Day 1 - 2: Off We Go -> Rochester NY to Barcelona, Spain

Date	24 ( Tuesday ) - 25 Jun 2025 ( Wednesday )
Total This Camino:	0 miles.
Total All Caminos:	2353 miles
Airplane	$ 1360
Travel Insurance	$ 360
Lodging (Deb & I):	$ 0
Total Lodging:	$ 0
Buses / Trains / Taxis & Rides (Deb & I):	Uber $ 26 to Rochester arpt Uber $50 to/fm Philly Market
Total Transportation:	$ 76
Food (Deb & I):	$ 48
Total Food:	$ 48

On the road

Day 1

1:30 p.m. Uber pickup at the house. 

1:45 p.m. arrive Rochester Frederick Douglass International Airport.

2:15 p.m. checked in and through TSA. 

3:45 p.m. no boarding. flight delayed due to maintenance. 

7:30 finally leaving almost for hours late. Currently must spend tomorrow on Philadelphia. American provided hotel and meal vouchers.

8:30 p.m. Arrive Philadelphia. Spent some time talking to customer service agents, firming up our hotel and food vouchers.

9:00 p.m. At the Holiday Inn, checking and having something to eat. 

Day 2

Starting the day at a restaurant across the street from the Holiday Inn just to walk somewhere. But I can sit down for a coffee and rye toast.

And already 88 here in Philadelphia. Of course I know back in Rochester. It's no spring picnic either. This heatwave has settled in across the Northeast. 

It is making me think about Spain because the the afternoon highs there are 100° or slightly more. Just have to be very careful to adjust to the weather, before pushing the body. 

We've made some minor scheduling changes already in Spain due to the missed connection to Barcelona. But we had already made changes while still home to our hiking schedule because of the weather in Spain. 

Adjustments are to be expected out here. Some forced and some unforced.

1:30 p.m. Leave the Holiday Inn for Philadelphia International Airport.

2:00 p.m. Arrive Philadelphia International Airport.

2:30 p.m. Checked in for our flight to Barcelona, bags checked and TSA cleared.

2:45 p.m. Police are circulating throughout the terminal, asking people if they picked up the wrong bag by mistake.

5:00 p.m. My food voucher from American Airlines doesn't work at Dunkin' Donuts. So I don't accept the food they prepared. Works fine at Bruegger's Bagels. Went back to Dunkin' Donuts to let them know they should investigate their system. The ladies said thanks for letting them know and they gave me the food since it was cooked anyway. So I gave them a $5 tip. 

7:20 p.m. Boarded and waiting for takeoff

Downtown Philadelphia Visit

Here are some photos of our visit to the Redding Terminal Market. 

Downtown Philadelphia

Redding Terminal Market

97° outside

Our First Major Change of Plans

Spain is in the midst of a heatwave. The afternoon temperatures are regularly in the 10x range.

We will still be acclimating to the environment the first week.

That makes the first days of walking 10+ miles unsustainable for us.

 

So tonight we will be breaking our day 2 walk of 18 miles into two days of approx 9 mi apiece.

The Booking.com reservation has free changes until the day before, so we will now stop in Amposta, Spain on our second day of walking, instead of passing thru.

Our Second Major Change of Plans

Due to our delayed by 4 hours departure from Rochester, I contacted the hotel in Deltebre, Spain for our first two nights stay. They agreed to shift our reservations by one day without issue. 

I felt very confident making all these arrangements in Spanish. 

We are now at the Holiday Inn in Philadelphia. 

Since we have an entire day here, we are making some plans about what to do tomorrow.

Definitely not Barcelona but ground transportation at Philadelphia's airport

Our meal at the Holiday Inn, chicken wings, french fries and Caesar salad. Definitely not tapas.

An unexpected Camino Surprise

While at the Reading Terminal Market in downtown Philadelphia, Deb and I asked this young woman for a suggestion or two and how we could kill a couple of hours visiting something. 

Long story short, Valerie turned out to be one of Adriana's, my granddaughter, fellow NCAA division 3 Neuman University ice hockey players. 

Talk about the old adage of what a small world. What are the odds that our flight connection would be missed due to a maintenance issue, that we would be in downtown Philadelphia in the exact same place at the table next to one of Adriana's fellow hockey players?