Leaving Madrid

Today I had 2 things to do:
1. Send my wheelie bag to Santiago, where it will be held for me at the post office near the cathedral, to pick up when I get there within 45 days. I had to get to a post office in Madrid to do this.
2. Catch a bus to Pamplona, from the bus interchange at Av. America, about 5k from my hotel.

Last night, the pizza I shared with my friend was huge. I had 2 leftover slices packed to eat today. The hotel cleaning lady put them in a fridge for me.

I went to bed close to midnight, tossing a few options for how things would go today: which post office to go to (city or bus terminal), how to get to the terminal (uber, metro, or walking), and where to have breakfast.

I thought I would have plenty of time to decide in the morning, and I was leaning towards walking as much as possible.

Little did I know, I slept so well, I woke up at 9am! The possibility of going out for breakfast and then coming back to the hotel to pick up my stuff and get on my way, was discarded immediately. No time for that, if I still wanted to walk.

I got ready and set out to walk towards the bus terminal, carrying the wheelie bag all the way. There were 2 main reasons I decided against the city post office: it was closer, but a bit out of the way; and they opened at 10am (it seemed too late, when I found out last night).

I thought I'd get my 5k walk in before breakfast, and sit down to eat once at the terminal, as then I would know exactly how much time I had.

I checked the route on Google Maps, memorised the first few turns, put the phone away, and started walking.

About 15 minutes in, I was looking out for a theatre, where I had to take a right turn. No sign of it, and my road was coming to an end. I checked the map and, sure enough, I had walked past it a while back. I was off course.

To get back on track I now had to walk towards Puerta del Sol, where the city post office was. By the time I got there, it was 10:15, so it was open, and I went in. I had to wait in a line, and it was moving slow. Deep breath... it took over half an hour, but that was the first task of the day done. I had just enough time left to walk to the bus.

I first thought that if I could beat Google's estimated walking time by 25% I could still have some breakfast at the station. I walked past nice cafes and tempting smoothies but stopping there would mean giving up on the rest of the walk, to take a metro or taxi, and I still preferred to keep walking.

About halfway to the station I realised there was no chance I could beat Google's estimate. I had my full backpack on, and am naturally not too fast. I still had just enough time to get there by 12, and I knew food was not allowed on the bus.

There's a bus change after the first 2.5 hours, with a 30 minute break between the two, but I'd need to get my breakfast before then. I had only one choice: out came the 2 slices of pizza from the side of my backpack, and I ate them while walking. I made it at 11:55 😅Read more