9/22-23 -- Travel to Bilbao: Basque Country -- Too Much Excitement!

Normally our travel days are not particularly notable.  Not so this time! We got to Dallas on time, and boarding had started for our flight to Madrid, when they suddenly stopped  it and then 30 minutes later, everyone who boarded was removed. We got a bunch of calls from American assuring us how much they cared about us, each time slipping the departure time from 4:40 pm to 5 and then to 5:30. About the same time as the 5:30 call, the gate agent said they would decide by 6 pm if they were even going to fly that route. Since this was only the 2nd of 3 legs to Bilbao, our ability to catch the last connecting flight was diminishing by the minute.

The good news was that shortly after 5:30 pm, they announced we were now golden and leaving at 6. When we presented our boarding passes for row 19, they said, "oh wait a minute, the plane has been changed and it doesn't have a 19th row, here is your new boarding pass". As we walked away, we discovered that we were now in row 44!, the next to last row in the plane. Complaining went nowhere. Somewhere near the end of the flight, we realized that one of the passes for row 19 had the sticker for our one checked bag......scary!

We arrived in Madrid with just over an hour to get to our last flight. The good news was that Spanish Passport Control was fast, in spite of us being at the back of the deplaning line AND we did NOT have to retrieve and rechecked our bag, a common occurrence elsewhere. This meant that we actually MADE IT to our last connection to Bilbao. Unfortunately, they forced us to gate check  our back-up carryon with our emergency supply of clothes.

When we arrived in Bilbao, we were directed to the international baggage area, but I saw folks waiting for bags in the domestic area and asked a airport employee where our gate-checked bag would appear. While he was trying to convince me that I needed to be in the international area, I saw our gate-checked bag in the domestic area and grabbed it.

Unfortunately, our wait for our big bag was fruitless and we  filed a lost bag incident with Iberia,  connected with our airport transportation, and headed to our hotel.

We also noticed that all the signs in Bilbao were in 3 languages -- Spanish and English were second, and first was Euskara, the Basque language. Having just finished a book, A Basque History  of the World, detailing Basque Country early successes and 20th century discrimination (and suppression of Euskara), this seems like a major indication of Basque ascendancy following a time when Euskara was systematically oppressed.

Bilbao airport sign in Euskara, English, and Spanish

Our guide,  Nico, took us on a short orientation walk around the neighborhood. Our hotel seems quite convientently located with numerous dining  options. We decided to skip dinner, however, in  hopes that  our bag arrives sooner, rather than later. -- Good news: at 8:45pm, our bag appeared at our door! No more clothing worries or unanticipated spending on replacements!  Tomorrow, we discover Bilbao.