It was a Friday night. S and I decided to catch the red eye flight to Spain. We were flying British Airways to London for an hour transit before flying to Madrid. I remember feeling so excited that I couldn't wait for work to end. British Airways was actually quite comfortable and it was a full flight. The food was decent and the seats relatively comfortable. The service was pretty good too. The in flight entertainment sucked though. There weren't any nice shows to watch! Thankfully S and I were tired from a day's work so we slept most of the flight except we kept waking up in between as it still weren't tucked in our comfy beds after all.
We arrived at the London airport with about just 40 minutes before our flight's departure. The London airport is huge but thankfully we didn't have to go to another terminal. Our flight to Madrid was in the same terminal we landed.
View from the plane as we land in Madrid
Finally landed and on our way to the hotel. Here we are in the cab. It was about 14hours in total and we were just dying to shower, freshen up and start our holiday proper!
Our hotel. We changed it last minute as this hotel had great reviews and was extremely well located. True enough, it was. We were walking distance to town and we were in a very vibrant area. H&M, Zara, Pull&Bear and most shops were just a 5minute walk. We were also very near most of the tourist attractions. Our location was superb, I'd give it that. But the rooms were a tad small and it was really very basic. I guess you have to sacrifice the quality for the location unless you are willing to pay more, which we weren't. Save $ for shopping!! :)
Our cosy room.
I realised that Spanish people seem to sleep with flat pillows. In all 3 hotels that we stayed in, the pillows were flat and small. The bed for this particular hotel definitely didn't feel like a hotel bed. In fact, it felt a bit worse than both our home beds. But it was comfortable enough. And frankly, we were so close to shopping that we were out most of the time and barely stayed in our hotel room so it was good enough. Thankfully location more than made up for it so we pretty much shopped and dumped our bags as we went along.
Our street
The weather was amazing. It was nice bright and sunny yet it wasn't hot. Not humid too! In fact it was rather chilly. Loved the weather!!! :) Love it how everywhere has alfresco dining and how it's so unintentionally scenic. It's really nice and chill. There always people just sitting around and enjoying the moment. Sipping coffee, champagne, wine, and just watching the world go by...
Almost all the buildings have an old colonial feel to them. If not, then they would have little balconies, giving them a very distinct Spanish facade. I love it how Madrid has something old about it yet it's also very modern. It gives me a sense of familiarity, a certain intimacy yet at the same time the streets are really wide and with the shops lining the sides, it pretty much feels like a Rodeo Drive. LOVE MADRID. :)
After checking in we finally showered, changed and decided to check out the vicinity of our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised by all the shopping and eateries around our area and how close we were to everywhere!! :)
Nice Macs. :) People here generally don't take much breakfast so McDonald's in Spain has NO breakfast served.
S buying a pair of Springfields.
Love my dress! Think it's kinda NYC style yet the colours make it somewhat Japanese. Well it's actually from a Korean shop in Far East! hahaha One of the "ang mohs" in Spain even stopped to ask if I was Japanese.
Excited to start shopping. H&M across the street with Zara right beside it. There's this place called Lefties with really cheap and nice stuff too!
And this is just a warm-up..
Spain is actually quite a quiet place I felt. Or maybe because its so vast comparatively and people generally don't speak in loud tones. It's rather peaceful with virtually no traffic noise too. But Spain is also full of music. Song and Dance are common in Spain especially Madrid and Seville. People basking or street performances are always welcomed entertainment for the people of Spain.
I don't recall what we did for dinner that night. I recall starving after all the shopping and walking around. We ended up at a nearby KFC (incidentally it seemed to only be occupied by Asians. hahaha interesting coincidence). After which we went back to the hotel and crashed so we could be up bright and early the next day.
Look out for Day 2…
Yawns..going to sleep now. Nights!!
Germaine
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