Madrid.  Day One.  July 4, 2013.

Again I find myself blogging at 4am in the morning.

We have managed to get to Spain.  We had a really good flight with Emirates from Dubai to Madrid.  It was a daytime flight so no lack of sleep was experienced to speak of.  Watched a couple of movies and got smashed by the kids on Battleship and Pong on the 'seat to seat' consoles.

My first impression of Spain from the air was that it appeared very similar to Australia in summer.  Being a country NSW boy and growing up through various droughts I have a real soft spot for that hot, dry, brown sparse looking countryside.  We could have been flying over Central West NSW in February 1985!

Barajas Airport was impressive.  Nothing like the assault on the senses you experience at Dubai by the way.  Upon entering the departures terminal at Emirates Dubai we were blown away by the massive flashing LED light displays, the overwhelming brightness of which nearly threw us into epileptic fits and none of us suffer from that particular condition.  Nevertheless, Barajas is impressive on a different scale.  It is big, and like Dubai you catch a train from the arrivals terminal to the baggage collection and immigration area.   But unlike Dubai it wasn't all highly polished and flashing gold, is was much more tastefully done.  The ceiling was very high, wavy and done with wooden slats, lots of galvanised steel everywhere too.  Imagine that sort of look that is trendy now in back yards and council BBQ areas only MASSIVE.

We decided not to get a pre-booked transfer to our hotel, I had been practicing my Spanish all year so I was confident that I could pull off a simple taxi ride from the aeropuerto to mi hotel per favor.   We walked out through those doors like you do at airports, you know the ones where everyone is waiting outside to greet their friends and family  (Love Actually), there were  a thousand people all hugging and kissing and people holding up signs with passenger's names on them. I said to the kids, 'Don't bother looking kids coz there ain't one for us!.' (There was in Dubai  which was kinda cool) and no sooner had I said it than we spotted a lady holding a sign that read 'Monica Altmann'.

I learned three things in that moment.

One.  Our travel agent was hopeless.  She had asked if we wanted transfers in Madrid, we said no, she did it anyway.

Two.  Umm-arr-err is not a Spanish word.  My Spanish is hopeless.  In Dubai everyone speaks English, in Madrid, no one does.  The space  between the words forming in my head and them coming out of my mouth changes them to a sound that is not even legible let alone a word. Perhaps in pre-conceived moments my Spanish will suffice but there are a million moments between those times and all require Spanish.  It was fun and I felt dumb.  These next few days and weeks are going to be a riot, particularly for my family who seem to take a quiet pleasure out of each moment.

Three.  Be thankful for hopeless travel agents.  The transfer was great, the lady was very helpful, she was born in Mandurah Western Australia (where we used to live) and left when she was 12 to move back to Spain where her parents were from.  There were 10 million people trying to get into 11 taxis at the airport, all with better Spanish than me.  Thank you Jesus.

In summary, our hotel is seriously flashy.  It is called the Intercontinental.  When she dropped us off our driver said it is probably the best hotel in Madrid and was she correct.  Hot and cold running chamber maids, marble everywhere, beautifully furnished and so on.  Vey much like that scene from 'The Way' where they treat themselves to that flashy hotel.  Just lovely and quite beyond our means but we spoiled ourselves for the first few days to get over the jetlag.

And that is what yesterday afternoon was, jetlaggy.  We strolled around the neighbourhood of the hotel for an hour or so, had a cool drink in the Spanish evening, and a light meal.  Zoe was amazed that it was 9pm and the sun was still very much up.  We hauled out jetlagged bodies back to the hotel and all fell sound asleep.  It is now about 5am, the kids are still snoring, Monica is awake.  We two shall consume coffee and let their little bodies catch up and then launch ourselves into the heart of Madrid after a hearty breakfast in a few hours.   I have 3 days to get my conversational Spanish up to scratch before we head off to Leon to begin our Camino.

I am feeling much more confident about my communication capacity today.

Buen Camino Peregrinos.