I’ve come to learn that my trip to Madrid was actually a lot easier than some other people’s. That being said, my expedition to get here was by no means simple or particularly enjoyable. I originally flew out of Columbus at 7:15 AM on January, 9th. That meant getting out of Springfield at 4 or 4:30 AM. The flight from Columbus to Chicago was completely painless. I’ve heard some horror stories from people here about Chicago snow and I now know that O’Hare only costing me two hours was very fortunate. I arrived in Chicago at the same time as a snow storm that eventually dropped a foot and a half of snow did. There was plenty of potential for a nightmare situation, but I escaped relatively unscathed, popped two Nyquil pills and slept nearly the entire flight from Chicago to London.
It was cold, dark, snowy, and midnight when I got into a taxi to take me to my hotel in London (my flight out was 7 hours after arrival and the thought of spending the night in an airport wasn’t at all tempting). The cabbie told me that the fare was 60 pounds to the hotel. Apparently I was in the wrong type of cab to get to the hotel and some other types would have done it for much cheaper. Luckily the cabbie had dropped this little nugget of information on me once we were already en route and I had no choice but to pay him. To put in perspective how much money 60 pounds is: the pound is roughly twice as valuable as the dollar and I paid 44 pounds for a hotel room. The cab driver had the audacity to ask for a tip, I really hope he was kidding.
The hotel experience was fine once I figured out how to get into the building and turn the lights on in my room (seriously, don’t ask. Never in my life have I felt more like Clark Griswold than when I was stumbling around a dark room flipping light switches and being completely unsatisfied as no “click” yielded an electrical response). I took a cab back to Heathrow for a mere 15 pounds the next morning. Upon arriving in Madrid the big news amongst the locals was the 3-4 inches of snow on the ground, an event seldom seen here. I, however, was completely jaded to seeing snow as it had been either falling or on the ground every step of the way. Seeing snow on the group in Madrid aroused a quiet suspicion of mine that this whole trip was a hoax. The idea crossed my mind that I really hadn’t gone but 20 miles from Springfield, Ohio and people had been filming the entire event a broadcasting it to an audience roaring with laughter as they saw the face I made when the cabbie asked me for a tip or when I was banging my shins into desks and chairs in my dark hotel room.
I met a group of Americans on flight to Madrid, students from the University of Washington studying in Cadiz. I had hoped that they would be SLU students who would have advice for my newest and potentially most formidable problem yet: I was in Madrid a day before I’m allowed to move into my house. Obviously getting another hotel was a viable option but after getting burned so badly in London I was reluctant to stick my hand back in that fire. What I ended up doing was calling my Senora and commanding all of the rusty Spanish conversational skills I could muster, I managed to tell her that I was at the airport and I would be at her house soon. She told me what metro stop to get off at and after schlepping my luggage the 5 blocks to her house I was standing in front a woman only slightly taller than an Oompa-Loompa who was peppering me with questions I was in no way prepared to answer (mostly because the questions were in Spanish, as she speaks less English than I do Spanish). I navigated her questions, was shown to my bedroom and did not emerge from there for the next 13 hours.
Like I said, not the worst trip you could have, and I was certainly fortunate in the length of my delays, but not the easiest trip I’ve ever made. More posts soon about actual life in Madrid. I know this blog was supposed to be about me living abroad not bellyaching about travel and my former stance on blogging, but continue to bear with me my friends. Also, I would love to hear from any of you guys who are actually reading this thing. You can comment directly below an entry or you can leave me a line on facebook or email at jbahr6@gmail.com . Most posts soon,
Joel
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