And now the good news
It looks like I can go to Spain after all! The travel agent did some more juggling, and if I fly Bilbao-Madrid-London-Chicago, there’s no problem. It means a couple more hours on a plane, and even more hours sitting around in airports, but considering how many hours I’m going to be doing that anyway on this trip, a few more won’t hurt me. And on the plus side, more miles, so more frequent flyer points 🙂 (BC-AUS convention in June, here I come!)
The agent’s just waiting to get a few more details to sort out Otakuu’s itinerary, and then she can book all our flights. This is getting very exciting!