Still Stuck in Spain

Bunch of things are happening to me:

1) I’m in Barcelona where my US Airways flight to the US has been canceled four times now. Every other airline seems to be crossing the Atlantic just fine and I know people who have beaten me back to the US, even though my flight was scheduled sooner. Wednesday I was told the flight would be delayed 8 hours, so I sat around the airport all day before I was told that the flight was canceled. It is getting pretty damn ridiculous. I was given the option of a flight to Munich on Thursday which would then go to Philadelphia, but then I’d have to spend the night in Philly and would arrive around the same time I would if I get on the Friday flight out of Barcelona. If all goes well I’ll be in the air in 24 hours. If all doesn’t go well, you will find an expletive riddled rant about US Airways on this site tomorrow that you should hide from children.

2) The news on my father is slowing getting better. He has a bad blood infection. His white blood cell count is down and has been decreasing, but it is still very high. They have taken him off of some fluids but are keeping him unconscious so his body can put all its energy into fighting the infection. Blood infections are nasty and he has a particularly bad case of it. He’s not out of the woods, but so far there have been no major setbacks. Thankfully he was taken to the hospital in time so there was no major organ failure. This will probably just take time for him to beat and I doubt if he will be out of his induced coma before I get back.

3) If you saw the news on Tuesday, major British mobile providers T-Mobile and Orange UK merged. The name of their new company? Everything Everywhere. Either they didn’t do a Google search on the name or they did and didn’t care. I’ve gotten some advice from lawyer friends of mine and I shouldn’t have to worry too much because I have prior use and over three years of history on my side. Nonetheless, when a huge company decides to muscle in on your turf, you have to wonder what is going to happen. They could be jerks about it or they could be really cool. I’ll have to wait and see.

4) I’ve been having fun on Foursquare this last week. If you have Foursquare on your mobile device, just follow me to get real time updates on where I am round the world.

5) I’ve changed my guest post policy. A long time ago I did a few guest posts, but since then I haven’t allowed any on my site. Since my site is about my travels, tossing in a random post about something else made no sense and took away from what I wanted the site to be about. I will now allow limited guest posts for people who meet the following criteria:

  1. Meet me in person
  2. Share some sort of adventure with me
  3. Have photos of said adventure

This will keep the focus of the site the same, but allow bloggers who would like some extra exposure to get some. So if you want a write a guest post, we are going to have to meet in person and have share sort of adventure. I am sort of loose on the term adventure. It could be traveling with me, it could be going to a interesting or fancy restaurant, visiting a museum, or something else entirely. One guest post I have lined up is by Lillie Marshall who traveled with me for a week in Spain. The other is by Jodi Ettenberg who I visited detained refugees with in Bangkok.

I like this policy because I get to meet people and do things but still can get people to contribute to the site.

20 thoughts on “Still Stuck in Spain”

  1. It is bad stranded in another country while your father ill. even if it is a good and intenresting country like Spain it is still bad because you can stop thinking about your father at home.
    Abut the US air, hmmm is it that bad? I am going to avoid using it whenever possible.

  2. How did UsAirways manage to cancel your flight 3 times? Usually it’s just once or twice with them.
    Regarding the same name of the company. A few years ago that happened with my company web site when a big pharma firm named a blcokbuster drug with a similar name as my company. Traffic to my site went up tremendously. I was nervous at first too but it ended up being a positive. Plus they never even figured it out. We are just a dust speck to big corporate. Good luck with everything and great blog.

  3. Hopefully you’ll never be stuck in Barcelona again, but if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, you should get in touch with some cool locals with whom to hang out. Have you ever tried visiting https://www.tripping.com ? It’s a great way to meet up with locals if you’re ever stranded somewhere.

    Your guest post policy sounds like a good plan. I can’t wait to read the guest posts! Do you post on other blogs? If well-selected, posts by guests can add a great new dimension to blogs.

    • I have done a few guest posts on other blogs. I usually only do them when I’m asked, and most blogs don’t ask for guest posts.

  4. not wholly surprised on US Air, they’re in my Top3 worst US Airlines. Sounds like total B.S.; put in some extra fuel, head like you’re going to NYC & when you reach the US head south, not that big a deal.

    agree on the guest post option, it’s you’re travels which are the foundation.

  5. What a shame! But come on, Barcelona is a great place to be! Specially now with summer coming up…getting warmer…enjoy!

  6. Hope your father fully recovers! Good on you for trying your best to get back. I was in Morocco when my mother’s health went South and there wasn’t enough time to get back.

    I’ll send some good vibes your pop’s way! And a few your way on getting home as well.

    • Skip, you wont believe this, but I met some people in line at the airport in Barcelona from St. Louis who knew you.

  7. Gary, I don’t know what rock I’ve been under, I’m just reading now, for the first time, about your trip around the world. I am very sorry to hear about your father and hope you get to him as quickly as possible.
    I am stuck in my cubicle here at work and have to live vicariously through people like you! I’ll definitely be checking in with you regularly now that I know about your journey. Best Regards!

  8. As for the name confusion who knows maybe you get some new UK fans or a sponsorship or purchased add space for the everything everywhere phone company.

  9. Sounds like you have a lot on your plate Gary – I hope you get back stateside sooner rather than later.

    Excellent ideas on the guest post policy. It definitely keeps your site going in the direction it is – a blog about your travels. Yet it also has the added benefit of letting some select bloggers tap into your amazing following. The only problem: I’ll be in New Zealand for the next couple months! So perhaps we should schedule an adventure in Queenstown!

  10. Just a quick post about your guest post “rules”. The fact that you write about your travels and your experiences is what keeps me coming back so I am very glad to hear that you have set those guidelines for other people to post on your site. There are blogs out there I go to for travel tips, and there is this blog, where I go to here about stories. I hope the airline gets everything straightened out for you to get home safe, good luck.

  11. US Airways is just the worst… the worst! Good luck with that, and I’m glad your father is feeling better. In regards to the impending copyright battle… who knows? this could be a blessing in disguise!

  12. I’ll say a prayer for your dad; I hope he recovers quickly!

    Assuming that there are no legal issues, I wonder if the T-Mobile-Orange UK merger will drive more traffic to your site. Could end up being a good thing.

  13. not wholly surprised on US Air, they’re in my Top3 worst US Airlines. Sounds like total B.S.; put in some extra fuel, head like you’re going to NYC & when you reach the US head south, not that big a deal.

    agree on the guest post option, it’s you’re travels which are the foundation.

  14. US Airways should be flogged. Unbelievable! Sending positive energy to get you across the atlantic quickly. I live in Denmark and was recently trapped because of the volcano ash, so appreciate the horror of being stuck somewhere you don’t want to be. Good luck!

  15. Good grief, Gary, you’ve got a lot to deal with. I can’t tell you how bad I feel for you being stuck in Europe with your dad in the hospital. I’m glad he’s getting better, but I’m sure it would be a big relief to you to actually see him in person. Keeping my fingers crossed for you to get a flight out. As for the phone merger and your name, something similar happened this past year with a local Vermont beer company and Monster energy drinks. Monster thought they could bully the VT company out of its own name, because they have more money/lawyers, but the VT company rallied the troops online using social media and lo and behold, Monster folded. Given the amount of social media clout you have online, I wouldn’t worry at all. You know can rally the troops if you need to.

  16. Hope you get back to the States soon – your delays sound ridiculous.

    Looking forward to reading the guest posts, especially the detainees from Jodie – that was a great experience and wonderful that she’ll write about it here.

    Hope the flying experience gets better! See you at TBEX.

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