My Spanish airport mission

The Airport Mission

I should expand a little on my experience at Madrid airport, because I find it quite funny and it is a perfect example of being in Spain.

So after I was interviewed in Porto airport by Timeout Porto (random) I jumped onto my (late) flight to Madrid and when I get there, I see two signs pointing opposite directions to baggage claim. I choose right. Walking almost 10 minutes with my somewhat heavy hand luggage (I had to take some weight off my backpack for it to be checked in), I come out to a cafeteria area. No baggage.

Scratching my head, I turn back and finally figure that it's downstairs. Baggage claim. Empty. Had it been windy down there I would've seen a hay bail. I try to explain to the lone staffer down there I'd just come from Porto and needed my baggage. He points to follow these other guys out and says '1' - I realise I've walked almost to Terminal 3 and it's back at Terminal 1. Where is the signage?? For fuck's sake.

I walk back to T1 and when I get there, I see everyone from my flight coming out from arrivals - the guy downstairs had sent me to collect my friend from a flight and I was stuck outside, with my luggage inside. Great. The lost & found lady says I need to knock on the door next to arrivals but I get no answer. Luckily, being useless in one area usually means you're useless in others, so I was able to walk back into arrivals undetected by security (because there was none) to get my bags from the carousel. The same guys followed me and got their bags too - phew, at least I wasn't the only one!!

THEN... just when I thought my nightmare was over... Wizz Air, the delightful cheap airline that it is, couldn't actually start the plane and got us all the disembark while they ran around flailing their arms and we walked I swear the entire length of the airport (3x) before being told to go back to the gate and re-board. I've never been told 'welcome back' on a plane before!

Anyway, long story short (well, it's still long but hey youj're still reading) I finally got to Budapest just before 3am. The poor Couchsurfer I had organised a bed with had to get up to let me in about 4 in, but after he kinda woke up, we had a not normal cigarette, he opened a bottle of champers, we tucked into that and then retired... kinda................. Needless to say, I'm still quite tired today.

Last days in Porto

Now that we've gotten the awkward old man situation out of the way (see 'Sorry old man, I don't do 70+'), I'll continue on my final days in Porto. R, my second Couchsurfing host, and his partner L continue to be very generous and forthcoming in inviting me to all the get-togethers they've having with their friends. Mostly it centres around the World Cup football matches, let's be honest, but still good fun and all lovely people. I'm actually starting to develop some love for this game. Ssshhh, don't tell anyone.

The second night I stayed with them we went to R's poetry night down the road, where he read some verses from books in Portuguese and various people in th audience also shared their pieces. In between poems, there were a couple of guys alternating with songs on the acoustic guitar, some of which were English so at least I could hum along!

Despite not being able to speak Port, I really enjoyed listening to the variances in voice and emotion - I felt like a dog must feel with humans ha! The only downside was that the basement got really smokey because EVERYONE was puffing away constantly, and as yet there is no law against that. Grrr. And I just washed my hair too.

The next day I took up R's suggestion of checking out the Douro river by train. Basically, it's a regional train ticket (about 10 euros) which I managed to get cheaper cos I accidentally bought it for the wrong stop (I swear they ALL sound the same!). The train guy didn't notice though, phew! It's much cheaper than the wine-tasting boat, although that would've been nice...

The journey was 3 1/2 hours each way, and by the time I got to the end (Pocinho), the train was almost empty and I was greeted with......nothing. A train station, a cafe and some houses. No people selling me lollies or necklaces, no signs for boat tours, no one at the ticket office, not even a cash machine - a problem for me since I had cash to the tune of about 1 euro on me. I ended up having to get out at Regua with the inspector and buy my ticket with him there. But he was fine about it.

I was originally going to stick around Regua til the next train but one glance at the town confirmed I wasn't going to be able to entertain myself for 2.5 hours. Regardless of how entertaining I can be. So I jumped back on the train 5 minutes after I got off and amused myself by watching a group of Portuguese-speaking (Brazilian maybe??) students who didn't want to sit down behind me for fear of a tiny grasshopper on the window. Dear lord. I had to stride in and throw the poor thing out the window for them. Pansies.

Got back earlier than planned and walked back from the station, a decent distance but worth it for the sights I could take in on the way home. Really starting to like this city. Met R at home and we headed to his friend's place to watch - you guessed it - football. This time it was more important cos it was Portugal v Spain - let's not talk about the result.

So that's it! I woke today to ready myself for the flight to Madrid, then Madrid - Budapest. Budapest! Yay! So excited (I wrote this on the plane, stretched out on my own row of seats, so by the time I post it I'll be there!!). Looking fwd to my first host, I'm hoping to see a few of his sights - uhhh, I mean the city sights, yeah that's right...