It’s important to plan ahead people. I was going to book my hostel in advance online, but didn’t feel like paying the four or five euro online fee. I figured that whenever you speak the language and have money you are fine and that I would just land, check some places out and pick the one I liked most. That was a truly dumb mistake. Instead I arrived to Madrid’s Barajas Airport at 5 AM to find everything closed. I had to wait for one of the bookstores to open so that I could leaf through a travel guide and get some phone numbers. Then I had to wait for another store to open before I could even get a calling card. All of the places I called were booked for the weekend. Out of ideas, I stopped by McDonald’s to see if there were any Americans who could help me. I saw some valley girls who told me to go to Plaza Callao, and that there I might be able to find something. I had to wait for the Metro to start (If you don’t get it, waiting for things to open was the theme of the day) and finally I arrived at Plaza Callao at 7 AM cold, hungry, lonely, sleepy and tired. I had breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (the only place open) and contemplated my own stupidity until the internet place opened. Online I found a bunch of numbers but everyone I called was booked solid. I started to panic. Would I have to sleep on the street? Finally, the Spainish Barnes & Noble La Casa del Libro opened and I paid up the ass for the Lonely Planet Spain guide. It was actually the second-largest expense of my entire trip. I was going to cry, but then I got myself together and figured that if it came to that it was still early as fuck and I could just take a bus out of Madrid, and find a hotel elsewhere. Finally, the lady who I bought the calling cards from told me to just check the hostels across the street and sure enough the first one I knocked on had a room available for 20€, more than I wanted to pay but at least was clean. After not having slept at all the previous night all I wanted to do was go to bed anyway.
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