Madrid, Spain

This was my first time in Spain and I was extremely excited about diving into the culture right away. What impressed me the most about Madrid (and later, pretty much all European cities) is the amount of resources and attention devoted to culture, history and the arts. Everywhere, be it in the metro, parks, libraries, train stations, or public squares, there was something artistic. Free exhibits and performances abound. Moreover, many of these cultural events are free, along with Madrid’s great Prado Museum and Reina Sofia Museum on certain days. I wish there was a bit of this “culture” in San Diego and in most parts of the U.S.

I came to Spain not for the bullfights or flamenco, but for its tapas! Tapas, as I later learned, is any type of bar food. It can be one of three types: individual item that is paid, a plate of items that are free, or self-service in which you pay by the piece. I went to two tapas bars with CouchSurfers Inaki (Spain) and Arnaud (France) and had fun sampling the tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelette), patatas avioli and a sausage stuffed with rice.

En Route to Madrid, Spain

So on April 30th, I decided to fly standby to Madrid, Spain, utilizing my friend Ming’s status as an employee of American Airlines. My itinerary consisted of connections at Dallas and at Miami. I got on the flight to Dallas easily. However, despite several flights that day from Dallas to Miami, I was either the 30th or 40th person on the standby list.

Thus, I couch surfed at Ming’s place that night in Dallas, never expecting to couch surf in the U.S.! We found out that the inaugural flight from Dallas to Madrid would occur the next day and crossed our fingers that I would get on. Also, my checked-in bags miraculously arrived in Madrid without me. (Isn’t this a security issue?)

The next day, May 1st, we checked the AA system and it appeared that I would just make it onto the Madrid flight. However, two earlier AA flights to Europe, to Frankfurt and Paris, had plenty of seats and I considered flying to either city and taking an overnight train to Madrid. I decided to gamble on the Madrid flight and breathed a sigh of relief when 40 minutes before my flight, I got a seat!