MADRID

Today we had to get up at 4:30 so we could leave at 5:30 for the apart, which is about an hour' strive from the hotel in the town of Vigo.  I can guarantee you they did not book that airport because of their efficiency.  

We got there in a very timely fashion but it went pretty much downhill from there.  The important issue is that we only got a boarding pass for the flight to Madrid, with the offhand statement that we would get our other two boarding passes in Madrid.  Our flight seemed okay, but we were maybe ten minutes late getting to Madrid.  Fie on you Viking, for booking us with only an hour to change planes from a local airline to an international.  

As we were arriving, the flight crew told us that we would have to move fast to terminal 1 from terminal 2.  Okay, no problem.  And when we got there, it was still okay, because they even had a shuttle bus.  And when we got off the shuttle bus, the sign said 13 minutes to our gate.

UNTIL!!  Customs or immigration or something, which wouldn't let us pass through without a boarding pass.  Where do we get one? Go to the Delta counter, which frankly, was more or less in Atlanta.  The other couple from our group, who had planned a more leisurely transfer by leaving Viga an hour earlier, had found out the night before that their flight was cancelled, and they were booked on the same one as we were.  She had been complaining and worrying since at least 5 pm yesterday,  and by this time she was raving mad.  She was just screaming at the poor Delta desk person, and frankly, none of this was Delta's fault.  There were five of us from our plane, and this woman (I think her name is Julie) was just ranting and yelling, etc.  They got her a new flight, told her she'd have to go someplace that wasn't well marked to get the checked luggage, then go through security and walk all the way back through the airport and go through security again in a half hour.  When our turn came to deal with the Delta person, it was a title easier, because we were gong farther, so there were more choices. While we were talking to her, Julie came back and said they couldn't find the luggage, the desk person told her where it was again, and off they went.  About five minutes later, A guy from Delta brought all the transit luggage up to the counter from wherever it was hidden downstairs.  About this time, Julie came back again, saw her luggage and was furious.  

By then Delta had found us a delightful flight, madrid to JFK, JFK to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to SF, arriving at 10:30.  Told us to walk down to the KLM desks where agents were standing by to help us.  

In short, NOT.  

Now we are standing in line at KLM, still with no ticket, no boarding g pass, in short, nothing but our passports and the pathetic boarding pass from Viga showing that once we had been on a plane.  The fifth person in our group, Anna, was a young woman going home after teaching in Spain for a year with three pieces of luggage, one of them about the size of a Mini Cooper, one a backpacking affair, and a third backpack suitable for a two week trip, plus two heavy coats flapping around.  

And then, riding up on a white horse came Marisa, obviously the chief customer service rep from Delta.  She told all five of us that she had made arrangements for us to stay overnight in Madrid, gave us vouchers for breakfast lunch and dinner plus a nice room -- though located near the airport and far from any public transportation, and told us to be back at the airport tomorrow morning, get in the business class line and ask for her, and she would make the best available arrangements in business class.  Oh, I forgot to mention, French air controllers are on strike, so millions of people are also trying to make other arrangements.  

So now we are sitting around our Italian-designed hotel room (read minimalist, angular design) and John is sleeping away the day in Madrid, except when he is turning on the TV and going through all the channels because, hey, you never know when the English fairy will come along and they'll all be in English.  I keep turning it off when he falls asleep.  So far that's been three offs.  

But wait!  The sleeping giant awakes and suggests we go for a walk through the lovely industrial park where we are staying.  Actually,this will give us a chance to see Madrid not as the quaint old squares, but the new Madrid.  

If by new Madrid, one means boxy, trying-to-look-cutting-edge buildings, then we have seen the future.  Or maybe the past, because most of these places have for rent signs on them.  

However, we did find a store that must have had every item the Chinese make in it.  I suspect that's more the future for all of us.  

home decorations, crafts, clothing, tools, toys, electronics, "as seen on TV" stuff, flower pots, sewing supplies, more shoe inserts than I've ever seen, various linens, etc., etc. mostly more or less arranged by type, but occasionally with some little effort put into making a display.  

Our free meals were both pretty awful, mostly because the meat must have come from a marathon-running bull.  But, hey, it was free.

Tomorrow a.m. At the very civilized time of 8:30 it's back to the airport. I got a text from Delta on my app that looks as if we are booked through JFK to SF.  Hope that's right.