1st Real Post - En Route to Sevilla!

4 September 2008. Madrid. 19:46 local time.

Airports, bah.

I’m writing this entry as I’m in the Aeropuerto de Madrid-Barajas. My flight to Seville is at 11:35 pm local time, and hopefully I’ll actually get to make it. Right now, apparently the runways are blocked at Sevilla-San Pablo Airport, meaning no flights can land there. So as it is, I am stuck in Madrid. I don’t really want to call my study abroad program yet and tell them the issue because it’s not a big deal—yet. They haven’t delayed my flight, so I guess they think it’ll be fixed. Here’s hoping.
I’ve decided that I really really don’t like airports, actually let me clarify that. US Airports (at least the ones that I have been to) are fine. European airports suck. Heathrow in London is one hot mess of an airport. First, they don’t tell you what gate you’re going to be departing from until 40 minutes before the departure time. As a person who likes to be at the gate at least an hour beforehand, that was a little unnerving. Then, I finally found out I was to go to Gate 5. So I followed the sign that said gates 1-12 thinking it’d be like American airports where I would come up and see a row of gates marked 1-12…not too much to ask for, right? Apparently the Brits can’t figure out numerical order because I ended up going down a few sketchy hallways, upstairs, downstairs, around some more corners, until finally I get to the sign that says “Gate 5, 74-79.” I don’t know what the hell gate 5 is smoking but it’s pretty lost if it’s near gates 74-79.

Then Madrid. No hay mapas. This was the first moment that I got really nervous about being here in Spain. I don’t know the language and I was LOST in a big airport. This nice man came up to me and asked if I was lost and where I was going, and then I eventually figured out that he was lost too, kept saying “estamos perdidos” or something like that, and I was able to understand (the gist of) what the guy at the info desk was telling him, but it still didn’t help me much because at that point I didn’t know that I was in a satellite terminal. Silly huh? I was actually really nervous then, walking around desperately looking for a sign to where I was supposed to go. I really need to work on my listening skills because at this point, Spaniards still talk way too fast for me to understand.

Anyway, I made it to the main terminal (by shuttle bus) and eventually found where I needed to check in for my flight. There the lady told me I didn’t really have to go through immigration…I could have just gotten my boarding pass right off the plane at customer service and gone to the gate. I had guessed that, but luckily I needed to get here anyway because it’s where my gate will eventually be when I eventually get my boarding pass and go through security. She was really helpful and told me that I don’t have to wait in line to check in, that I should just cut and find her whenever she’s done with a customer to check for updates about the airport.

Those of you who know me know that I really like soda. Yeah, that might have to change here because it’s RIDICULOUSLY expensive. I just paid €2.10 for a crappy 500ml bottle of Fanta. Seriously, it didn’t taste like the Fanta I know and love. I’m going to be so broke here, it of scares me.

Update – 20:51 Local time.
Everything’s fine.

I guess they got it all resolved at SVQ. Now I’m just trying to figure out what’s gonna happen when I actually get to Sevilla. I’m getting there around 12:35 a.m. and so I’ll probably have my bags and have gone through customs/immigration by then. I have phone numbers for a few cab companies, and so I should have a ride to the hotel. Then I’ll just wait there until morning. Hopefully there will be a place to put my bags, otherwise, I’m going to be pretty awkward sitting there for 6 hours or however long it takes CEA to get there.