A little bit of heaven

Hi all,

A quick note form another airport lounge. Let me just say Ryan having platinum status is a life saver. Cario was not nice but it was a place to sit down away from the crowds. It is Ramadan and while it was not too big of a deal in the city. (no alcohal in 80% of the resteraunts, even though it is served normally. Plus the majority of all shops close from 9am to 7pm except there are always a few cafes & pharmacies open near all the sights and hotels) but in the airport it was craziness. It seemed as if the whole country was going on a pilgramage to Mecca, you have never seen so much chaos in your life, people were doing things you would get arrested for in any western country. Plus Ramadan requires that all healthy muslims must fast from sunrise to sundown so there were a lot of hungry and thristy people. And then right about the time we needed to go through securilty it was sundown so people everywhere stoped eveything they were doing to eat and drink. I mean everything. Security closed, check in closed and people just sat down wherever they were to have a full on meal. We had alot of time so we were not worried, but it was complete madness. However every one was also so generous. People who had not eat or drank anying for 14 hours were offereing us some of their meal and welcoming us to their country. A totally sureal experience, that I am gad we got partake in...

Now to our little piece of heaven...We arrived in Madrid at 4am from Cario and it was dead, a few cleaning people, one customs guy, one information guy etc.. We were unable to get a boading pass or check our bags all the way through to Johanesberg from Cairo beacause our flight from Madrid to Johanessberg was more 24 hours away. So we had to pick up our bags in Madrid and re check for Jo Berg. Everyting was basically closed until 6 am except the Iberia business class check-in. We then got our boarding passes and checked our bags through. The man at the desk appologized because the lounge would not open till 6 am but we found two couches and took a qucik nap. At 6 am we got to the lounge when they had a quiet room with giant chaise lounges just for sleeping. We took a nice nap then went for showers in these amazing multi head steam showers with fresh towels and luxury bath products. Now I am on the internet while Ryan is eating a free breakfast. Well I am finishing up now so we can explore Madrid.