Okay! So I've returned from my FAST Christmas/New Years trip to Madrid and am ready to share my flight story. Some of you read part of this account in another thread -- I can just SEE you rolling your eyes now -- but please.. bare with me. Just the facts, ma'am. (who thought up the spelling for the word "ma'ma" anyway?? What's that mean??)

Flew an uneventful flight from Columbus (CMH), Ohio (USA) to Atlanta (ATL), Georgia on a sunny afternoon. Had a 3 hour layover in ATL so I was just people watching at my departure gate and reading my printouts of the English language version (.pdf format) of El País .

Time passed and then a tall-ish guy, early 30s, with an "odd" smile on his face was approaching me. He stops at my side and says, "Excuse me. But aren't you that MadridMan guy? The guy with the website?" I said, "Ummm.. Yes!", half-expecting him to pull out a 6-inch blade with intentions of "doing me in" for putting him on the message board's BAN LIST. hehehe..

So he told me he'd visited MadridMan.com when planning his trip to Madrid and saw me on my live cam . Turns out he married a madrileña ( SOME guys get ALL the luck!! ) and he was meeting her in Alcalá de Henares where she has family. We chatted for awhile and turns out he's a dentist living in Michigan with his madrileña wife and baby.

While chatting with this nice, ever-smiling guy, I noticed a woman sitting across the way in at the same gate, her reddish face in her hands, not looking at all well. The "guy" and I boarded the plane, still chatting, and that's where we split, going down different aisles. I found my seat... and WHO do you think was sitting there in one of the two seats against the side of the plane? The sick, red-faced woman!! "OH NO!", I thought.

I offered my "hello" and she replied with the same.Her name was Judi. I asked, "Are you feeling okay? I noticed you weren't looking too well at the gate." Well, Judi WAS sick, true, but in good spirits with her trip to Madrid where she'd meet her sister and some other friends.

We chatted for a few minutes after I got "comfortable" in my seat directly next to the lavatory. Then, without expression, she asked, "Aren't you that guy with the Madrid website?"

WHAT?!!?!?! I couldn't believe it! (I know. I know.. THIS is where you all start to roll your eyes, thinking "MadridMan's ego must be exploding right about now!") Seems she too was looking for information on Spain and found my webcam like the other guy did.

Well, THAT was the MOST exciting part of that entire flight.. She was nice. In fact(!), she attended the "Party With MadridMan: Version 3.0" at El Brillante! See Judi on the far left HERE and her sister Janice next to her at El Brillante.

OKAY! The RETURN FLIGHT!! I was scheduled to leave Madrid to Columbus, Ohio via Altanta and THAT was the day the south had that HUGE snowstorm which closed many airports INCLUDING Atlanta. SO, my flight was cancelled and thank GOD for that!!

I waited in lines for a couple of hours and the fine people sent me over to the Iberia couter to get a ticket on their next flight to Columbus via Chicago. I was standing at the counter, waiting for my ticket, and the last thing the attendant said was my seat number and "BUSINESS CLASS"(!!! ). I wasn't sure I heard correctly so I kept my mouth SHUT!

More in a bit... DARN! This is taking too long to write.. I really should do some work today... be sure to come back later for "The Spanish Royal Treatment" on Iberia Airlines! Aaaaahhh....

[ 01-22-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Hey, MM, it's "madam" as a contraction, with the apostrophe where the "d" goes (Ask a Southerner, you get your answer, sir!).

I have a couple of flight stories...the first one that comes to mind is my first Spanish trip, in the summer of 1990, on the way to Salamanca to study Spanish. I left from Orlando, then JFK or Newark (can't recall), then Madrid. I left my folks in Orlando, then boarded with another University of Florida student headed to Spain. This was THE FLIGHT THAT STARTED IT ALL--I have a terrible fear of flying, and this flight was why. We bumped our way up the Eastern seaboard, with people being sick and a pilot who came on when the turbulence started saying, "Get in your seats and fasten your seatbelts NOW." None of that, "We're coming into a patch of rough air, so you might want to buckle up." No, this was loud and direct and terrifying. Katie (the UF girl) and I held hands, staring at our uneaten meals (this was back when they used to feed you on domestic flights!) and watching our drinks tip over.

Once we were in NY, I was pretty ready to call the whole thing off...but managed to get on the Madrid flight and it was fine--a bit of typical North Atlantic turbulence, but that was it. I watched us cross into Spain around Galicia, and cried and cried. It felt like coming home (and every trip since has been the same).

The next time I went was with my ex-husband, and I don't remember anything about the trip! I do remember the flight, though, because we missed our Madrid flight out of Atlanta due to delays out of Miami. When we arrived in Atlanta, we RAN to try to catch the Madrid flight, and got to the counter as the tail went past the window. My ex made an ass of himself, yelling at the desk attendant (we had called ahead from our Miami arrival desk to get them to hold the flight, but they didn't). I sent him away (this should have been a sign!) and smiled at the lady, who got us on a flight to Nice and a connection to Madrid. We arrived about 6 hours late, but that was it. Nice has a pretty airport.

I went once in 1995 with my sister, and that was fine--and then last March with my husband. We flew to Atlanta with our daughter, who was 3, and met my parents at the airport (they had kindly driven up from Florida). We handed Lauren off during our 1-hour layover, then boarded the flight to Madrid. As we were getting ready to take off, I noticed that the light and radio didn't work at my seat. I NEVER sleep on planes (you never know when they might need a lawyer/child psychologist to fly the plane!), so NEED to have a light so that I can read stupid magazines and knit (can't concentrate on a "real" book--too scared). I asked the flight attendant to move us, but the plane was full and she was a real witch about it. I ended up crying and pretty sure she was going to have me arrested for interfering with her duties. It was awful. I couldn't hear the movie, couldn't knit (Doug's lights and audio didn't work either), and had to sit there, in the dark, thinking about BEING ON A PLANE. Then of course there were bumps (which I can ignore if reading Cosmopolitan or something equally intellectual), and I was a basket case.

By the time we arrived in Madrid, I was exhausted--but so happy to be "home" again. I don't remember our flight back to the US, but it ended with us landing in Atlanta and being met by my dad and daughter (he had flown up with her to Atlanta that morning). She was so cute--after 10 days away from us, she was worried that she wouldn't recognize us.

Now she's pushing us to go back so that she can go to Florida and get spoiled rotten again.

Oh, the story about Felipe above reminded me of another travel yarn...this one in Portugal, but it's so priceless I have to share it! My sister and I were in the Lisbon train station, waiting for the train that would take us back to Spain after a couple of days in Lisbon and Sintra. We were in the waiting area, and across from us were three young women in traditional African dress (very colorful!), a young man in traditional African dress (all white), and a little boy in white as well. The little boy was about 5, and kept coming over and kicking our luggage gently, giggling, then running back to his group. Trish and I laughed at him and egged him on a bit, as he was really cute--and we offered him some candy. He took it and we started talking with the older boy (he was in his late teens or early 20s). He told us the boy was a prince of Benin, Africa. We laughed (what nonsense, right?) and asked where the king was. The young man said, "right over there" and we looked up to see the most regal person you could ever imagine, in flowing white robes, gliding across the station toward us. Trish and I were in shock! Ultimately, though, we met the king (really more like a chieftain), his wife, his mother, and the rest of the family. The three young women and the young man were "lesser" princes and princesses, and the little boy (who even spoke some English)seemed to be next in line to be chief. We took photos with all of them, and the chief (he spoke English beautifully) gave us his business cards (embossed in gold!). The young women were fascinated to watch Trish and me as we put on lipstick and flipped through junky fashion magazines. It was amazing!! Coincidentally, a traveler near us was from Nigeria, and he was in awe.

It goes to show you, you have to keep your eyes open as you travel. You never know who or what you might see.

Tara

[ 01-22-2002: Message edited by: taravb ]

MM,

Maybe all of these people have seen your face at the post office, and not the website.

My worst ?
Well its a bit embarrasing.
Maria is the organised one, she was a secretary for EU in Brussels and it always annoys me how she goes into details. She plans for weeks or months ahead, me I just plan as things happen.
Last January after having visited Madrid for Xmas (my first time) we duly arrived at Barajas in time for our flight with EasyJet.
Apparently there was some problem with snow in Luton and the flight was cancelled due to them not being able to clear the runway. Ok these things happen. Everyone it seemed was being offered alternative flights but they were full for the next few days as a result, we were not in a hurry, we joined the long queue of people trying to arrange to get back home. After what seemed like hours it was our turn, at the desk the girl checked her computer and could not find our booking, we said there must be some mistake in the way people do when they are cold and tired and fed up with waiting . I'll check again said the girl, we smiled thankyou.

Oh yes I have you down here Mr and Ms .......... Great we thought.

Yes said the girl "YOUR FLIGHT WENT YESTERDAY as scheduled"

OOPS no refund no nothing.

we still use Easyjet............

[ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: desmo ]

How easy I get sidetracked, this site is full of interest and the main reason I was here was to post this link
Opodo
I found what I think might be Mad - LON bargains on major airlines. Worth putting in yer travel toolkit, it only started up this week so who knows.

Excellent picture of Janice and I. THANKS
Now I have two pictures from our wonderful trip to Spain.

My airplane story is more an airport story. Sometime between when Madridman spotted me looking like death warmed over in Atlanta and when our plane departed, I went for a stroll through the airport.

Well, who was strolling beside me but none other than Mr. Rod Stewart. He said hello FIRST! Of course I was gawking. I said hello
He said where are you going. I said Spain to see my sister and asked him the same. He said home for holidays (remember he's a Brit) so it's holidays not vacation. He asked if my sister lived in Spain and I said no she lives in Senegal at which point he looked at me funny like WHAT?

He said Merry Christmas and slipped into the men's room. And THAT was my conversation with Rod. (We're on first name basis now) Expecting Christmas card next year!

My hell flight home from Barcelona to Detroit. It was better only because I was no longer sick. Some very nice SPanish pharmacist fixed me up good!

SO here's the plan. Barcelona - Madrid - JFK - Detroit NO SWEAT

SO here's the reality. Barcelona - Madrid, no sweat. Madrid to JFK - leaving late and loaded up with all those people who were supposed to go to Atlanta but got snowed out the day before (your flight madridman?)

Get into JFK late....Have to boogie to get connection to Detroit....run to monitor DELTA FLIGHT TO DETROIT IS CANCELLED.... No need to hurry now. Go to ticket counter and very nice woman tells me Oh we have you on a Northwest flight to Detroit. It leaves in an hour. FROM LAGUARDIA. &%#*(&$(*#&$(#

Get free limo over to Laguardia, can't get ahold of parents that I will be late....etc etc etc

Get on Flight from LGA to DTW ... pilot has hot date we're in an hour early and I get through the gate and there in the mass of people is my 6ft 4inch tall FATHER. YEAH. It took 19 hours to get to Detroit but boy was the trip worth it.

And it could have been worse....I'll tell you our friend Christian's story next.