I am sitting in the Raleigh
airport and I have just said good bye to the family sans dad and Daniel. It
will be nearly two months since I see them again. This is the longest I will
have been away from home, not something I am really looking forward to, but it
something that comes with growing up.
* * * * *
Now that was quite the “adventure.” I finally made camp in Madrid and have now taken a plane, a bus, a train, a bus, a tram, a plane, and a train
to get into the city. Not quite as direct as I would like, but
interesting none the less. An interesting thing was schlepping along with 80
pounds of luggage through New York…but hey, at $4.50, it wasn’t too bad. The
plane ride wasn’t too bad, fairly enjoyable, but a little squished. I was
sitting on the widow side with a fairly round man to my left. His name was Doad
and he was on his way to Egypt. He told me that he was a retired traveling
journalist who had met kings and presidents of various countries. He was a very
nice guy, probably in his upper sixties, and he certainly showed me “the tricks
of the trade” when it comes to getting food on airplanes (something that can be
attributed to his round figure haha.) We
said our good-byes and then I stepped foot into the airport of Madrid.
Unfortunately, my stay in the airport was around two and a half hours, but I
was able to make friends with an information guy and I met a lady who was
representing Doctors without Borders. I was also fortunate enough to meet a couple
of girls from Texas who showed me the ropes and helped me get into Madrid.
Once I made it into the city, I
spent the next 5 hours or so looking for a place to sleep that night. The moral
of the story is, not that you have to work out where you are going to stay for
the night, but rather commit to one thing. Either sleep in a hammock in the
tree or book a place before you get there. Taking the middle path in this
situation certainly doesn’t fair well for you. You’ll end up dragging 90 pounds
of luggage on foot around an unfamiliar city with no one who speaks English and
doing so on 5 hours of sleep in the past two days. In the end, I found a
McDonald’s so that I could get wifi, found a place to stay, and then spent the
next 45 minutes trying to find it. It was only about 100 yards from where I began
my 5 hour journey. If only right?
Even with all of this, I was
fortunate enough to still see some of the city. I went to Plaza Mayor and I
visited the most beautiful city park I have ever seen in my entire life. Actually,
walking to these places was nearly just as beautiful as the destinations
themselves. In between, I even saw a rally of sorts in the giant square…complete
with policemen wearing riot gear. The day proved to be quite the process, but it
was worth it to see the things I had seen. Once it got dark, I returned to my
hostel to meet a great middle aged man from Jordan who received his PHD in IT
management in Madrid. Getting his doctorate, he spent a couple of years in the
city so he was able to help me out with what to do and where to go. I left and
returned again to find an Italian couple who were also staying in the room.
They both college aged students who spoke English. The guy said he was an
aspiring director and seemed to be pretty well versed in film. I was actually
able to show them IMDB.com for their first time. It’s a shame they had never
seen it before. They went out to experience the night life of Madrid and I had
a long day, so I went to bed. End of Day 1.
This is awesome.
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