I Arrive In Madrid

Apartments near my hotel in Madrid

I spent one night in Madrid and cope a bit with Spanish.

I had a wonderful few days travelling over from New Zealand to Spain.  Korean air is good value and everything went well.  As usual made good friends with my fellow passenger on the way to Madrid a research physicist from a large multi-national with an interest in wine the first 6 hours just flew by as we talked away.  

I stayed at high tech madrid hotel near the airport so I can rest a bit before moving on to Granada tomorrow.  But the best thing in the hotel is the free internet.  Each room has a laptop, secured obviously.  But I could email everyone and check on the scores.  The spanish keyboard is very different.  Took me ages to get the @ symbol!!

I liked the hotel very quiet and ideal if you just need a place to sleep before going back to the airpport.

My pack of No Jet Lag Pills worked for me ... but you make your own choice

It is very warm and it was pleasant having arrived from the cooler temperatures in New Zealand.  But a temperature in the high twenties here does not feel hot at all, unlike 25+ in NZ.  In Madrid it was 26º and the many locals needed light jerseys or sleeveless sweaters.

I was anxious about communication but I found that day the Madrid accent wa not too bad and I could hear the words clearly if not understand them all.  My limited spanish got me to the hotel and the passport guard was very encouraging for my study and gave me a burst of rapid compliments (I think!).  But "hola" and "que tal?" goes a long way.  I also negotiated a phone call to the hotel to pick me up - a good start. I am finding the Spanish people kind and pragmatic. 

The No Jet Lag pills (NZ product) are very good although I was still a little tired.