Arrived in Madrid-Barajas Airport at 7am, filled with excitement, this is our first time in Europe ever.
At 7am, it was very quiet in this clean airport, no shops open, just arrival passengers heading to customs and then to the baggage carousel.
It was all smooth sailing until one by one, the passengers got their luggages and left. Half an hour passed, no luggage, worry start to set in. It couldn’t be. We refuse to think the worst. An hour passed, the baggage belt came to a stop. And we were forced to face the truth that our luggage aren’t showing up.
There was a line up at the lost baggage counter, I wasn’t sure if I should be glad that we weren’t the only ones or annoyed that it would be a long wait. The Spaniards do take their time filling out these reports, the 10 people in front of us literally took 2 hours. In the meantime, we walked around the entire area multiple times, hoping our luggages were playing hide-and-seek with us.
Patiently waiting to file our reports, we finally got out of the airport at 10:30am, heading into the city with only our carry-ons. We were dropped off at “Student Phones” as was determined a phone is necessary to contact landlords for our housing search. And surprise.. it wasn’t open. Well, the building was open, the light was on, but there was no one inside.
With no working phone, we walked 20 minutes to the hotel with our neck pillows in one hand, carry-on luggages in another, wearing glasses, sweatpants and an oily face, looking like two asian hobos lost in the city.
Hotel concierge directed us to a nearby mall for SIM card purchase, dressed in the same set of clothes we headed to the mall (still looking like a hobo). Little did we know, El Corte Ingles mall was a high end mall with luxury brands, thus made me feel super out of place in my hobo outfit.
Quickly we found the mobile department, and requested to purchase a SIM card. And perfect, the clerk didn’t understand a word of English. Instead of using sign language, I remembered there was a “China Desk” at the tax refund area. For all the Chinese customers that needed tax refunds for their purchases.
The girl from the desk was extremely nice and helpful, took us all the way back to the mobile department, translated all our questions until a SIM card was purchase. Even recommended us to go to Puerta de Sol for countdown.
With a working number in hand, it was already 1pm. 30 minutes passed our first housing appointment. The landlord agreed to meet us at 1:30pm so we jumped into the metro to save time. First time being in the metro, we had to figure out the way on the spot; and ended up taking the same amount of time as walking if not longer to arrive at the destination.
Just like that, we had to call, reschedule appointments, rush to the appointments, try to communicate with people with half English, half sign language, then repeat.
With our housing settled, our legs dying from soreness, stomach dying from hunger, finally were having our first meal of the day at 4pm in a nearby cafe (one of few restaurant that weren’t closed for a siesta).
End of Chapter 1
– December 30, 2014
