Day 17 Homeward Bound

We stayed in the Debod Hostel in Madrid last night. Next year I'm going to get a hotel at the airport whatever it costs. Firstly, the hostel is a wonderful example of how to con people via a website. It looks good but is, in reality, nothing like it is portrayed on its website.

The "lounge area" is a dining table with soft chairs, the toilets ok but not great, and the showers had lukewarm-ish water. Some guests were very noisy banging their lockers (under the beds). The automatic lights were on and off all the time because they never stayed on long enough for you to see what you were doing and you ended up frantically waving and arm to get them to come back on. Fortunately, they turned off about 10pm.

The guy on the bunk above my friend was so drunk he fell off the ladder and almost into her bed!

At 3 am, I heard a ringing noise and assumed it was a mobile. At 0330 I realised it was the doorbell. Thinking that a guest was too drunk to know the code, I went to the door. It was two Colombian women in their early 20s wanting to check in ( the check-in closed at 8pm the previous evening). I didn't know what to do, I had no authority to let them in. I could see they had a reservation for today, but check-in was 3 pm, not 3 am as they had thought. I closed the door and went back to bed.

Don't judge me, reader. You weren't there.

As I lay on my bed, my conscience troubled me. It's true that I didn't have any authority to let them in, but it's also true that you have to do what's right and damn the consequences. And I have a daughter.

So, I got up and went back to the door. They were still sitting outside. I ushered them in and said I couldn't give them a bed, but they could stay in the lounge. At least they would be off the street and safe.

I went back to bed and slept like someone who had done the right thing.Read more