Madrid (last stop)

We're in Madrid for a few days before catching our flight back to the States.  Quite a change from Seville, Madrid is big and FULL of people.  We manage to get back into the palace and museum touring mode and we enjoy our time here.  Having seen so many beautiful places and met so many wonderful people, we are ready to return home:

We board Madrid’s metro for our last European train ride and the 30 minute trip to Madrid’s Barajas International Airport.  Our navigational instincts are much improved since our arrival in Rome over 40 days ago and we easily make our way to the security screening line.  Linda sails through but Robert sets off the metal detector for no apparent reason and received his first pat-down of the day.  After he is cleared we follow the signs to the US Airways check-in counter.  The first agent we meet examines and then takes our tickets and  passports and hands them to agent 2 seated behind a computer.  Agent 1 begins asking us a series of questions:  why are you in Spain; why have you been travelling for so long; where are you going;  where have you been;  do we have any proof of where we have been?  Robert produces a two inch thick envelope containing receipts for every purchase made during our trip and hands the agent hotel receipts from several different cities in Italy, France and Spain.  There is a consultation among the agents and after adorning the back cover of our passport with a “special sticker” we are allowed to proceed to the terminal gate with tickets and passports in hand.

The terminal gate is roped off and closed for another hour so we hang out at Burger King and grab a bite to eat and log on to BK’s free wifi.  We head back to the roped off area and line up with other US Airways travelers. The agent takes our passports and tickets and asks us to stand aside. Robert’s paranoia begins to set in.  Other travelers are allowed to pass and we end up with 4 other folks selected for a “special security screening”.  Our group is escorted away from the line and assembled in front of an xray machine and metal detector staffed by a group of male and female Spanish customs agents.  We remove our shoes, belts, coins, computers, etc. and place them on the moving belt to be xrayed.  Linda receives her first and only patdown and Robert receives his 2^nd  of the day.   We are directed to open our luggage. An agent removes and examines our clothing, trinkets, papers, etc.  Our luggage is then sent through the xray machine sans contents.  Linda is making friendly talk with the cute young Spanish agent while Robert is wondering if we will be allowed to leave the country.  Everything works out fine and we are told we were simply randomly selected for the “special screening”.   Following another escorted walk we receive our tickets and passports and told we can proceed to the US Airway departure gate.  YEAH!

 Like the Canadians escaping from Iran during the hostage crisis in the movie Argo, Robert doesn’t relax until we clear Spain’s airspace.  Our first class flight accomodations and the personal service we receive on board soon make the “special screening” ordeal another story for our trip and we are on the way home.