Corinne CrawfordI arrived at the Madrid airport and took a left out of the gate when I should have taken a right apparently and ended up making the very long way around to get to the baggage claim. Not only did I have to take the long way, I had to sneak in a door that was supposed to be just an exit. But no one seemed to blink an eye and I actually was not the only person from my plane to have made this mistake. I got my bag and then started looking for the signs that indicated a train station as most airports have clear signage for public transportation. I saw signs for taxis and buses but did not see anything resembling a train icon. So I found an information desk and stood behind one other person who was asking the man behind the desk a question. I waited my turn and as the first man walked away, I stepped forward. The man behind the desk did not even look up. For a while. I was starting to think I was not at an information desk but the “i” icon and word “information” led me to believe I had interpreted my location correctly. After a weirdly awkward amount of time, the man looked up. I asked him where I would find the train station and he pointed out the doors and told me to jump on the bus that said T4 – Terminal. 4. No other information. So I got on the free shuttle bus and got off at Terminal 4, which seemed a strange amount of distance away from terminals 1-3. As I walked into the terminal I saw the train tracks down below on the lower level and made my way down to the train operator customer service desk. I told the man at the desk that I needed to go to Sevilla and he punched in his computer and told me that it left at 3pm and it was $100. This is not what my app Rome to Rio had stated but I took him at his word and he gave me my printed ticket and told me that I needed to transfer to a different train at Atoche station. It was only 1:00pm so I thought I had to wait in the station for 2 hours. I first decided to check out the tracks and make sure I knew where I was going to get on the train at 3pm before retracing my steps to find something to eat. There was no track number on my ticket and there where at least 4 tracks but as I investigated further, it looked like 2 tracks were actually a city metro and the other two were train and because they both terminated at the station, I figured it would not matter which one because they both had to go the same way. I had to enter the track area by scanning my ticket at a turnstile but I couldn’t figure out how to get back out of the turnstiles to go find some food. A nice lady doing janitorial work in the area saw my confusion and asked me in Spanish if I needed help. I showed her my ticket and said that I had to wait until 3pm but I was hungry and wanted to go find something to eat first. She said , in Spanish, there are plenty of places to eat at Atoche. I replied that I had a lot of time now, but she told me that my train out of Atoche was the one that left at 3pm and I should grab the next train fromn terminal 4 that would take me to Atoche. Boy, am I glad I was confused because I would have missed my train out of Atoche and waited at the airport terminal until 3pm. The next train to Atoche actually just pulled in and I got on the train and went the 20 minutes or so to Atoche. Atoche is a large central hub for all kinds of trains and metros but it was not difficult to find the area for the AVE- the high speed train that would take me to Sevilla. There was a long line to enter that area as all bags were scanned like at an airport but the line moved fast and I grabbed a sandwich and some chips at a café in the station and waited for the departure screens to display which track out of the 16 available was the train that would take me to Sevilla. There were a lot of people going to Sevilla apparently lined up to get on the train and I found my seat and watched a movie on my iPad during the 2 ½ hour train ride from Madrid to Sevilla that I had previously downloaded. I got to Sevilla and using the Rome to Rio app, found that if I took a bus from across the street from the train station, I would get within 10 minutes walking to my hostel. I got lucky with timing this time and the bus arrived within 5 minutes of my arrival at the bus stop. I paid the few dollars and paid attention to the stops as I was getting off at Duque Plaza. However, the bus stopped about 3 stops from that location and everyone on the bus got off. I figured that it just must be a popular stop but the bus driver told me that it was the end of the route. I didn’t ask any questions about the fact that I thought this bus went to Duque, I just asked the driver about the Duque Plaza stop but all he did was point. So I got off the bus and checked my maps and it would be an additional 25 minutes of walking to get to the hostel. I had my luggage with me and it was hot so I went to a corner and ordered up a Bolt to take me the rest of the way to the hostel. I checked into the hostel which was down a quiet pedestrian-only street and was assigned to a dorm of 6 bunk beds. I have stayed in a hostel before and was assigned a top bunk and I really didn’t prefer that so I requested a bottom bunk if available. Even though the young woman at the desk kept saying over and over that they were completely full and she might not be able to honor the request, when she handed me my key she told me I was in room 17 in bunk D, a bottom bunk. Yay. I made my way to the first floor and entered the room. There weren’t any other people in the dorm at that time but there were large suitcases along the wall and it appeared that every bunk was occupied as evidenced with the curtains drawn and personal items hanging from each one. Luckily, the locker drawer assigned to me under the bed was large enough for me to put my whole suitcase in there and I stacked a few things within the bunk on the shelf as well. It was super small but well laid out and I liked the privacy of the curtain that could be drawn on the bunk. The bathroom was attached with two sinks, two shower stalls and two water closets. The only area with a door though was to the two toilets so if someone washed their hands or took a shower, the rest of the room could hear that and see the light. No big deal. I had plans to meet with Marta that evening and it was now just after 6pm. I had to get some work done and take a shower so I immediately took my work computer and went down to the common lounge and sat a table and worked for about an hour before I returned to the dorm room and took a shower. I let Marta know that I would be ready for whatever by 9pm. She replied right away and told me she would be there to retrieve me at 9:15pm. We found a place to grab a bite to eat and spent the time over the meal catching up on the last 6 years since we had last seen each other. We then went to a rooftop bar and had a few more drinks with amazing views and before we knew it it was 2am!
As we left the rooftop bar as they were closing, she suggested we stop at one more local spot on the way back to my hostel. It was a small crowded charming place and we chatted with some acquaintances of hers for another hour. We walked back to my hostel in the wee hours of the morning and said our goodbyes. I told her I needed to do laundry at the hostel the next day and she said I should just text her with what time I was ready to go. Go where, I wasn’t sure, but I assured her I would. I was a bit tipsy and slept fitfully until 10am as I typically do not stay out past 10pm! I texted her when I finally woke up and let her know that I needed to do laundry and shower and would be ready by about 2pm. She said she would come to my hostel at 2pm.