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Day 1 -- June 29
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Day 1 - June 29, 2008
My journey started in Tally-ho when I left for my 9:05 AM flight at 8:10 AM, woops! I pulled into the 2-terminal airport at 8:35AM and they checked me in, no lines, no waiting - I must say, this is the first and probably only time that I can say that I LOVED Tallahassee! So I made it just in time for boarding and I got on the flight and flew down to MIA! After an 8 hour layover, I finally boarded AA Flight 68 for España! Boarded the flight...we were asked to de-board...fabulous! AC broke...but, shoot, I wasn't sad...kick me off, I was happy that it broke while we were on the ground before we were up in the air. Only an hour delayed, we were taxied out for our departure...and we were off! Then, once in the air, I popped my Benadryl...read a few chapters in my book, and night night, Kelli! So, as you guessed it, I slept like a baby for the duration of the flight. I had exit row so I was comfortable, or at least as comfortable as I could be! Then the captain over the load speaker..."as we prepare for our landing in España..." - yayyy! I slept through the entire 8 hours! But, with that came the fact that I missed out on all of my meals, and I was ravenous!
I got off the plane into the beautiful Madrid Barajas Airport - or at least the International Terminal I was in was gorgeous - apparently it was brand new! (I learned this from a girl I met on the flight from Panama). Got my bags and off to meet Lindsey. Lindsey and I met on facebook (thank you for the internet) so that we would have a travel buddy for our trip. Such a great idea! She's type-A, too!
We took a taxi to the hotel and tried to check-in and nope, we got a quick - "a las dos" - meaning it was now 11 AM, no checking in until 2 PM (or 14:00h as they say...this military time thing is going to drive me bonkers!). They held our bags and we had a great idea, let's walk and get some food. Let me share a little bit about where we stayed - in Alcobendas - not quite a "tourist" area. So, we walked, no food, we saw a Toys R Us in the distance so we figured there had to be food nearby. We walked and found the only restaurant in sight, "Buffalo Grill" - American Café. Darn, that's not what we wanted...we kept walking. We went into a store like Loews as I attempted to use the best Spanish I knew how to figure out where we could find some food. He told us to walk about 15 minutes up the road because everything is closed (Spaniards usually eat lunch at about 1:30 the earliest). So we walked for about 20 minutes to no avail, so we turned around and made it back to Buffalo Grill to get some grub. So, my first meal in Spain - Barbecue Ribs - but it wasn't my fault! I truly wanted some Spanish food but we couldn't find any!
In addition to the few phrases I learned while eating (that were necessary for survival), I quickly learned that España is not known for their quick and prompt service - why, because propina no es necessario en España (meaning - where tips are pretty much customary in the US, it's not necessary here). So, to say the least, customer service does not seem to be the first concern of anyone here.
Which is exactly why we made it back to the Hotel and couldn't check in until 2 PM on the dot. Front desk, Holiday Inn Express, no ingles! Ahhhh! But, we made it through and got the keys to our room and went upstairs to enjoy our first Siesta nap! (It's customary in Spain to take a nap between about 2 and 4 pm - I could really get used to this!). Well, we didn't exactly wake up at 4, we woke up at about 6pm only because we were determined to watch the partido. For the first time in 44 years, Spain was a contender for the championship title in the Euro Cup, which is held every 4 years, 2 years after the World Cup every year. To say the least, it was a big deal!
Marcos was at the front desk and he was very nice! With his best attempts at being able to speak to us in English, he was able to tell us where to watch the game, although it was going to be "crazy"! We wanted to go anyway - this was an opportunity of a lifetime!
So we walked the 500 meters to the Metro Station and boarded the train for Colón, the middle of Madrid! BTW, the walls of the Metro station were Orange and Blue...they must have known I was coming...Go Gators!
We had to change over trains in order to get there and boy did we know we were headed in the right direction - on the train they were loud, crazy, and excited! We got off...and it was PURE pandemonium! Big screen, people every where decked out in their Red and Yellow...and we were in the middle of it! It was great!
Given the fact that it was about 9:30 PM, we were hungry...and once again, it's too early to eat! Sheesh! So we walked the dark streets of Madrid with lots of drunk people around trying to find some comida...to no avail! So we decided to just pop a squat and watch the game and try to see if we could figure out what was going on. I understood uno - zero, I figured that was the score...I just didn't know who was winning. We tried to gauge the crowd to see who was winning, and it wasn't long before we could surely tell...yayyyy España! Spain has not had a title in 44 years, so can you guess what it was like? Fires in the middle of the street, fireworks, people carrying and flying their flag high in the sky. It was fun!
We figured we should not try to get food but given the time of night we should make it back to the Hotel. And that we did. Got back on the Metro and we were attempting to see if we could find a taxi, but, no taxi...we had to walk back once we got to the station. So, did I mention that those 500 meters were the scariest 500 meters of my life - it was an industrial road and we were stupid walking there - but we had to get home! We would NEVER do that again...but, we got to see them win the title! It was worth it.
Once we got back to the room, we attempted to order room service, nope, it's too late. So, my dinner, a granola bar and Fanta Naranja (which is really Yellow, it's so weird - but Kel LOVES her Orange Soda!). I'm a bit hungry but all worth it so far!
Stay tuned...
Latest Comments (1)
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Miss you already. (reply)
Jun 30, 2008 17:41 EST by tmur
Wow! Thanks for keeping us all so informed! Your pictures were very entertaining and supported your story well. We miss you already. August 8th is a looooong time away!
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