From thereon it was like the scene in The Sting<\/span>. It\u2019s an old building, even dingy; the elevator we take to the fifth floor is the old-fashioned close-the-gate-yourself type; and when we walk into the \u201coffice,\u201d it\u2019s a boiler-room operation scene: card table desks each with a telephone; people working the phones with head-sets on; and a young bearded gentleman comes up with a friendly, serious face. \u201cCan we get a cheap plane ticket to Europe?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n \u201cSure,\u201d he says, \u201cfor $100 each I can get you anywhere in Europe \u2013 just depends on what day you want to fly. Madrid tomorrow? Frankfort Thursday? Prague on Friday?\u201d Madrid tomorrow we say, and find out he only takes cash and then only hand-writes up a receipt (not close to a printed ticket), and says \u201cTake this to the Air Madrid counter at JFK tomorrow. Be there by noon.\u201d<\/p>\n So El\u2019s pretty suspicious but I\u2019m feeling like this worked exactly the best we had imagined. To Ellen\u2019s ever-lasting credit, she gave me the benefit of the doubt that we could do our honeymoon almost 100% spontaneously \u2013 the only sure thing was that we had to be back in two months. Rosie, as I sometimes called her, has a question, so she calls the number in the Village Voice<\/span> ad, worse than no answer, the line is disconnected! Now I have my doubts too, but I tell her, \u201cLook, we budgeted to lose this $100 and buy stand-by tickets \u2013 so what\u2019s to worry \u2013 let\u2019s see if it works.\u201d We spent the second night of our honeymoon in some motel just across the Hudson on the Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel.<\/p>\n Next morning we take the subway to JFK, find the Air Madrid counter, and hand over our receipts. \u201cOh,\u201d she says, \u201cwe take these but it\u2019ll cost you each another $50.\u201d So we pay cash again and get on the plane. By then the ticket taker lady and others in line knew it was our honeymoon and surprised us with a champagne-filled flight across the Atlantic. That\u2019s how we started our marriage. The rest follows.<\/p>\n Seven week-old Jack at the Capitol<\/p><\/div>\n Tomorrow: Our Marriage<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Un bon pere apprend a son fils la responsabilite et donne alors sa responsabilite de fils” Jack Dawkins, age 7 El and I honeymooned in Europe, but we didn\u2019t get there any normal way. We took the Amtrak sleeper car to NYC, … Continue reading ![\"Seven](\"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/LegDeskBaby.jpg\")
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