God, that was a long journey from Birmingham. There were a couple of scary moments along the way. There was a realistic possibility of not making the connection from Paris. Suddenly Galleni coach station appeared in front of me. Though I should not have worried, the coach from Madrid ended up leaving 45 minutes late. Both delays were caused by passengers not having the correct paperwork. This is frustrating as in both London and Paris passengers have to check-in. I thought that the whole point of checking in was to ensure was to ensure that passengers had the correct documentation to travel.
Still, I finally arrived in to Madrid at 13:15 on 29/06. After allowing myself 15 minutes to get familiar with my surroundings I made my way to the hostel. Surprisingly that was easy enough and I checked into the hostel with ease too. The big disappointment was being told that my room with a private bathroom had become a shared one. Still, it is no hardship as they are of a good standard.
After a couple of hours rest I decided to venture outside to have a look of the surrounding area. I had learnt my lesson of last year and Vienna when I just rushed out as soon as I arrived. I felt this might have been a reason for my food poisoning as I did not allow my body any down time. After a meal and some down time chilling out in the common area I just crashed out for the night.
More of my trip to Madrid to follow.
Stay safe, stay healthy and keep on smiling.
Steve
SteveWhittythoughts1965 