As with most international trips, the first step is getting there and that means one or more flight segments to get to the ultimate destination. For this trip, my flight itinerary was a mess. I made my reservations almost a year in advance, but as my departure day neared I discovered that American Airlines had discontinued two of my flights. Thanks a lot.
What irritated me most was that neither AA or National Geographic advised me of this when it happened. I learned about the cancellations by accident when I called AA on another matter. It became clear that I had to redo my itinerary, and that wasn't easy. Between me, AA and National Geographic's travel agent, it took two full days to come up with a new itinerary. And it was ugly.
I flew from my home in the Reno, Nevada area, to Chicago, to London and finally to Seville, Spain. Thank goodness, I have a lot of international flight experience so I used all my "tricks" to rest enroute such that I wouln't be a basket case when I got to Seville. I used some AA frequent flyer (AAvantage) miles to upgrade for the trans-Atlantic segment and I was able to get a few good hours of sleep on the overnight trip.
My domestic flights were with American Airlines and the London/Seville segment was with Spain's Iberia Airlines. Iberia has a lot of things needing improvement to equal American's service and aircraft. Ah, but that's what travel is all about - learning things.
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