Sunday: A Very Long Post about how much I hate the Madrid Airport and how lovely my first views of Portugal and Palma were

Today (Sunday) has felt like 2 days, since in a way it has been 2 days. My flight to Madrid was wonderful. I was in first class, which was incredible. International first class is very different from domestic first class. The seats laid completely down which was quite comfortable, though I only slept for about 2.5 hours or so.  A cute old Spanish man (approximately 80 years old) sat next to me, but we did not talk at all. I enjoyed the 5 course meal (I know, right?) which included warm roasted nuts, bread, a salad, appetizers (some type of seafood soup, beef empanada, and a vegetable hor d’oeuvre), and I opted for squash and bell pepper pasta for my entrée. By the time I received my main dish, it was nearing 11pm on my body clock, so I did not feel like eating much of it. I loved the hot towels we were given. They felt so good on my always cold hands.  I watched the movie “Easy A” on the giant screen in front of my seat which had a variety of movies, music, tv shows, and games (giant Bejeweled screen… so awesome). The movie was not very good, but I knew it wouldn’t be. I opted for it, because I wanted a mindless yet somewhat girly movie to distract me from being tired and sad about leaving home. I tossed and turned in my bed/seat and finally fell asleep for about an hour only to be awakened by the stewardesses chatting very loudly. I drifted off for a few more minutes but by that time it was getting close to breakfast time, and I was ready for it. I also wanted to catch the edge of Portugal, my first glimpse of Europe, so I eagerly watched out the window. We had a decent breakfast but airline food just reminds me of hospital food. I ate a huge bowl of fruit and was satisfied. Right after I finished, I peeked out the window and saw the rainbow effect on the horizon as we approached the sun. I had never seen this in real life before, so I just stared out the window at the sky for the rest of the flight. I did catch the coast of Portugal just like I wanted to. It was so beautiful with the sun just barely rising over it, casting long shadows on everything. I stared at the landscape and watched it change into the forms I learned about in my Spanish Civilization class last fall and could pretty much tell where we were due to the land structures.  My favorite thing I saw out the window was the tops of mountains with one tiny road going straight across the top of them leading to small clusters of villages strategically placed on top of an on the sides of the mountains.  I decided that I want to go to at least one of those villages at some point in my life. I have never seen so many vineyards and orchards in my life. It seemed like half of the land we flew over was covered in vineyards and orchards.  As the small towns grew into bigger towns and became closer together, I realized we were getting close to Madrid.  It was quite obvious when I saw Madrid from the plane as it seemed like I was seeing an endless sprawling of terra cotta and white plaster buildings with a mountain backdrop.  Also, I was worried about getting in the “Spanish-speaking mindset” before arriving in Madrid, but since so many people on my flight were Spanish and the stewardesses spoke Spanish to them, I was already beginning to think in Spanish.

My excitement about the Madrid airport was quickly overshadowed by the lack of elevators and escalators.  As soon as we got off the plane, there were 2 flights of stairs to climb (with my 2 carry-on bags). After wanting to cry when they said there was not an elevator, I began to lug my stuff up the stairs. After about 3 stairs, a Spanish woman and a man each took one of my bags and carried them for me up the stairs and also offered to help me out if they saw I needed any more help along the way.  I was very grateful for their help and for everyone else who helped me willingly.  I talked to a lady and asked her where I needed to go to catch my connection to Palma. She told me to follow everyone else “to the right.”  Little did I know that “to the right” meant down a glass tunnel/hall that was about a mile long. I was roasting due to the morning sun shining through the glass and had to stop every few minutes to catch my breath.  It was flat, but it was hot and so very long.  After that hall, there were more stairs.  Everyone else on my plane was gone, because I couldn’t keep up with them.  My method for stairs was to take one bag at a time down the stairs.  I was surprised at the number of men with nothing in their hands that stared at me and didn’t offer to help.  But I got through it anyway.  I finally got to the new(er) section of the airport where they had elevators and moving sidewalks that saved my life (well maybe just my arms).  I also had to pass the guardia civil at customs which just took a minute, and I got a new passport stamp! Woohoo! I got lost but finally found my way to where I needed to go.  I was told to pass through the green sign “nothing to declare” so I did, only to be stopped by a Spanish security man and told that I had to go through security (just like U.S. security). At this point, I didn’t know where my phone was nor what time it was and my connection was close to my time of arrival (about an hour between my arrival and connection and I spent a lot of time trying to lug around my stuff).  I was terrified that I was going to miss my connection.  The security man only spoke Spanish which was fine for the most part, but I could tell he got frustrated with me.  I had to take off my boots, sweater, etc., take my liquids out of my bag and my computer and the whole airport security thing.  It was so weird, but there was no one going through security except for me.  The Spanish man kept saying something that I couldn’t understand and he was taking forever and I just wanted to catch my connection, and so I started crying.  He looked terrified of me and went to get a lady that was nearby to speak to me in English.  She helped me find my connection and told me exactly where to go.  I got on a bus, again I was the only person on the shuttle bus between terminals which freaked me out too, which drove the same lap about 5 times before taking me to terminal 2.  I was so thankful for the very old elevators in terminal 2, and I took one upstairs to the gates.  Luckily, my gate was right next to the entrance so I got in line (there were actually a lot of people up there, which made me more comfortable). 

My flight to Palma was the worst flight of my life, except for the amazing views.  First, they said I needed to leave one of my carryons at the gate to be checked, which was great because I didn’t want to take it on the plane anyway.  I went down the hallway to where I thought an airplane was, but no, it was more stairs leading down to yet another bus. I was worried I had gone to the wrong place, but then I realized I am in a foreign country and nothing is the same.  So I rode a bus across the airport parking lot right next to the planes (I was a little terrified of a plane hitting the bus), and we finally got to the plane which had, you guessed it, stairs leading up to it! I had no idea where to put my luggage I was supposed to check at the gate because we were out on the runway so I asked a guy in a yellow vest in my best attempt at Spanish at that point which was so awful that he spoke English back to me.  He told me the flight was not full so I could take it on board.  I waited for everyone to go because I didn’t want to hold anyone up with me lugging my stuff step by step.  I was terrified I was going to drop my stuff and it would fall down 15 feet of stairs, but thankfully my arms had sudden strength.  Everyone was staring at me when I got on the plane. I was the only American on there, and strangely, most of the people were South American.  The flight attendants hated me. The plane was almost empty, and my seat was in an exit row which means no under seat storage. Perfect.  I didn’t realize it at until a man spoke English to me and told me, so I asked the flight attendants for help.  I thought the woman was going to punch me because she looked so angry.  She told me to put my wheeled case on the floor behind my seat.  I had never seen such little legroom for an airplane seat in my life, and I told her I didn’t think it would fit.  She told me to turn it the other way so I did and somehow, it fit.  Then she told me to put my tote bag in the overhead bin, which of course wouldn’t fit either.  I asked her what to do and she told me to take things out of my tote and put them in the bin separately.  So basically I unpacked my tote into an overhead bin until I could shove it in there while we were on the runway about to take off and the attendant was glaring at me.  Every single person near me was staring at me, and I’m pretty sure they were making remarks about Americans and how we have a lot of stuff.  The flight attendant didn’t even offer me a drink on the plane.  I stared out the window as Valencia passed below, and I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.  It is so beautiful.  The coast of Valencia looks like a dream vacation spot.  It was a short flight, but I dozed off for a bit and woke up just as we arrived upon Mallorca.  I have never seen more beautiful seas and landscapes than Mallorca.  It looks like Hawaii mixed with Ireland with beautiful cliffs, lots of greenery, and mountains.  At this point, I didn’t even care about how everyone on the plane hated me.  All I wanted to do was go swimming.

We flew into Palma, and I had the most perfect view of the bay.  The Palma airport was so much nicer than Madrid, and I was expecting the opposite.  They have ramps instead of stairs, and everything is close together and much newer than Madrid.  I had a medium length walk to baggage which was mostly moving sidewalks (oh my goodness, I love those things so much now), and then I found a luggage cart (YAY!!!!) which saved my life.  I hurried down to baggage claim since most of the people on my flight already had their luggage and mine never came out.  I called my mom hoping she would answer (it was 5am at home), and she did! I had to go ask someone about my luggage since I didn’t see it and she told me to go through some gates and ask someone else. I asked him and he pointed to another carousel and asked if that was mine, and it was.  It made no sense, but I didn’t care.  I then was finally ready to leave and meet my new family! … except I couldn’t find a door out.  I thought a glass wall was a door so I walked up to it and an old lady tried to open it then told me it wasn’t a door. Thanks for that, lady.  Then she said tons of random stuff to me about a flight from Madrid so I said adios and kept going.  I looked ridiculous. I had a cart so stacked with luggage that I had to hold on to them to make sure they didn’t fall off which led to me scooting it along, oh and my mom was on the phone the whole time also.  I went out the real door and there were about 10 people just staring and no one said anything.  I said, “Vanderbilt?” and one lady said, “ahh! Lynne!” so I knew I was in the right place.  I talked with Carme and her daughter on our way out and they insisted I put on my sweater because it was “cold” outside.  I wanted to jump for joy when I got outside. It was warm and sunny, in the high 50’s.  They were shivering.  I told them when I left home there was snow on the ground and it was below freezing, so I was very happy with the warm sun.  I followed them to their little Ford Fiesta where we somehow fit all of my luggage into it.  The drive to my new home was breathtaking.  I saw so many amazing mountains, many of them snowcapped (they said usually there is not snow, but it snowed a few days ago).  Then we drove into the city along the road right next to the sea.  It is the prettiest sea I have ever seen with its perfectly blue waters.  I also saw a quick glimpse of the cathedral before we turned down the road we needed to go down.  

 They showed me into a cute little building with marble steps and flooring and then we went into an elevator to go up to the 7th floor. The elevator does not look like an elevator, because it has a literal door that you open to get on it. Carme, myself, and my luggage barely fit into it, because it is so tiny. They showed me around the apartment (which is really like a 1,000 sq. ft. house on one floor), and it is so cute, clean, and nicely decorated. My room is a lot bigger and nicer than I thought it would be. I have so much storage. I should have brought another bag (haha).  My window overlooks the eastern direction towards the sea, but I cannot see the sea due to buildings.  The sun shines in my room all day, and I love it. I also have my own bathroom which is also very nice. I unpacked everything and put everything away, then we had lunch, my first meal in Spain.  We had some kind of pasta soup (they said they make it for Christmas), an amazingly fresh salad with oil and vinegar (only I had one. apparently the others do not like it.), and some hand-breaded chicken, which was so fresh and so good.  We talked some at the table, but they had to repeat things often.  I am actually surprised at how well I am doing in speaking the language.  They do not have heat in the house, so it is a bit chilly but I am used to it.  They keep telling me to put on shoes and a jacket in the house, but I'm not really that cold.

I took a nap after lunch, then we went on a walk around the city.  Everything was closed since it was Sunday, but it was great because there were almost no people around.  It is very picturesque European with narrow, winding streets. After the walk, I passed out immediately.

-Lynne