Two travel days

Three planes on Tuesday. Champaign to Chicago to Charlotte to Madrid. Long day but no surprises or delays. The food on American seems to reach new lows every time I fly. But we arrived about 30 minutes early so I’m not complaining!

I got off the plane at 6:35 and by 7:15 I had been through immigration, taken the train to the main terminal T4, gone through the vaccination check, taken the commuter train to the Chamartin train station, and was drinking my first cafe con leche. I’ve said it a million times but Spain really knows how to do public transportation!

I was a little worried about using the train station’s bathroom. But one euro gets you through the turnstile and you get spotless toilets and sinks, hot water, soap and towels. And when you close the stall door, a recording of birds chirping starts to play.

I am now on the train to Salamanca and am glad to see that masks are still required. Whoever heard of a train scheduled to leave at 8:50 that shuts its doors and starts to move at precisely 8:50? Are you listening Amtrak? It’s 1 1/2 hours on the fast train, which means I’ll have time to do all my pre-Camino chores before things shut down for midday break.

I was a little flat yesterday but am now transitioning to joyful camino mode!Weiterlesen