We are flying standby and the flights look pretty heavily overbooked (because of the UN Millennium Summit?) but we're going to take a chance of flying this weekend. We will be flying into Madrid and immediately heading north (Bilbao & Santander) - back to Madrid 18 Sep for a couple of days with relatives and then back home on the 20th. We will be thinking of all you Spain-o-philes as we enjoy the excellent basque cuisine in Bilbao and the Cocido Lebaniega (followed by Orujo de Liebana)in the mountains of Cantabria.

My favorite regions of Spain: Galizia to the Principality of Asturias, to Cantabria and the Basque Provinces - surely a gourmand's delight; and the people are so very friendly

Best of luck flying standby, Eddie! I hope you get on. How exactly does that work these years? I have flown a few times in the past on standby, paying for the ticket first and then hoping to get a place, but if not I was refunded the amount, usually a discounted ticketed. I hope you make it there. How do you expect to travel north? Train? Happy Travels!

Saludos, MadridMan

I'm Back! To reply to Madridman's question: Daughter works for Airline so we can buy 'reduced rate' tickets (no reservation). We go to the airport and wait, hoping there are seats available. This time there weren't and the whole week was heavily overbooked; so we had to make other arrangements. On the flip side: we couldn't get on Sunday's flight (17 Sep) but we did make it on Monday's. We live close enough to Newark and have family in Madrid, or it would have been a very expensive proposition. With all the last minute and internet fare deals available, travelling on 'reduced rate' tickets becomes less and less attractive because space is less and less available.

How did we go north from Madrid? We took Continental Auto's Grand Clase Autocar Madrid-Santander (and Back) - about ESP 8.400 round trip for a 'Business Class' bus. It departs Avda. de America Bus Terminal at 14:30, stops once in Torrelavega and arrives Santander at 17:45. We did the same on Alsa Santander-Bilbao. They call it Clase Supra.
From Santander, we took a day tour to Liebana & Los Picos de Europa - took the Cable car to the top at Fuente De: Awesome!


[This message has been edited by Eddie (edited 09-19-2000).]