November 8, 2019
I landed in Madrid at about 8:30AM local time. We deplaned via stairs, and that’s when I quickly figured out that the weather was going to be cold and windy. But! I did come prepared with an extra layer in the form of a lightweight hoody. Que bueno.
The Struggle Begins
After passing through passport control, it took me a long time to figure out where to store my bag at Terminal 4. I had read somewhere online that they have a luggage storage service in the international arrivals hall, but Google didn’t seem to show me results of where to find it within the arrivals area.
So, I actually wandered around for about 20-30 minutes before I finally found it! If anyone asks, the luggage storage place is on Level 0 to the far left, walking out of the sliding doors of customs.
After dropping off my one rollaboard carryon, I headed down one level to figure out getting a subway ticket to the city.
Slight Struggle
I attempted at figuring out the ticket/pass machine for the subway, but the attendant saw that I was reading everything and being indecisive. He asked me where I was planning to go, and I told him I wanted to go to the cathedral. He selected a pass option that basically gave me unlimited rides for the tram, bus, AND subway for the day. And it was cheaper than me attempting to buy a round trip ticket. Somehow.
He saved me 1 Euro basically. Not even mad.
Subway Struggling
I finally got my pass and got going. According to Google Maps, the overall subway trip would take about 1 hour and 15 minutes with multiple transfers along the way.
Long story short, I…
- Accidentally stayed on the first subway for too long, and it started headed back towards the airport. Didn’t realize it until I was 4 stops away from where I needed to be so I had to get off…but then…
- …It took me a little while to figure out how to navigate the station I got off in so that I could be on the correct track/direction
- Went the wrong direction on a subway loop and had to basically do a similar “get off, find opposite direction”
Because of my mistakes, I probably added another 30 minutes to my trip.
The Struggle Continues
I got off at the Opera stop (my goal) in central Madrid, but by this time I was tired and hungry. It had been 1.5 hours at least since leaving the airport, and probably 2-3 hours since the last meal on the flight.
Looking around, I saw a Starbucks. Now, Starbucks is never my first choice, but given the situation…I decided to concede. Grabbed myself an egg sandwich (protein!) and a short Americano. I actually hung out here for a little bit in order to finish my coffee and Day 1’s post.
To the Cathedral!
After Starbucks-ing, I started walking to wards the cathedral. Unfortunately, I started walking the wrong direction at first. My portable hotspot was getting spotty reception and wasn’t updating my Google Maps app quickly.
I eventually made it.
It’s right next to the Royal Palace. And…there must’ve been some sort of event for the school kids because the area between the cathedral and the palace were SO FULL of school kids.
Inside the Cathedral
My gosh, the cathedral has really high ceilings, and had lots to look at. I stopped by and prayed for the prayer intentions I carried with me. And I took some pictures too.
I waited around a while in order to catch the daily Mass at noon.
However…I had no idea were the Mass was. I thought it would maybe be in the main part of the cathedral, but at 11:59AM I saw nothing going on and a bunch of school kids starting to sit in the pews near me. I know from previous experience that sometimes side chapels are used instead, and I decided to investigate.
I found it, but they blocked it off to prevent tourists from interrupting. I spoke to the guard letting him know I wanted to attend the Mass, and he let me in.
Mass was in Spanish, but that didn’t matter because I have an app with the prayers/missal in Spanish. It was nice.
But despite the struggle and success…my anxiety was amounting…
I started freaking out about getting back to the airport on time. Departure was at 5PM. Mass ended at 12:35PM. And I knew I had about 1.5 hours to get back putting me at the airport at 2PM.
However, from coworkers’ experiences, they’ve mentioned that flights going to Israel have extra security measures. And I needed to allot time for that, just in case. My goal was to get head back to the airport by 1PM.
Yesterday, I had the goal of getting tapas and a sangria for lunch. But that wasn’t gonna happen.
I dashed towards the subway station and basically did the reverse of what I did to get to the cathedral.
And I didn’t mess up 😉
Smooth sailing…almost
1:45PM. I got back to the airport, grabbed my bag from the luggage storage, checked in, passed through security…
…where I messed up. I accidentally left my portable keyboard in my bag. Airport security made me go back and remove it to have it separately scanned. I was stressing out because it was a long line. It all ended up being okay though. Just an extra step that I could have avoided.
My gate was in the satellite section of Terminal 4 which requires a long tram ride. Did that. Then…I made it!
Because of my credit card benefits, I sought after a Priority Pass lounge called the Neptuno Lounge. That was a struggle too. I couldn’t find it!!! 3PM now.
Turns out, I found some isolated escalators that led up to the level I needed to be on in order to find the entrance.
Relief
Once inside, I requested to use a shower in the lounge. After all that dashing around and being trains and planes, I felt it was needed.
After showering, I made good use of their buffet since I didn’t really have lunch. I also made a phone call to my mom to let her know that I survived Madrid.
Filled with salad, bread, wine, and hot bowls of food…I made my way towards the gate.
Iberia #3316 A330 MAD to TLV
I’ll just make a few highlighted comments here…some observations:
- I ended up switching seats so that another passenger could sit with their friend. I didn’t lose having an aisle seat though, so yay
- Somewhat open flight—free seats here and there. Mad dash to claim 3 free seats that are side-by-side so that people could lie down. Which happened to the two rows right beside me. Some guy had their socked feet pointed me most of the flight
- Sock Man got pisssed when we landed because the flight attendants wouldn’t let him get up on the descent and during taxi to go to the lavatory (dude bro, it’s the rules no matter where)
- I was sooooooooo tired at different points of this flight, but I made an effort to stay awake in order to not have issues falling asleep later
Finally, Israel!
We land at 10:45PM. By 11:30PM, I meet up with TJ, my hosts. They wait for me to buy and set up a SIM card so that I could have data for my iPhone while here.
Then we drive about 30 minutes to their house in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.
They have me a tour of their really cool house, we sat and chatted for a bit…then…bed time. Relatively early start for tomorrow.
The agenda is…
- Drive to Jerusalem in the morning in order to catch a bus to Bethlehem
- In Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity and a particular souvenir shop
- Return to Jerusalem for Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Franciscan procession, and Via Dolorosa
Current Stats
Total pilgrimage cost so far = $233.19 (+$75.75)
- Luggage storage +$11.09
- Metro pass +$9.32
- Starbucks: egg sandwich and coffee +$6.77
- SIM card, 25GB 30 days +$48.57
Glasses of red wine on trip so far = 3 (one on each flight, one in lounge)
# of really bad flight farts smelled = 1
Today’s Insight
Despite me making mistakes and encountering some struggling situations, it all worked out okay in the end. Isn’t that how life realistically works anyway?
Have you ever had a mass transportation fail? Let me know in the comments!
Navigate to other days:
- Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
- Prev> Day 1: Going MAD
- Next> Day 3: The Fastest and the Slowest
- Day 4: Up In the North
- Day 5: A Day At the Beach
- Day 6: Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia
- Day 7: Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today
- Day 8: One Last Time Before Leaving
- Day 9: A Fly Way To End It
JR is a full-time engineer working in the aerospace industry. Apart from having such a fly job, he flies unto the arms of Our Lady and the Church pursuing his faith and a relationship with Christ. Over the past several years, faith and flying via pilgrimages became a thing. When he’s not being fly, JR hangs out with family, friends, his chihuahua, and with thoughts of the next trip.