just getting to madrid....now thats a story

Lucky for me I was went to the store to buy some food thinking because it was a 10 hour trip to madrid. Well little did I know my 10 hour trip was going to turn into a 22 hour trip.

I made the train from perigueux to Bordeaux and that is when everything just went from bad to worse. The train to go form Bordeaux to the town of Irun on teh spanish side of the border was 40 minutes late, which meant I would arrive right before the next train left, but they can delay it by a few minutes if its a connection. Well my train to go from bordeaux to Spain ended up coming in 1.5 hours late, which meant I totally missed my train. So I went and asked at the ticket office about hte next train in the day to go to madrid, and he said I have to ask the conducter. When im on the train I ask the conducter and he says the train is only going as far as the french-spanish border and we would have to take a bus into spain. I asked for the next train to madrid and he said there is one at 10 pm. What should I do about my ticket? He said its the spanish train system problem since there was a suicide on the tracks in Spain, and that is why the french train isnt going into spain. Ok I get to the border, I get on a bus, and go to spain. I get to the train station, and find hte ticket counter, and ask for the next train and the lady says to me its the next day at 8:30 am arriving aroun 2:30 pm.....3 hours after jessicas flight arrives.

I try to explain teh situation, ask what do I do with my train ticket, and the lady says its the french train companies problem, since no one said they couldnt come into spain, they made the decision, they were delayed not the spainish trains, they left on-time. So I am like, what do I do? I have to get to madrid, she says try the bus company.

So I find the bus company and of course, my luck has it that madrid bus is full, but I can do a connection adn 5 hour wait to take a 1:30 am bus to madrid. With no other choice, then wait for the next train, and buy a new train ticket anyways at full price, (70euros). I bought a bus ticket.

It was a loooooong tiring bus ride, I tried to sleep, but couldnt get much sleep. I was sticky, sweaty and may I say a bit smelly from travelling for so long, I went to a couple of hotels to see, if they might let me shower and freshen up before heading to the airport. Well I got no's and looks that were like you are totally messed up...so I went to the airport instead. I went to Jessicas arrival gate, and found a handicapped bathroom, and took out my soap and washed up useing the cold water from the tap to wash adn clean myself. I changed cloths, and went back to waiting. Being that I was two hurs early, I need to sleep so I went to a corner and useing my knapsack as a pillow I fell asleep. nothing go t stolen, and I felt so much better. I get extreamly crabby when I am tired, and I wasnt going to let that happen. SO the nap was so important.

I woke up and went to charge my cell as I waited, and Jessicas flight arriving early, helped a bit. Well as you now know Jessica is here, and its so good to be together again. She's so funny and so far we are laughing and having a great time. We walked around, some cool stuff, like palaces, and we are just waiting for our frined mary and matt to come so we will go out, but the heat is extream, and it rained this morning so jessica is a bit tired and shes resting.

Otherwise, everything is good!

Yehuda and Jessica