my (unexpected) madrid adventure

I was not looking forward to flying from London to Granada, by myself, with 4 months of my life stuffed into an oversized suitcase. Saturday morning I woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep. I was so anxious I found it difficult to eat my breakfast at 7 in the morning. By 8 Lauryn had gotten me into a cab with all of my baggage and I was taken to the Gloucester tube station. I maneuvered my way down an elevator and a flight of stairs onto the Piccadilly Line towards Heathrow. An hour later I was hauling my stuff up escalators, on multiple moving walkways and to the Iberia check-in. My arm was already sore.

I checked two bags (I didn't want to carry my 40 lb carry-on and decided to pay the fee rather than lose an arm hauling the bag around multiple airports). I got through security, though they confiscated one of my Christmas gifts for Cameron - apparently you can't bring paste (ie. peanut butter) on an airplane.

My flight was delayed, from 11:20 to 11:50. At 11:30 I found my gate, then waited there for an hour. Then we all got on the plane and waited an hour and a half to take-off. By the time I arrived at Madrid my connecting flight to Granada had left.

I wandered around the airport until I found an Information booth, and was told my flight had left. There were no more flights. I found an Iberia customer service booth, and was told the same thing again. I asked if buses left the airport for Granada. She said no. I got a voucher for a hotel, two meals and the shuttle bus. And a ticket for a flight to Granada the next afternoon.

I don't think I've ever felt so exhausted/exasperated/sad/alone/angry/defeated. I found the shuttle bus, finally managed to get in touch with Cameron who had been waiting at the Granada airport for an hour, and told him the bad news. I made it to the hotel just as a migraine set in. All of my medication was in my checked bag and the front desk didn't have any. I tried to get dinner but it was too early - dinner doesn't start until 8:30 pm in Spain. I took a nap, made my way down to dinner and finally got a seat.

I was sat with Santiago at the bar - a student from Mexico City who had been traveling back from a semester in Florence, Italy when he was also screwed over by Iberia. We talked over dinner, which I couldn't manage to keep down because of the migraine. After dinner Santiago gave me some aspirin, and then I went to my room and fell asleep.

I woke up to my alarm, ate a considerably better breakfast at the hotel restaurant, hopped on the airport shuttle bus and got through security. My flight was delayed again, and I sat both at the gate and in the airplane. We didn't leave until forty minutes after our scheduled time. I watched out my window as they loaded baggage onto the plane, took some off, then put the same baggage back on.

I made it to Granada, with my checked baggage, and seeing Cameron immediately made everything better. I think I relaxed immediately.

Long story short: I made it to Granada! No more planes for me for a while (after I make it to the US in January .... )