Madrid

It’s time for us to head home. We slept in a bit, packed up, and make one last trip to Mercado Central. I am really going to miss that place. We spend an hour or so picking up some last minute souvenirs, eating sweet croissants, drinking fresh squeezed orange juice, and just looking around. Our plane wasn’t until late afternoon and checkout was at eleven. We could leave our suitcases at the bike shop below our apartment but we would have no access to the apartment. The thought of walking in around in that high humidity and not being able to take a shower, was just not appealing so Georgia and I decide to head to the airport early.

Since we got to the airport so early, we were able to eat lunch. I wanted to eat at Burger King. Georgia thought I was crazy. Burger King is very popular here in Valencia and the restaurant was packed. I started to feel guilty that I wasn’t eating food from Valencia so we found a restaurant and had vegetable paella. You would think the airport paella would be bad, but it was really tasty.

I know this will be shocking but our next flight was late but only by about 20 minutes. What we learned is that if you travel on these discount airlines, you are often walking out to the airplane or riding a bus. Riding the bus to the plane is awful. It’s hot and crowded and really uncomfortable. Actually this was the worst bus. We were one of the last people on the bus and we were packed in like sardines. About 1/4 of the customers were still inside when they realized there wasn’t enough room on the bus for everyone. There was a 20 minute conversation between the gate agent and the bus driver. The bus doors were open to the heat and we barely had room to stand. Finally they decided to take us to the plane and return for the rest of the people. It was a bit scary thinking that the airlines didn’t know ahead of time that we wouldn’t all fit on the bus.

The flight went smoothly. When I booked this trip, I thought we would check into the hotel and then take the subway into Madrid. We were just too tired to do that so we ate in the hotel restaurant. Our waiters were identical twins and it took me a while to figure that out - thanks Georgia for letting me know. We had a good meal and an early evening.

Tomorrow we head home and I can’t wait.Read more