Where were you on 9/11?

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”
 Tim Cahill

Seville

We were in Spain on 9/11. We left the states on September 1^st and flew to Madrid. We spent several days exploring Madrid before we hopped in our rental car and took off for the Costa del Sol region. Our first stop was Cordoba, then on to Seville, Cadiz, Jerez to visit the Sherry bodegas and purchase some Sherry, then a couple of nights in Gibraltar at a wonderful hotel right on the water. We watched the big ships go by and we could just make out the continent of Africa across the strait. Then we stopped at Ronda for the day and ended up in Mijas where we had booked a condo through our timeshare . We had a week there to explore the area.

Our timeshare was Club La Costa, and we had a duplex with a view of the ocean in the distance. The other half of the duplex had a Scottish couple. We met them when we moved in. They were sitting on their porch and we said hello and chatted for a few minutes. We spent the next few days running around to different towns along the Costa del Sol area. On September 11^th we spent the early part of the day in the town of Nerja, then visited some spectacular caves, drove to Malaga and took a swim, then ended up having dinner (around 10PM – as is the custom in Spain) at a little seaside outdoor restaurant. I had the paella. We didn't turn on the radio all day, and even if we had, it was all in Spanish. We got back to our condo at around midnight.

 

Mijas, Spain

The next day George suggested we do a leisurely day at the pool, just relax, swim, read and have lunch at the restaurant at the pool. There were very few people at the pool, and we had a very relaxing day. We headed back to the condo around 3PM. The Scottish couple, Myra and Malcolm were on their porch, so I went over to say hello. Myra said “I'm sorry about what's happening in your country!” I said “what's happening?” She was surprised that I didn't know. She took us into their place and turned on CNN. We stood there horrified by the news. Then Myra surprised me even more. She said “we knew you were from somewhere in the states, and you should know that all flights to the states have been canceled. You may not be able to get home. We'd like to invite you to come stay with us in Scotland, for as long as you need.” They didn't even know us, and they'd invited us to come stay indefinitely. I was amazed.



We didn't take them up on their offer. We knew we could get home before too long, and we decided it made more sense to stay in Spain, which is where our airline ticket was for. But after their generous offer we invited them to join us for dinner that night. We drove up to the hill town above us and had dinner in a cute little restaurant there. We found out we had a lot in common with them. We were the same age. And we had such a good time with them that evening. We did a lot of laughing, which we needed after the news of what was happening.


Toledo

Two days later we said good-bye to Myra and Malcolm. We exchanged email addresses and we promised to let them know when we did got home. We headed north to Toledo where we spent a couple of days. While there I called US Airways and asked them what they would suggest for our return. When I told them the date we were scheduled to leave, I was told that would be the first day they would be flying back to the states, and that we would need to be there 4 hours in advance. I was surprised that we would be on our scheduled flight, as others had been delayed for close to a week. She said that those scheduled had to go, the others would be worked in and special flights would be brought in to help. So we actually flew home on the day we were suppose to. I have to say that security and the amount of people trying to get home, made it a nightmare. And when we landed in Philadelphia the whole plane was silent, until we were on the ground, and then their was applause, everyone was glad to be back on home ground. Getting through security and clearing customs in Philadelphia was also a nightmare, but we got through and caught our flight home.

We emailed our Scottish friends and told them we'd arrived. They emailed back, and a long distance friendship was formed. In January 2003 Myra phoned us and asked if we would join them in the Canary Islands in September. I said yes, without hesitation. We spent a wonderful time with them there, and promised at the end of that trip, that we would meet them somewhere in the world every other year.


Myra & Malcolm with us in Boston

We have pretty much kept that promise. In 2005 they flew to Boston and we did our own fall tour of New England. In 2007 we met them in Greece, on the island of Crete. They had scheduled a trip to see us in San Diego in 2009, but Malcolm had to have open heart surgery, so instead they came here in 2010. We showed them San Diego and then drove them up through California to visit Yosemite and Sequoia, then all the way up to our cabin in Washington state. We came back down the coast with a stop in San Francisco. In June of 2012 we will fly to Scotland to visit them. Together we are taking a road trip over to Ireland.

September 11^th and the events that happened that day were horrific. But for us a wonderful friendship came out of it. I doubt we would have made that connection if things had been normal. We treasure that friendship, and realize that we need to stop and connect with people whenever we can. We also need to occasionally stop and make sure we know what is going on in the world when we travel.

So where were you on 9/11?