We arrived to the parking area around 3:30pm and took the shuttle to the international airport. The ATL international airport was chaotic as usual. After checking in our two suitcases and two bike bags, we went through TSA pre-check and made our way to the Centurion Lounge. There was a wait so we instead went to the Delta lounge. We enjoyed some food and spent the next hour in the lounge, getting a little work done on the computer.
We boarded our Delta flight around 6:15am and the plane took off a little after 7pm. We were served dinner (I pre-requested a lactose-vegetarian meal) and I watched some of A Star is Born. I was able to sleep a few hours during our 8-hour flight to Madrid.
When we arrived to Madrid, we stood in a long line to get through customs and then picked up our suitcases and bikes. Since our next flight was on Iberia (different ticket) and we had a 10-hour layover (originally it was only 7 hours but the flight was moved back several times), I reserved a hotel room well in advance (back in February) at Hello Sky. We took the shuttle bus from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 and went to the -1 floor at departures/arrivals to check into our room. I reserved a 6-hour room so we had until almost 5pm to enjoy a bed and shower. We took a 3 hour nap which was lovely. Around 2pm we got a snack in arrivals and then around 3:30pm we checked in at the Iberia gate (there was a separate check in area for oversized luggage like bikes). Since our flight wasn't until 7:10pm we had plenty of time before 6:35pm boarding. We went to the lounge with our priority pass membership (from our Amex Plat business credit card) and enjoyed some free food and drinks while working on the computer. We boarded our plane around 6:35pm. There were no TVs on the plane but I could access the entertainment system on my phone. I tried to stay up throughout the entire 2.5 hour flight but I fell asleep for around 45 minutes.
After two long days, we finally arrived to Lanzarote, Spain around 9pm which is located in the Atlantic Ocean, by the Northwestern coast of Africa. While Karel waited for our luggage, I picked up our SUV rental car from Sixt rental car. I was able to find a manual SUV for less than $200! Karel loves driving manual. European SUVs tend to run much smaller than in the US but we made it work by stuffing our suitcases and bike bags inside the SUV. We made a quick stop at Lidl around 9:50pm and then arrived to our Airbnb just after 10pm. Our athlete and roomie Bara met us outside our Airbnb as she arrived on Friday.
Karel and I had a small snack (I had a bowl of cereal) before finally falling asleep just after 11am. It was a somewhat restless night of sleep but we got up around 8am, ready to start our first official day on the island.
