Just as an 'aside:' There are luggage racks in the trains on
Linea 8 that takes you from the airport to
Mar de Cristal. I tossed my canvas convertible (to backpack) on the luggage rack and took a seat across from it. A
Guardia came by looking in the windows of the Metro train and when he saw my bag, apparently unattended, he came in and asked whose bag it was.
I told him it was mine and everything was OK. I guess he was looking out for ETA terrorists -
MetroMadrid Linea 8 had just recently been opened at that time.
BTW
I believe the 'YellowBus' will let you off at
Avda. de America in case you want to take a
Continental-Auto bus to Burgos or Bilbao or other points north. If you're going to the
Avda de America Intercambiador, the YellowBus is a lot better than MetroMadrid which leaves you deep in the Bowels of the Earth. How deep is it? I swore I could hear people speaking Chinese down there.