Roadblocks? Let's call them hurdles.

It's 11:30pm in Bilbao, making this one LONG day of travel. Let's see, with the 9 hour time difference, that's about 28 hours... and it's going "fine" but I seem to keep having to jump one hurdle after another. And doing so alone on very little sleep is difficult! Would you like a sample?

1. flight from Santa Ana to Atlanta canceled due to flat tire on plane (they don't carry a spare in the trunk??); the replacement plane would miss my connection to Madrid
2. they shuttled me to LAX for a flight 6 hrs later, and though it went through Paris to Madrid, they would not let me cancel the second leg and just fly to Paris (which, at that point, would have saved me time - the TGV runs more often than the trains from Madrid) - I had to continue on to Madrid or they'd cancel my return flight in August!
3. Got to LAX and found out I did NOT have a ticket, I was on standby. Astounding gall. But I did get on at the last minute.
4. Got to Paris and asked again, they still would not let me cancel the one leg of my ticket.
5. Got to Madrid, got cash, got to the bus station, bought a cell phone, called a hostel and reserved for the night in Bilbao; bought a ticket to Bilbao. Yes!
6. Left new phone charger on bus; bus disappeared in the 5 minutes it took me to realize this; attendant said the bus was headed to the garage in a different part of the city and I could try back tomorrow but basically tough luck
7. Called to confirm room for next night in St. Jean Pied de Port and host said sorry, he gave it away because my email hadn't been clear enough that I DID want it and I hadn't called him back soon enough (I don't even know yet what my phone's ringer sounds like, but I sure didn't hear it)
8. During 6 and 7, info window closed where I was supposed to ask where to find bus stop for bus 18
9. Wandered around bus station, called hostel and got answering machine
10. It started raining
11. Wandered around in rain and found bus stop for bus 18, but realized I didn't know what direction to take it in
12. Went back to bus station and bought outgoing ticket for tomorrow morning early since hostel guy said I should get into town early if I don't have a reservation. This means I'm skipping the Guggenheim this time... but at this point I'm not in the mood for a museum!!!
13. Considered just waiting in the bus station, but changed mind and took taxi to hostel
14. Checked in! Yay! but found out I won't get free breakfast here because my bus leaves before that

Of course the upside of all this is that it's going fine. I'm safe, I'm getting where I want to go, I have a hot shower and clean sheets here. But it's not the ideal scripted version by any means! I guess I better get used to that again! Flexibility, adaptation, making the best of whatever happens. I can buy a new phone charger. I can stay somewhere else tomorrow. I can see the Guggenheim some other time - it's not on my lifelong priority list, really. But sometimes, in the rain, it takes a few minutes to realize all this.