I had been TRYING to do the walking tour my whole time in Madrid but I just couldn’t bring myself to wake up so early. Today was no exception + the Chilean girl Pia, who had been studying in Madrid for six months, told me, Tamar and Dominic that she could take us around to see the city. She had to pack though so me and dominic left to see the city.
It was kind of a bummer that we only had so little time. I think we only had like 1,5 hours to discover the city before we had to meet up with Pia. We were on a busy schedule since I was leaving that day and of course just then when you don’t have time, you get so inspired with all the little random shops you find in each corner! E.g. we went to this book store across our hostel and I got Mia her ”random” birthday present :D
We saw all these cool places... Temple de Budon (the place which Pia had been talking about = the place to be on Friday where people drink) it was absolutely stunning ! It was not like that lame Jardins da Sabatini park which is too neat for me. Temple de Budon was full of all these kinds of trees and it had a lovely city view and a fountain.. I really enjoyed that park :)
We also saw the Real palace...
...and Plaza de España (meh)...
...and went to meet Pia for food. We got some Paella and i’m not even lying when I say that I had o gobble up my food in 7 minutes... fucking hell. Food ready in 15 minutes, yeah right.. more like in 40 min...
I was in a hurry to make it on the train.. and oh boy, if only I would’ve known that the station I headed to, was the wrong one... So I left for the 17:20 train to Valladolid where my plane would take of from to Brussels. I would’ve been in Valladolid at 18:30 and my flight would’ve left a little before nine. I would’ve been in Brussels a bit before 12 at night and my plan would’ve been to sleep at the airport... but things didn’t go as I had planned...
I swang my backpack on my shoulders and left my hostel with a really hyped up feeling. I was listening to good music and I felt pretty stoked. I went on the subway, gave some lady a couple of euros for a metro ticket and gave my public transport card away to another random person since it still had 6 viajes left. So overall, I did some good karma. Karma wasn’t as generous in return though.
I had been dumd enough not to book my seat in before-hand so I had no other option that to stand in the long line 15 minutes before the take off of my train with my heart beating like a drum in my chest. I kept glancing at the clock every 2 seconds. I could feel myself starting to panic when there was only 10 minutes left for me to get my seat booked, find the right platform and run to my train with my backpacks.
8 minutes before the departure I was sure I was going to miss my train and thus also my flight, if I wouldn’t make a move. I started asking people in Spannish whether I could go before them since my train was leaving in 8 minutes. People were kind enough to let me in front of the line but it was enough – when I finally got to the counter I came to realize something absolutely horrific.
The counter guy told me the train was leaving from the other side of Madrid, not this main train station, but the other one............... I felt my stomach drop. ”Pero... no esta algún tren?”. He told me that another one would leave at seven and that I would be in Valvidoid 20:45. I could feel myself start to shake and like there was an invisible fist clutching my throat:
”Pero mi avion.....it leaves at nine....”
”Lo siento.”
I left the counter with tears streaming my face. People were probably looking at me, the crying backpacker, but I just couldn’t give a fuck. I had just missed my flight. I walked pass the people, out of the ticket sale office out to the lobby and threw my backpack on the floor next to the wall. I sat down and started crying with my hands holding my head. I was so incredible upset and dissapointed and hopeless. I had never missed a flight. I felt a bit lost. I cried for a bit before deciding that I’d better call dad.
After something that seemed like an endless hunt for a phone booth (couldn’t understand those stupid instructions) I finally realized the phone booths were inside this photography store. The counter lady told me I could pay as I go so I stepped into the booth and hit the numbers of my dad’s phone. And started crying again. After a lot of crying and swearing I managed to calm down a bit and my dad told me to call my airline whether they could change my ticket.
”Ei niit kiinnosta, mä lennän jollai paska halpisyhtiöl. Eikä mul oo muutenkaa ees kännyy enää”
”Miten nii, mis sun känny on?”
”No mä hukkasin sen...”
”No niinpä tietenki :D”
Made me laugh a bit 8) Pretty Standard... what, my third phone this year?
At the end of the phone call I was actually feeling overly ridiculous about the situation: hey wtf, I just missed my flight to Brussels (and thus also to Helsinki) and I’m stuck in Madrid... HOW BAD CAN THIS BE? MAN I AM SO GONNA GET WASTED TONIGHT
I left the phone booth with a big grin on my face. Just as I left the photography store I bumped into this man who comes up to me and asks for 1,6€ to call back home Greece. I looked him up and down and kinda wondered how the fuck didn’t he have any money on him since he clearly was travelling too (backpack etc).
”Yeah, sure, hahaa wtf I just missed my fucking flight!”
”Really? I just lost over thousand euros.”
”Wtf?? What happened?”
”I don’t know.. well I mean, I slept for a while on my backpack and when I wake up someone had stolen 1000e and 3 visa cards off of me.”
”Here, take all my change, it’s all I have on me now.”
”No really, you don’t have to-”
”Come on, take it, you need it more than I do.”
Although I had lost myself some 500e that day (missed 2 flights + had to buy another one back home) and wasn’t extremely rich anyhow, I knew how fucked up he was. I know that if I was in the same situation I would want people to help me. So I have him some 10 euros or so. Hope that guy did get home but srsly, who the FUCK carries 1000€ around ?! _WTF_ The MOST I’ll take out at a time is 250€ if that... Common sense isn’t forbidden...
Ps. Check out how cool the train stations was from inside ! A FREAKING GARDEN or something out of the Jurassic Park !
so fuken prettyyyy
So I got on the metro (swore under my breath for giving away my travel card 8D) and listened to Sofi scream to the beat of Deadmau5.. That was how I was feeling, slightly furious & insane. It was the best coming back to the hostel. Andreas and his mate, these guys from L.A I had JUST met an hour before leaving, were like ”WTF SANDRA ARE YOU DOING HERE” :D I also saw Tamar and was happy to be her roomie again :) I went online and booked another flight from Barca – Helsinki. Cost me 170€ goddamnit........ I had been thinking that I’d have a nice amount of money when i’d come back home, but no... I guess not. FFS. It cost me 500€ to come back home all together !!! Oh and next time i’ll know not to book any returning flights since you never know how you’re plans change (who you meet, where you decide to go etc) and besides, if I would’ve just bought this flight from barcelona – helsinki, instead of the tickets before (valladolid – brussels - helsinki) it would’ve still been cheaper ! only the flight from brussels – helsinki cost be the same amount (170€) as from barcelona – helsinki... YEAH BUDDY.
So i got some rum and coke, the Americans fed me and I also noticed tha the ("NORTHERN") Irish guys I had been checking out at the train station (:D:D:) were in our hostel. We went to Templo de Budon, the place which Pia had told us about. It was soooo cool at night ! Heaps of people, some guys playing drums and a good feel to it :) Ana, the cool Brazilian girl was there, too. We bonded over Aussie men... haha :D
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