Today has been a lot of time traveling. I'm writing this right now on the train from Barcelona to Montepellier at 6pm local time. I left pittsburgh at 2:30pm yesterday, so by the time the day's over, I'll have been traveling for over 24 hours. I guess I can get funny ideas sometimes about the best ways to travel. I guess I just assume that Europe is so small compared to the US, that you can get almost anywhere quickly. Of course, train and plane schedules mean that's not quite true.
So, when I left Pittsburgh, our flight was delayed for over an hour and a half. I was getting freaked because I didn't want to miss my connection to Madrid as there's only one flight a day. It looked like it was going to be close, but I talked to the gatekeeper in Pittsburgh and she said they had the same issue yesterday and that they just rescheduled everybody. Well I figured if they had the same problem yesterday, there's a good chance they'd have it tomorrow, so I figured that I'd risk it. Worst case, I'm stuck in Philly for the day. Well we made it, although I did get some excise running for the gate. It turns out that I was still on the plane to Madrid with plenty of time, but if you know the Philly airport, it can be a decent haul from terminal C to the international terminal A. Plus, I needed some exercise. Too much sitting would be happening way too soon.
The flight across the Atlantic was pretty uneventful. Bad food, but it went pretty fast and I got some sleep thanks to having two seats to stretch out on. It's definitely not a peak travel time. The plane was maybe 40% full.
In Madrid, I have to say that the customs is the easiest I've ever done. I literally didn't have to say a word. Just give the papers, he stamps them and off I go. And luck of luck, my bag actually made the connection too. I was a little worried that I"d have to buy new gear and then pick up my bag next week when I get back to Spain. It's good though.
The Madrid metro seemed pretty good. It was empty for a metro, but then, it was 10am local time. So, it was fast and efficient to get to the Atocha train station. That station is really cool. It looks like where they used to have the rails come in, they turned it into a gigantic tropical greenhouse. Very beutiful way to sit around reading a book waiting the 2 hours for my express train to Barcelona. While I was waiting, I also found a mobile shop and bought a SIM card. Check. One thing down.
The AVE (high speed train) to Barcelona was pretty spectacular. We made the trip in 3 hours and only stopped once in Zargoza. It was a supremely comfortable ride that got up to 300km/h at points. It sure didn't feel like we were going that fast. Of course, then again, most of the time, we were going through some pretty barren desert terrain. I had no idea that Madrid is basically in a desert. It reminds me a lot of the area around Tucson, but without the cacti. I'm pretty sure they're at the end of the dry season now, so I wonder if it actually greenifies with the rain? Even if it did, it was all scrub and rocks. Hardly a tree in sight. I can see why the Spanish colonized California and Arizona.
As we approached Barcelona, the scenery slowly got greener. There were more farms and trees showing up, making things look just like the San Francisco area. Once in Barcelona, I had another hour and a half for my train to Montepellier to leave, so I just grabbed a bite to eat and waited it out. Now, I'm on that train. In Montepellier, I'm staying at the HI hostel about 15min walk from the train station. Really, I just need a place to crash tonight since I'm quite low on sleep. I got maybe 4 hours on the plane another on the train to Barcelona. As for being able to get around, I'm getting frustrated with the Spanish. Yes, it's true that I don't really need it at all, but every time I try to use some simple phrases, my brain goes into foreign mode and french pops out. "Merci beaucoup"
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