From my vantage point in this $120-extra-for-two-extra-inches premium seat, I am at least two inches extra optimistic about this year’s trip. Why?
1. Spanish history. The trending history of Spain, from the perspective of my past trips, bodes well.
Fall, 2016 – the government is in constitutional crisis because of its inability to agree on who should be president. There has actually been no president of Spain for over a year (yet somehow everyone could agree on continuing to shut the entire country down between 2 pm and 6 pm every day).
Fall 2017 – a terrorist drives a van down a crowded pedestrian plaza, killing many people. The elected leader of Catalonia, advocating for regional independence, flees to Belgium to avoid being jailed. Members of his cabinet are arrested and incarcerated prior to what turned out to be a violent independence vote in late September.
Fall 2018 – Spain is considering changing the time zone it is in.
2. Lessons learned. I learned last year that one very crappy way to start a vacation is to drink a lot of wine on the plane and then stay up all night watching a movie about a guy with multiple-personality disorder who wants to blow up a city and then at the end shoots himself in the face to kill the other personality (don’t worry, he was just bloody and wounded, not dead) while he watches the city blow up . . . just as the pilot says “Welcome to Barcelona.” So this year I’m being much smarter about my movie choice. Nothing with “dead,” “rampage,” ”sniper” or “blood” in the title (all of which are offered on this flight). Yet not “Dennis the Menace,” or “101 Dalmatians” either. No final decision on this just yet.
Fall, 2016 – the government is in constitutional crisis because of its inability to agree on who should be president. There has actually been no president of Spain for over a year (yet somehow everyone could agree on continuing to shut the entire country down between 2 pm and 6 pm every day).
Fall 2017 – a terrorist drives a van down a crowded pedestrian plaza, killing many people. The elected leader of Catalonia, advocating for regional independence, flees to Belgium to avoid being jailed. Members of his cabinet are arrested and incarcerated prior to what turned out to be a violent independence vote in late September.
Fall 2018 – Spain is considering changing the time zone it is in.
2. Lessons learned. I learned last year that one very crappy way to start a vacation is to drink a lot of wine on the plane and then stay up all night watching a movie about a guy with multiple-personality disorder who wants to blow up a city and then at the end shoots himself in the face to kill the other personality (don’t worry, he was just bloody and wounded, not dead) while he watches the city blow up . . . just as the pilot says “Welcome to Barcelona.” So this year I’m being much smarter about my movie choice. Nothing with “dead,” “rampage,” ”sniper” or “blood” in the title (all of which are offered on this flight). Yet not “Dennis the Menace,” or “101 Dalmatians” either. No final decision on this just yet.
3. Personal Hygiene. I will be introducing Spain to my new beard, and I’m just so sure Spain will love it.
Trip Goals
I didn’t really have one until last week when two high-profile studies were released. The first found that drinking any amount of alcohol (such as wine) was detrimental to health. The second found that dairy products (such as cheese) reduce health risks. I’m planning to do a little testing during these next few weeks.
So, two hours of sleep, then straight to the train station to go to Zaragoza, which I know nothing about but want to visit because it sounds like the name of an Antonio Banderas movie.
So I'm dying to know which movie/s you finally decided on???
ReplyDelete2 inches extra optimistic 🤣🤣🤣 HILARIOUS
Ps. Hi it's Raph 💙
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