(Written Thursday Jan 7th)

Flight over to JFK and then MAD is pretty uneventful. I sleep maybe 3 times in 60-90 minute shifts. I wonder how I’m going to stay awake while waiting for the final leg of my flight since I have 4 hours to kill. While I’m awake during my flight to Madrid, I look enviously across the aisle to two women who have lucked out and have an entire row (2 seats) to themselves. The longer I can’t sleep, the more my envy turns into subtle anger and jealousy as I watch them lying down, asleep.

There’s a guy on the flight that has no legs. So he moves up and down the aisles mainly with his arms to get to and from the bathroom. When he first passes by me, I think he’s a kid since he’s at kid height. He’s pretty cute and he’s got nice arms to boot.

My envy at not being able to lie down to sleep dissipates. I am lucky as I realize, for the umpteenth time, as I am wont to do when I hit the road and travel. The experience (traveling) is like those HSBC ads you see on the walkway to the plane – you get to see life from different perspectives. I love that about travel and culture and even growing up in between – part American, part Chinese.

The customs agent is friendly or flirty, depending on your state of sleep deprivation. I like to think I’m pretty sleep deprived. He likes that I speak Spanish. In general, a few seem surprised that I can understand Spanish – maybe it’s that I look obviously American with my LL Bean bag and kicks or maybe it’s because I’m Asian.

This is the first time that I’ve gone through Madrid and actually had to go through customs. Guess times have changed. The three other times I’ve passed through here (beginning in 2003), I’ve never seen a customs person or had my passport stamped.

The airport’s gotten an upgrade since I’ve been here last (2005?). They now have Terminal 4 where I have to transfer to to catch my flight to Tenerife. After taking a quick shuttle – where Paul Young’s “Every time you go away” blasts over the speakers – I walk in and I feel like I’m in Singapore. Terminal 4 is super-modern and clean, has the same look and feel too. I navigate the intricacies of self-check-in, discover I can’t print my boarding pass. So after re-routing myself to two agents, in Spanish, I finally get to the right desk.

I head towards the bathroom before hitting the gates. I pass through a silver door with a round plexiglass window and I feel like I’m stepping into the future. Seriously. The bathrooms are super modern, metal/silver and frosted glass. Everything is immaculate or at least appears to be.

Off to the security gates. As I hop in the line, I notice a sign that says “Mobile boarding pass” with an icon of a mobile phone with a UPC type code on the phone’s screen. It makes me wonder, when is that technology coming to the U.S.?

Standing in line actually is a sweet experience in this sense: You get to watch all the families/friends stand faithfully by as their loved ones weave through the security check lines. They stand there waving energetically until their person disappears beyond the gates. There are clusters of people right at the entrance to queue, then another set that stand off to the side so they get a closer view of their loved ones as they pass through security, and still a select few that stand in line until the last possible moment (when the agent checks for boarding passes) and then they duck out. It reminds me of the last time I flew out of here, I got the same treatment from my friend who dropped me off – just stood there and watched as I vanished past security and into the gates.

After my bags screen through, the guy montiroing them asks me to pull my computer out of its sleeve. Then I open it and close it for him. I think he secretly wants to see my Mac Book Air. But I’m pretty sure that’s the sleep dep talking.

I’m excited to be back in Spain. I’m looking forward to the warmth and affection associated with the culture. Two kisses are the customary greeting here. If you’re super close (e.g., family), then you give/get one kiss. It’s all pretty simple and clear. No blurring of if you should hug, shake hands, kiss or just wave. I’m awkward with the social ambiguities in the States. Here, since it’s part of the culture, being affectionate just feels a lot less awkward.

Shockingly I’m still fairly awake given that it’s about 3 a.m. SF time as I type this. Oh well, time to amble around and see if I can find Shapes. Or maybe I’ll just close my eyes for a few seconds first.