The short story is – When traveling internationally, Jack Will Travel does not recommend lollygagging when getting to the airport. This includes having drinks at The Bravest in New York City and then stopping for wine and pizza before heading to the subway. *Make sure you know how long it takes to get to the airport.*

The upside of the knowledge gained from this experience is that we are made our plane, despite obsessively sweating while looking at our watches on the “A” train heading out of Manhattan towards JFK airport. The downside is – well shit, I guess there is no downside – we made our plane. With that said, let’s get on to biz-ness...

Jack Will Travel had a 9 hour layover in Dublin where we put to the test whether or not Guinness in Ireland tastes different than Guinness in America. After several pints, the verdict is still out. What we do know is that Guinness is creamy, smooth delicious-ness, and when necessary, can take the place of a meal. Jack Will Travel endorses Guinness.

What we have learned at this point is that we are rusty. With the mistakes we have made so far, all of which we ourselves have gotten quite a laugh out of, one would think we had never ventured out of the country before. It’s like riding a bike, however, and part of err we like to think is due to the fact that we maybe – if we were lucky - had a couple of hours sleep in the first 30-plus hours of our adventure.

Today will be spent working out the kinks. Part of working out those kinks and getting back on the trail is getting your kit sorted out - your kit being your backpack and everything it contains; therefore we’re hitting an outdoor store today to pick up the missing pieces – little things like soap, a towel, a cup for drinking wine on the vineyards we may be camping in, etc. We are also hoping to get our first video up today to tell you, the public, a bit about what we are doing – and in the process, maybe we too will discover a bit about what we are doing. As we’ve said before, this is an organic production and we’re all in this together.

Also on tonight’s agenda – the semi-finals of the Confederation Cup. Much like the World Cup, this only happens once every four years and is a lead up to the World Cup. Tonight’s match up; Spain vs. The United States, winner plays Brazil. Spain has just been ranked the #1 team in the world. Lucky for Jack Will Travel that we are in Spain to cover this one.

From Madrid, most likely Friday we will be heading up to the Rioja Region of Spain, best known for its world-class wines. There are three regions of Rioja:

• Rioja Baja, which produces fruity, full-bodied wines of higher alcohol content
• Rioja Alto, which is known for its one-year old red wines (called añadas) and for reservas, which are wines aged for at least two years in a barrel, plus one year in bottles. White wines (best drank young) are also produced in this area
• Rioja Alavesa, which is an area that produces young red wines

Special Reserves

The Rioja region produces some truly extraordinary wines, called special reserves. These wines come in three categories:

• Crianza – aged at least one year in a barrel, then stored on a bottle for a year and the Crianza are made from grapes of the third, fourth, or fifth crops
• Reserva – aged for at least two years in a barrel, then one additional year in a bottle
• Gran Reserva – Aged for at least three years in oak barrels, then one year in bottles in the underground cellars in La Rioja, called calaos.

Chapter 4