Current State
I'm over halfway through a 4-hour layover in the Madrid airport. I spent the first half of the layover going through a passport check and adding pictures to my blog post on my week in England. Now, I'm sitting at my gate with a little less than an hour until we start boarding the 9-hour flight to Chicago (and a little more than an hour until we actually take off). I'm a little sunburned, mostly on my back. It's not too bad, but it does make carrying bags on my shoulders more painful than it should be or has been during this trip.
Madrid
On July 3rd, I flew from London to Madrid to spend a night at Molly Ronan's apartment. Molly wasn't there, but when she saw on Facebook that I was going to be in Spain, she graciously offered that I could sleep in her apartment if I passed through Madrid. I did some research and realized that it would be a relatively similar cost to fly to Madrid and take a train or bus to Málaga as it would be to fly directly from London to Málaga, plus I would have one night without hotel costs, so I decided to do it. My 8:25 a.m. flight was out of Stanstead airport, so I had to leave my hostel before 5 a.m. to catch a bus that would get me there by 6:25. I was checking a bag and had no idea how long the security lines would be, so I wanted to make sure to give myself enough time. The folks at the hostel assured me that I could pay cash directly to the driver, but I got nervous when I arrived at the stop and saw that everyone had tickets in hand. A group of us were there waiting as the 5:09 expected arrival came and went with no sign of a Stanstead bus. We got more and more nervous as 5:20 passed, and a few people got in a taxi. I was pretty anxious by this point, but I had no intention of paying 150 pounds for a taxi - even if I had split it with other passengers, spending that much on a cab just seems absurd. Finally, the bus arrived at 5:30 to an irate group of stressed travelers, and, to the dismay of another gentleman and myself, the driver said the route was full and refused to sell any extra tickets, saying we could try our luck with the bus expected at 5:39. Just as I was re-evaluating my timeline and whether it would be worth it to take a taxi, the second bus arrived and they driver did allow the other gentleman and myself to board. We arrived at the airport around 6:45, so just 20 minutes after I had hoped to be there. I was glad I got there early because the baggage line was ridiculous. I was flying Ryanair, which is a super budget airline operating out of Dublin. I had to wait in a long line to get my passport checked and my bag tagged, then stand in another line to actually drop my bag off to be put on the plane. Ridiculous. Luckily, the security line was fairly quick and I was able to stop for a coffee and "buttie" (a kind of British breakfast sandwich) and still be at my gate with plenty of time to board. Phew.
When I got to Madrid, I took a bus then a subway into the city. They have a pretty good underground system there - I think the longest I had to wait for a train was about 6 minutes. I went to the neighborhood near where Molly lives and got lunch, waiting for her to send info about when I could go to her apartment. As it turned out, I had to wait until 10:00pm, so I put my essentials for the night in my small bags and dropped my big bag off in a locker at the main bus station. I then went to a main area of town to walk a bit and update my blog with info about my time in London. When 10:00 came, I went to Molly's apartment and was greeted by one of her roommates, Maria, with a kiss on each cheek and "¿Que tal?" (the Spanish version of "how are you?"). She was very hospitable but we didn't talk much since it was rather late. Molly's room faced in toward a central courtyard of the apartment building. The window was already open when I got there and, upon looking out, I realized that all of the windows facing the courtyard on every floor were open. This meant that there was never any real silence - the hot night air was permeated by a constant flow of chatter and merriment, even until the early hours of the morning. I'm not sure when or if it stopped because by the time I woke up, other folks were up and chatting. I really enjoyed this experience because it felt like a true taste of Spain.
In the afternoon, I took a train to Málaga and met Robyn at the bus station (she flew in about an hour before my train arrived and took a bus to the station, so we were there around the same time). Our Airbnb host, José, told us he wouldn't be at home when we arrived, so we needed to call him when we got to the station for further directions. I made a wifi call and he said we had to pick up the key at a bar called Baires (I heard "Bailes") on Calle Juan de Padilla (I heard "Calle Juan de Barilla/Varilla), which was just down the street from his place. This caused some confusion, so I had to ask him to text us the actual name and we had no further problems finding either place after that. The space was nice and José wasn't there our first two nights. When he did show up on Wednesday, he brought home a cute little puppy, Sasha, who he was taking care of for a friend. He was really nice and the whole thing was extremely casual.
Málaga is a very touristy beach town, a very popular destination for travelers from different parts of Europe. Many people spoke English and restaurants usually had English versions of their menus that we could peruse as needed. We spent the majority of both of our days there at the beach, lounging in the sun and taking quick dips in the Mediterranean. It was the calmest ocean water I've ever experienced, and was truly a refreshing swimming experience. We both got a bit sunburned, but not terribly. Other highlights: We had dinner after 9pm every night, always with a shared jar of Sangria - what a delight. We did nothing particularly touristy or travel-oriented. It was truly a vacation from my vacation.
We're about to board now, see you all in a few hours!!
Te quiero,
Colleen
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