outside our door! Upon opening our stateroom door... WOW !!!
It was like a small hotel room in there! We had been on other cruises, but this was twice the sleeping and sitting room we had ever had before!

There was a large Queen-size bed, a relatively large, "2-room" split-bathroom... with the usual shower... but it had a small TUB, too! Practically unheard of... and amazing!
The rest of the room and decorations were spectacular and classicly outfitted. There was a separate sitting/TV area, BUT best of all was the HUGE 5-foot wide porthole! We were about 25 feet above the waterline and it gave us amazing views out over the water.

I kept waiting for them to come tell us we had been given the wrong room... but they never did!

We unloaded our carry-ons and took a small break since our jet-lag and no sleep was starting to catch up to us... a very long trip indeed.
About 2 hours after arriving, instructions were announced as to how, when, and where to assemble on deck for the "required" Lifeboat Drill for all passengers... where you get your lifeboat assignment in case The Magic somehow becomes The Titanic.

When the alarm was sounded, we got our lifevests on and headed to deck 4, section K... we felt goofy with the vests on (how appropriate... get it? "Goofy") but it is required, could be useful, and kinda fun anyway.
That evening, we cleaned up and roamed over the ship until it was supper time at Lumiere's... on deck 3... where we were seated at table 35.

We met our table mates for the next 12 days: Nita and Ron from Bristol, England and Pat and Andy from Philadelphia, PA. (Two other passengers for our table were missing from that meal.)

The food was great with fancy appetizers, salads, main entrees, and super desserts! If you don't like something... you just tell them and they take it away... and they will bring you whatever else you might like... no questions asked!

Our table waiters were Matt (from Poland) and Jayson (from the Philippines)...both were super nice, entertaining, and helpful with recommendations during the whole cruise.

The ship set sail from Port Barcelona during our supper and, as we sailed out to sea, we all made a toast wishing "bon voyage" (good travels) to us all.

After initial small talk and a great supper, we stopped by the "Rockin' Bar D" lounge where they were playing a "Match Your Mate" game... kinda like the old "Match Game".
There were 2 older couples and a newlywed young couple as game contestants. After several embarassing questions, followed by some risque and comical answers, it ended with the young newlyweds as winners!

When it was over about 11:30 p.m., we went back to our room and passed out! We slept in till almost 9:00 a.m. the next morning... and it felt good!

Wow... what a great, hectic way to start our Mediterranean vacation... and with a whirlwind of experiences already under our belts!