Here We Go

by annie

We were standing at the counter in JFK airport, staring blankly at the Swiss Air rep. "We´re closed" she said. "You´re too late to board." Our flight to Madrid was scheduled to leave at 9:55pm and we had arrived at 9. Apparently the subway ride was twice as long as we thought.

"They´re boarding your flight now, you´re too late" she repeated.

A few shocking seconds passed before she told us that she was joking. "You should have seen your faces" she said. We weren´t laughing.

The next lady at the kiosk made sure we understood exactly how late we were, treating us as if we were much younger than we actually are. She succeeded in significantly raising my anxiety level, repeating that the counter was closing and that the plane had already started boarding. We rushed through security, only to find that boarding hadn´t actually started. The plane itself was also late.

We arrived in Madrid, pleasantly surprised by the ease in which we could navigate the subway system (especially compared to our time in NY). We met our friend, Ben, in Lavapies and walked through the cobbled streets to his apartment, where we joyfully unloaded our heavy packs.

We ate wonderful Indian food and walked around Madrid for a few hours, stopping at the Plaza Mayor and the Palacio Real. Ben took us to a word-of-mouth hang-out, an illegitimate business tucked on a cobled street, behind a partially closed gate and a knowing knock on the door. It´s a community of young people, who jam together, sing flamenco and monitor the curtained bathroom to make sure nobody walks in on somebody else (like I did, unaware of the warning yells- "occupado! occupado!"). It was an amazing place, and we heard fantastic music while drinking fresh mint tea and beer.

By this point we had stayed up long enough to sleep during the Spanish night, and so we did. Today in the streets of Spain, we relish in the warm sun and our freedom.


Palacio Real

Lavapies