In Madrid

Can't believe I'm here!

After my 24 hours of flight, I was surprisingly not tired at all. But I did sleep quite well on the plane. On the way to Korea, I had a wailing baby behind and beside me so I was really cranky when I arrived in Seoul. But I went to the hotel, ate their buffet breakfast, had a shower and nap and felt better. And then on the way to Madrid from Seoul, the plane was practically empty so I put up the arm rests and had five seats to myself.

Ruben met me at the airport and helped me carry my 22 kg baggage up all the stairs at the metro station (I'd forgotten how they don't have escalators). He has a friend, Alberto, living in Madrid who said we could camp out at his place, so we turned up but he wasn't at home and wasn't answering his phone. After ringing the doorbell for about ten minutes, we dragged my luggage back down the stairs and had some dinner (JAMON! JAMON!).

Luckily Alberto called and said he and his flatmate Caroline had got stuck in the traffic on the way home from Ikea. It was La Noche Blanco yesterday, the purpose of which I still have no idea but they closed down heaps of the streets and kept the metro open till 3 am.

So we went back, lugged my baggage back up the stairs (Ruben must have very strong arms by now) and dumped the stuff. At midnight, we headed out and drank. And drank some more. Got home at 5 am and crashed.

Woke up at 11 am this morning, thirsty, disorientated but relatively awake. No one else was up, so I waited and watched The Family Guy till 2 pm, when Caroline got up and showed me where the food was. Then Ruben and Alberto got up and after showering, we went out and hunted for food (and I had jamon again).

It gets dark at about 8:30 or 9 pm here so it's very confusing because I always think it's earlier than it is. And I'd forgotten how late people eat here too.