Trip Reports - How I Lost My Parents in Spain

No, this isn’t a how-to guide. I didn’t intend to lose them. It just happened. Basically, this was a trip where Murphy’s Law took over. Yet, in spite of it all, it was still a good time. Well, maybe not for my parents who I think have demoted me from most-favored-child status. My brother’s dancing in the streets.

Once a year we take a trip with my parents and brother. And usually sometime during that trip I decide we will never do this again. A few months pass, everything that went wrong becomes funny and the six of us are headed to some far-flung destination once again. This time it was Spain.

Trouble started the week before. I got sick, T-wiz got sick and my dad, whom had just returned from Italy the week before, got sick. I sought the sage advice of FTers on how to quickly get over these apparent colds and tried each remedy suggested including ingesting plenty of bourbon. We also went to the doctor to make sure we were good to go. He saw no real problems although he did order blood work for Zach. We’d been given the doctor’s go-ahead.

We crowded into our 30-mpg SUV (I mention that only because I tend to give those w/low-mileage SUV’s a hard time on OMNI) for the 30-minute trip to SFO. We park at ParkSFO and begin unloading the bags. “Where’s my bag,” asks my dad. We don’t see it anywhere. My parents get into their back and forth of, “Did you leave it in the driveway?” “I thought I told you to get it.” “No, I told you to get it.” This is totally in character for my parents. They once departed for a trip to Hawaii and left all their bags in the living room. They didn’t realize this until they arrived at the airport. My father has left his accoutrements all over the world : a wetsuit in Monterey, a BC in the Virgin Islands, a camera in a rental car in Italy. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Well, it turns out T-wiz was already at the elevator with their bag. Crisis averted.

I knew our BA flight time had changed but I didn’t realize the flight had also. So we waited at a long line for the later flight while there was no line for our flight. Doh.

After check-in we made it to the gate in time for boarding. At the gate they moved us up to the bulkhead in WT+. The bulkhead has much less legroom than the others in WT+, but I didn’t realize that until the return flight. The seats are a little hard and the footrests are only useable for those about 5’ and under. There were no good movies, but I did play Blackjack and Tetris on their game stations. I’m glad UA doesn’t have these game options. I can so easily get addicted.

T-wiz slept across me for most of the flight. I wasn’t very comfortable, but it's a rare time he allows me to hold him, so I was happy to suffer some discomfort.

When our meals came we found the phone agent only put us down for two of the three veggie meals I ordered. The FAs found an extra though, so we all got one. I wish I could remember what it was. There was a second meal before we arrived in London too, but I can’t recall that either. Suffice it to say BA’s veggie meals are not memorable, which is not a bad thing as I tend to remember the veggie meals on UA – bleech!

One difference I noticed about BA over UA is that the FAs aren’t nearly as concerned about checking to see if your seatbelt is fastened or if your seatback is upright for landing. On all six flights they never came through the cabin doing these checks. T-wiz noticed some differences from UAs 777s: On BA the FA seats had full supply oxygen to them (UA has little tanks) and, in addition to the masks, passengers had the emergency tap-in ports for oxygen. He notices weird stuff.

We landed early in London, but there were no gates available so we sat on the tarmac for about 15 minutes. Finally they brought us stairs and bussed us to the terminal. We had a couple of hours until our connection to Madrid. We got some hot chocolates and pastries and Zach and I headed for Boots to buy some hair potions and stuff that we can’t find in the US or that is cheaper in the UK.

The flight to Madrid was under two hours yet we had a meal/snack service. This one was pretty good. We had mozzarella and tomato sandwiches on olive bread.

We arrived in Madrid on time and Rod and my dad went to get the rental cars from Hertz (great price on lastminute.com thanks to a FTer tip) while the rest of us waited for my brother and my parents’ bags. Rod, T-wiz and I carried ours on as usual. It turns out my brother’s bag stayed in London. Rod had the bag with all the info on our hotel so now I needed to get outside the arrivals area, get the info and get back in past the security guards to give it to the baggage rep. Suddenly, getting the cars before everyone else didn’t look like such a good idea. Security seemed to look the other way though and twice I was able to walk in the one-way automatic doors when someone was coming out. There’s no way I could have done this at any other airport I’ve been to and certainly not at SFO.

The baggage agent told us they would bring the bag to us in Toledo by 10 p.m. the following day, even though it would arrive in MAD about 11 p.m. that night. I asked if they couldn’t please get it there sooner as my brother had no clothes and they said they’d try. They also brought out two amenity kits with shavers, some gels, white T-shirts and toothbrushes and toothpaste.

We headed to the cars. It was just beginning to rain. My dad knew what space his car was in, but for some reason Rod only knew our license plate number. It was raining harder now and we were wandering around the lot trying to find a license plate number. I was cold, I was wet, I was tired. I wasn’t having fun, but eventually we did find the car.

My dad found his car quickly, but thought he didn't have the car keys. He stood there for about 10 minutes waiting for keys to magically appear in his hands. It worked, but they ended up appearing in his pocket.

Just before we left my mom asked Rod for the name of our hotel in Toledo. He didn’t have a pen handy and didn’t feel like digging for it in his bag, so he said, “Follow me. If we get separated, I’ll pull over.” Is that the music from "Jaws" I hear in the background?

Next: Why police show up at our hotel at midnight looking for us.



[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 04-12-2003).]

We drive out of MAD easily and hit the highway. The roads are smooth as silk and traffic is light. My parents are right behind us. This is a breeze. We’ll be in our hotel before dark and in bed soon after.

Just before we get to Toledo we stop at a service station for directions to our hotel - Hotel Dominico, which overlooks Toledo. He gives Rod some directions in Spanish and we’re off again. Within two minutes we reach a roundabout. There’s a sign there for our hotel – it’s the third exit and Rod quickly jets over and makes the exit. My parents miss all this and head straight. Rod, however, thinks my parents are behind us, but reazlies after a few minutes they’re not. We pull over and wait. They don’t come. Oh, #@%$. Five minutes from the hotel and we‘re separated.

We return to the roundabout and figure they took the first exit. We quickly see you get stuck going into town that way and can’t make a U-turn for at least a mile. We drive around town, we go back to the roundabout, we go back through town, we go back to the roundabout. Rod wants to continue going back and forth to the roundabout. I say, do you really think they’re just there going around in circles like in “European Vacation? You know, Big Ben, Parlaiment … only this time it would be Toledo, hillside, Toledo, hillside ad naseum.”

We’re at a loss as to what to do. We could go to the police, but what would we tell them – we’re missing some Norwegian folks in a rental car that none of us can agree on what it looks like? Yeah, that would do a lot of good. We could go back to the service station, maybe they asked the guy there for the hotel we asked for. But the attendant didn’t speak English so we knew that was hopeless. We call their housesitter. Surely, they’d call in there to see if we’d called. We also call our answering machine – nothing on both counts. We drive around more and finally decide there’s little else we can do. We check into the hotel and go to bed knowing sleep won’t come. We even start wondering if we’ll ever catch up with them. They don’t know when we’re supposed to leave for Madrid, they don’t know the hotel there, do they know the flights home? Ack!!!

In our room it clicks, I wonder how often they report the foreign passport info to the police. Do they do it immediately? The next day? In a week? Maybe if they checked into a hotel we could find them that way. We decide it would wait until morning though.

Meanwhile, my parents had returned to the service station and waited there for two hours in hopes we’d show up back there. My dad also walked to the roundabout and waited there a while. How we missed him, I don’t know. Then they spotted some police and my brother talked to them. Next thing they’re putting him in their patrol car. At this point my mom freaks. You see, I had read on FT that Spain is one of the countries where an international driver’s license is a good idea or else you could face large fines from patrolmen on a traffic stop. My dad had balked at getting one so to put it to rest I told my mom I’d heard Spanish cops were a little like Mexican cops and so he better get one. When my mom sees my brother in that police car all she can think is that they’ve kidnapped him and he’s going to be mugged by the Toledo police. (My mom’s big on worrying and fantasy, but obviously I fed this one a bit.)

The police take my brother for two hours, while my mom is going nuts – she’s lost us; she’s lost my brother. Life’s not good.

It turns out the police were awesome. They took my brother to the station and started calling every hotel in Toledo. They also looked through the passport records, which are sent in immediately. They returned my brother to my parents, told them they’d keep checking and told them they should get a hotel for the night. My brother also tried calling BA to get the name of the hotel we gave them to deliver his bag to, but that department was closed.

At midnight – some five hours after this fiasco began - the front desk called our room and said our party was downstairs. Fortunately, I sent Rod down because my parents weren’t standing in the lobby, but two police officers were. I, carrying my mom’s worry genes, would have taken one look and figured they’d come to tell us they all went off a cliff. In fact they put us in touch with them at the hotel where they were staying. We were never so relieved and so thankful to the police. We thanked them profusely and tried to give them a gift, but they refused.

We called my parents back from our room. They were not having fun – it had been a 30-hour day - but they weren’t exactly angry either – just terribly relieved it all turned out. The funniest part – to me anyway – was that they three of them got stuck in a room with two twin beds. I couldn’t stop laughing – they might see the humor in a year or 10.

Next: Toledo


[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 04-12-2003).]

Great report so far, letiole - I hope the rest of the vacation was a little more relaxing than the first bit?!

You're a terrific writer---interesting and fun! A pleasure to read it.

I'm waiting to see if you left them behind when it was time to fly home http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks for the comments. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Toledo

Things looked far better in the morning. The sun was shining and Hotel Dominico is a lovely place with wonderful vistas overlooking Toledo from the rooms. Rooms were spacious and the staff was friendly. They waived the charge for the night my parents missed and my parents moved into their room there by 11 a.m. The only negative about this hotel is that if you take a train into town, you will be relying on cabs to get into town. OTOH, while parking was plentiful in town we generally paid about $10 a day to park in a garage. Hotel parking was free as were local calls.

The Alcazar towers over the city. It’s huge. Unfortunately, it was also closed for renovations. We missed out on seeing the room where some colonel made a phone call to his father while the city was being attacked. His father told him, “ …Cry Viva Espania and die like a hero.” Tough love.

Toldeo is considered a tourist trap – seven out of eight shops sell reproduction swords and nothing but – but it’s still fun and beautiful. The Bisagara gate to the city, with its massive twin towers and imperial symbol over the archway is very impressive. The cathedral, which is free beginning at 4 p.m., is outstanding. It holds a rock on which Virgin Mary was supposed to have stepped on. How they know this is beyond me. Behind the sanctuary is the Transparente, a stunning baroque work lit by a round window opposite and above. These round window high up in the church were something I hadn’t seen before in Italian churches. They were exquisitely decorated.

Outside the church was a nice courtyard and my mom spent time there soaking up the accordian music and watching those who felt moved to dance.

Another church worth visiting – San Juan de Los Reyes. It was a monastery with the most amazing ceiling work from inlaid wood. Outside the church hang chains removed from Christians captured by the Moors. We found a nice antique store across from the church. The owner had great stories about his collection and we ended up buying an unusual candle. It’s set on a metal stand and the wax is on a thin string that you roll up to light it. You would only light about four minutes worth at a time to carry from a parent’s room to a child’s room, where you would then put it out and light the candle in their room. It wasn’t something we’d seen before and was far more interesting than a knock-off sword.

We also found plenty of other things to buy in Toledo. Zach, who has a thing for getting his clothes and his haircut in Europe (the haircuts inspired by lalala, of course – thanks lala), bought a new wardrobe – shoes, six shirts, pants, the works. I had fun a costume jewelry shop where the pieces looked great but cost almost nothing. I long ago stopped buying pricy sunglasses because I always lose them, and I found some really cool ones at this shop for $8. T-wiz kept trying to convince me to buy the fake red strand of hair to add to my own. It was just $2 but I just couldn’t see myself with a shock of red hair. “Well, then how about the blue,” he said. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif He scares me sometimes.

Rod found a bike shop - and I know he would have loved have gone out riding as he saw lots of good riders - and bought a bike jersey from the team of a past Spanish champion. The owner threw in a postcard with the rider's autograph.

My mom was happy buying Lladros and sitting in sqares people watching while my dad and brother checked out the museum. In one square there were a few widows begging for money. My dad only had US coins and 20 euro notes so he gave her a couple of dollars in US coins. Wouldn’t you know 20 minutes later she tracked him down and asked to change the US coins for euros. By this time he’d bought some pastries and so made the swap. He also had fun trying to take some pictures of some cute little girls in their school uniforms. They’d hide behind a bench, pop up and then slip back down, giggling all the time.

Wandering around Toledo, through the narrow streets, and getting lost was great. The architecture was fabulous, the doorknockers and door carvings great. Some of the doors were covered in metal pyramids that were almost like spikes. Whenever a car would come we'd dash into a doorway and try to avoid the spikes - well, except for my brother who found it entertaining to see if he could get me caught in the spikes. Why is it when sibs are together - or at least these two sibs - we become 12 again?

Our only problem was being vegetarians in this small town. We did find vegetable paella, but other than that it was pizza and the Spanish beer Yugtz (or something like that), which I thought was pretty tasty. The other awesome foods were the orange juice – all fresh squeezed and I assume from Valencia oranges – and the hot chocolate, which is so thick it’s about the consistency of pudding that hasn’t set yet. It was to die for.

Next: Leaving Toledo – this time we make sure everyone has directions.


[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 04-13-2003).]

Thanks, funny read! Look forward to the rest.

Wow
Thanks for such a great trip report!
Keep it up and I hope to read many more in the future!

A great report. Thanks!

Very interesting and entertaining trip report!! Can't wait for the next installment.

I'm looking forward to the next bit, letiole - thanks!

Thanks for all the comments. MRSTARALLIANCE: I visited Waitomo Caves last year. What an amazing country you live in.

We’d pretty much seen Toledo so we decided to leave early and drive up to Segovia. Before we left we gave my parents everything they could possibly need to make it through the rest of the trip – a map, where we needed to return the cars to, their hotel in Madrid, the BA flight info, you name it. We may make stupid mistakes, but we try not to make them twice. Even my dad seldom makes the same mistake twice – he’s never lost more than one camera, one jacket, one wallet, one wetsuit ….

It took a few hours to get to Segovia and I slept a fair amount of the way. We saw some snow nearby and the temperature dropped considerably. We went from short sleeves in Toledo to turtlenecks and layers in Segovia. We arrived about 1 and the place was crowded. We found parking near the Alcazar. We toured there first and saw more great ceiling work done with wood. It really reminded me of a lot of the work in Norwegian churches. Rod thinks he’s done with our kitchen remodel, but after seeing some of this I have a few more plans. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

By the time we finished at the Alcazar, the town had closed up for the afternoon. The stores in Spain had the most frustrating hours. Most places closed between 2 and 5 p.m, which made making day trips pretty tough. We wandered around the city though and found an open bar where we indulged in more of that wonderful hot chocolate. One thing interesting about the bars – people who sit at the bar tend to throw their trash on the ground. At the end of the day the barkeep sweeps up the day’s mess.

We walked around the aqueduct a bit. A very impressive piece of work.

We needed to have the cars back, so we couldn’t stay for the city to reopen. The drive to MAD was only an hour or so, but as we pulled into the rental return lot we realized we forgot to get gas. Doh. Fortunately, the nearest station was about two minutes away so we left, filled up and went back..

We hopped in cabs to our hotels. Rod, Zach and I were at the Westin Palace and my parents were at a small place nearby. We had offered to get my parents half off at the Westin, but my dad gave us his “A hotel is only a place to sleep” line. In truth, I think he figures the money he saves on hotels pays to replace all those things he loses along the way.

On the way to the hotel we passed by the US Embassy. There were two urban combat vehicles – they looked liked tanks to me - parked on either side. Cab fare to the hotel was only about 15 euros.

I was a little wary of what to expect at the Westin because there’s been a thread on FT about the staff being rather rude. We found it wonderful. From the bellmen to the maids and front desk, everyone was very kind and friendly. We had a large room on the 4th floor with sumptuous furnishings and a marble bath.

No sooner did we check in than my mom calls and says they’re not about to stay at their hotel. Can they get into the Westin? I think this was about the point when I made my usual declaration of: Never again, knowing full well we’ll be off someplace else with them next year.

It turns out their place is mostly underconstruction although none of this was ever mentioned when we made the reservation. Apparently when their cab driver pulled up and my mom saw the place covered in scaffolding she refused to get out. The cab driver, who was now holding up traffic, kept saying, “Vamoose, vamoose.”

The entrance was nothing but dangling wires and bare walls. The electricity was turned off so you couldn’t see and there was no elevator. Their room on the 4th floor was really pretty nice, but the construction made for a lot of dust and well, there was no way my mom would stay there more than one night.

Fortunately there are many, many hotels in the area. We could get them into the Westin, but they ended up finding another little place a block away that made them quite happy.

We ate that night at Pasta Nostra Pizza Nostra on Carrera de San Jeronimo, 32 – a good suggestion from lalala – and I filled up on more of those wonderful little green olives. We ordered a bottle of perfectly fine riojas for about 7 euros a bottle. I don’t think any of the Spanish wines on the menu most anywhere we ate were more than about 12 euros a bottle, making them cheaper per glass than a soda.

On the way back, we saw a few anti-war protestors and asked some if they had spare “No a la Guerra” stickers, which they happily shared. (I thought it might be fun to see how many languages I could get anti-war stickers in.) There was a bit of graffiti in the city saying, “Yanks go home,” but not much and everyone we ran into was very pleasant.

Next: Exploring Madrid




[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 04-15-2003).]

I find the Asian vegetarian (Indian) and seafood special meals to be the best options on British Airways.

I'll keep that in mind TWO. I don't eat seafood, but will consider the Asian veg next time.

Madrid

Madrid has beautiful architecture and great museums, but I didn’t find it to be one of the world’s outstanding cities. Like Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, “There’s no there, there.”

We explored old town on foot and visited the Royal Palace. I’ve been in numerous palaces and this has to be one of the best. In Brussels, for instance, the curtains were tattered; in Versailles, the Hall of Mirroris had graffiti scratched into the mirrors; our White House, while not a palace, has peeling wallpaper and looks a little shabby in spots. But this palace was absolutely perfect. Admission is cheap and for 1 euro more you can take a guided tour. This was well worth it and the guide had many interesting stories about how the palace is used today (for dinners and to greet guests) and how it was used in the past. Again the ceiling work was the most fantastic part of the place. One room had three dimensional flowers and vines on the ceiling and others had beautiful frescoes.
Just across from the palace is a new church that also has quite lovely ceilings. These are brightly painted and in contemporary geometric designs.

The guys all visited the Prado, while my mom and I shopped in the Salamanca area. I did visit the Reine-Sofia, which is the home to Picasso’s Guernica and numerous other works by Picasso and Dali. We all loved this museum, especially an exhibit by a Swiss artist. He wrote little amusing commentaries on the walls beside his pieces. The Reine-Sofia also has a good gift shop.

Rod, Zach and I returned to shop more in Salamanca. Rod found a wonderful wine shop Lavinia, Calle Jose Ortega, 16, (bigger than a BevMo plus a second story) with an amazingly large collection and a very helpful staff. He bought a case of assorted riojas – mostly ‘94s and ‘95s. We checked their prices at home and most were at least double the price at wine shops in the states.

One word of caution about Madrid – the wind. I had checked the temps there before leaving home and the forecast called for a comfortable 65F. What I didn’t take into account was the wind chill. I pretty much froze.

Each afternoon we’d enjoy drinks under the rotunda at the Westin. There was either a harpist or a pianist. We ordered several truffles and petit fours one afternoon and the waiter gave them to us with his compliments.

The Palace is across from Spain’s major government buildings and we found there was also some black-tie affair going on each evening. One night there were cameras filming everywhere, another night we saw lots of what appear to be tuxedo-clad body guards. I have no idea who these folks were, but it was fun to watch the parade of clothes.

Among some of the restaurants we enjoyed:

La Finca de Susanna, Calle Arbalan 4, also recommended by lalala. This restaurant is down a tiny street near the Palace and it’s highly unlikely you’d find it unless you knew to look for it. The food was good though and the menu had a specific vegetarian section in addition to all the usual meat, fish and animal fare. The décor was modern and the place was packed with mostly locals.

Artemesia on Ventura de la Vega was recommended by a wonderful concierge at the Palace (tall, beautiful, dark-haired woman with a wonderful smile). This restaurant has mostly vegetarian food, but also a section on the menu for those who eat chicken and fish. It was packed. T-wiz ordered an incredible fruit salad with a wonderful creamy dressing. Everything we ordered was good, including the 7 euro bottle of riojas.

Our concierge also made a reservation for us for what she said was the best flamenco show in Madrid. It was 32 euros a person and included a drink. The show lasted about 2 hours and I suppose was worth seeing once. The performers could clap like no one I’d ever seen. The singing, well, I guess it’s an acquired taste.

Next: Our troubles don’t end – a call from the doctor about Zach’s blood tests.

The dreaded call from the doctor

Sometime during our stay in Madrid, Rod called home to check messages. There were two from our family doctor, both sounding pretty urgent, about Zach's blood test results. Because of the time difference we wouldn’t be able to call for about 12 hours. With those worry genes kicking in again, I was a wreck.

Finally, when we were able to call, the doctor told us Zach’s white blood cell count was low. He thought he had mono. Well, that would explain his constant desire to sleep. After we hung up though, I couldn’t get the blood cell thing out of my head. Could it be something worse – like the C word? I called again. The nice thing about calling from Europe is the receptionist put us through to the doctor in seconds.

Sorry to bother you again, but I was just wondering, do you think this could be anything more serious? I asked.

“You mean other than what we talked about?"

Yeah, like, well, cancer?

He tells me not to worry and that everything is likely fine, other than that Zach will be unbelievably tired for the next several weeks.

I feel better. Zach feels tired.


Next: The practice run for the airport. You mean it’s 4:30 a.m; not 6:30?

Whew,
I'm glad to hear that Zach is going to be okay.

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip! I'm trying to figure out how to fit Madrid in again this year. I never got to go shoe and purse shopping.

Next time we're all in London, Zach and I'll go together for our haircuts!

lala

The dress rehearsal

Our flight out of Madrid was early and we all planned to leave for the airport at 6:30 a.m. We were up at 5:45 and in a cab by 6:30, right on schedule. Checking out was a breeze. This was one of the first times I’ve checked out of a hotel and had our bill be exactly right.

My parents had a little different experience. They decided to have a, um, trial run.

You see, my dad didn’t change his watch and instead just added two hours throughout the trip. It worked fine until that last morning. He looked at his watch at 4 a.m., read 6 a.m. and got my mother up and called my brother’s room to do the same. Thirty minutes later they were in their lobby asking the desk agent why they didn’t get their wake-up call. Just then my brother noticed the clock in the lobby. It wasn’t 6:30 a.m.; but 4:30 a.m. They apologized, put their tails between their legs and went back up to their rooms to catch a couple more hours of sleep.

We met them at the airport and had a smooth flight to LHR. T-wiz and I bumped into a friend of his from school who had spent the week in Italy.

We had the last row of WT+ this time and I much preferred those seats to the bulkhead as there was quite a lot more legroom. T-wiz and I were supposed to spend the flight preparing for his upcoming German test, but he got caught up in a movie and then he claimed he was too tired. Mono can be convenient sometimes.

The FA delivered our veggie meals – we got all three this time – and told us to watch out as the salad had salmon on it. Not only that, but the dressing contained anchovies. Go figure.

The flight was great. But things got a little rough at SFO. My passport wouldn’t scan for the immigration agent. He tried it dozens of times and it never did work. Zach and Rod passed though, so he decided to let me in too.

We don’t usually check bags, but with all the wine we had no choice. The bags all started popping up pretty quickly and then I heard my name being paged. Never a good sign. They hadn’t put a baggage tag on Zach’s bag so they didn’t know what flight to put it on out of London. It did have my UA 1K tag on it, which is how they identified the bag. This was the bag with Zach’s new wardrobe, so he was disappointed. They promised to get it to us by 10 p.m. the following day.

Our entire flight had to go through the ag scanner. I’ve never run into a more incompetent group. Rod asked the first agent if their machine will damage film. “We’re not looking at your film, we’re just looking for food,” he’s told. He tries to ask again, but clearly she doesn't comprehend the question.

Then she sees he’s carrying wine. “You don’t have to put the wine on,” she says. Rod shows her that another box is wine too. “No, that one must go on,” she says. Whatever.

My mother had bought boxes and boxes of Lladros, we had the wine and a few other breakable things. The ag conveyors are at a slant – they go upward into the scanner and then go downward out the other side. The guy running the machine just kept pushing everything through so everything was banging into other pieces and falling off the end. I told him our pieces were fragile and could he please hold up until the pieces could be collected. He just stared at me. We were pretty convinced no one there had more than a very minimal understanding of English.

We collected our things and made it out. Rod and I went ahead to pick up the car so my brother could check on the money BA offered him to make up for him having to buy some clothes in first day in Spain without his bag. BA volunteered to pay him $50. In Madrid, they told him to collect the money at LHR. At LHR, they told him to collect the money at SFO. At SFO, the lines were long so he figured he’d call the following day. Well, the following day he calls and they tell him he must pick it up at SFO. My brother lives at Lake Tahoe. Their policy, they say, is to pay the claim at the airport immediately so the passenger has the money to buy what they need. My brother explains that would have been 10 days ago in Madrid and explains the run-around he’s gone through. She’s nice but won’t budge because their “policy is to do everything they can to help the passenger when they need it.” Huh? They also won’t let me pick up the check though we have the same last names. He decides to hang up and write a letter. If that doesn’t work he’ll just let it go as it’s not worth his time.

We zipped home and Zach’s bag arrived safely on our doorstep the following night. It felt good to be home. That's enough of that extended family travel, I thought.

Then my brother called the other day. He’d really like it if we all went skiing in Switzerland this winter.

The trip wasn’t that bad was it? We had a great time, right?. And there’s no way the same problems could happen again. Besides, it’s all pretty funny now. OK, count us in. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The End

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by letiole:
I did visit the Reine-Sofia,..</font>

great museum!!!! Loved it.

Prado was yawnsville.

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Visit FlyerTalk Dining http://flyertalk.com/diningfr.shtml

Absolutely brilliant, I feel like I know your family, just don't expect me to invite them over for Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing your trip.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Sweet Willie:
Prado was yawnsville.

</font>

Gee Willie, the Prado is one of my favorite museums in the world, different strokes, I guess.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Absolutely brilliant, I feel like I know your family, just don't expect me to invite them over for Thanksgiving. </font>

LOL! And here I've been trying to pawn them of on someone, anyone. Sure you won't reconsider? I promise it won't be boring. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Jailer:
Gee Willie, the Prado is one of my favorite museums in the world, different strokes, I guess. </font>

Makes the world a better place for sure! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by letiole:
LOL! And here I've been trying to pawn them of on someone, anyone. Sure you won't reconsider? I promise it won't be boring. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif </font>

OK, I offer you a trade, you take my mom on your next trip, I'll take your folks on my next trip.

See, for example:

http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum81/HTML/001277.html

Great report, letiole. I've lost someone following me on those roundabouts. Same story, we never told them where we were staying, but they eventually found us. I'd say "never again", but it has the same effect your saying it does.

Great report! Sounds like a lot of fun.

I had the pleasure of visiting Madrid for the first time over Easter and agree that it's a fantastic city. We found the Thyssen and Reina Sofia museums to be excellent. The Prado was also great, but not as amazing as the other two (the lack of crowds at the Thyssen and Reina Sofia may have something to do with it). http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thank you for an incredibly entertaining and enjoyable trip report.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by letiole:


Madrid has beautiful architecture and great museums, but I didn’t find it to be one of the world’s outstanding cities. Like Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, “There’s no there, there.” </font>

Couldn't have put it any better myself.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by letiole:

We explored old town on foot and visited the Royal Palace. I’ve been in numerous palaces and this has to be one of the best... But this palace was absolutely perfect. Admission is cheap and for 1 euro more you can take a guided tour. This was well worth it and the guide had many interesting stories about how the palace is used today (for dinners and to greet guests) and how it was used in the past. Again the ceiling work was the most fantastic part of the place. One room had three dimensional flowers and vines on the ceiling and others had beautiful frescoes.
</font>

...the porcelain room. I just brought some friends to MAD (their first trip to Europe) and they were disappointed by the Palace. Did you notice the shudders were in disrepair? The corridors along the courtyard seemed kinda shabby too. And what's with that "asian room"? Someone was smoking crack when they did that whole wing.

Thanks for the comments.

the-ca-goat: I guess I missed the shabby parts. I thought the porcelain room was very cool. But I agree the Asian room was a little odd. Funny that you mention smoking crack as that was originally the smoking room. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

letiole

Great report. I have a suggestion regarding lost people traveling together - cell phones. We had a similar experience while traveling in Europe several years ago when people got seperated and it took forever to get back together - not as long as you, but long enough. From that point on, we now rent international cell phones (as US style won't work in most other parts of the world) when there is the potential for getting seperated. They are quite reasonable with a small daily rental fee and typically only charged for air time. I get mine from my cell provider here in the US before leaving.

Thanks for the suggestions rockdoc. Immediately after the fact, we of course thought of tons of ways we could have avoided this mess. The easiest, obviously, would have been to provide them with all the information. My fault, but I'm so used to them losing everything ...

We also have those walkie talkie things that have a range of about 3 miles. Those would have worked when we first realized we were separated. A plan to call their housesitters or our answering machine also would have worked.

Like I said though, we don't tend to make the same mistakes twice so I'm certain we won't let this happen again. Well pretty certain.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by letiole:
Thanks for the comments.

the-ca-goat: I guess I missed the shabby parts. I thought the porcelain room was very cool. But I agree the Asian room was a little odd. Funny that you mention smoking crack as that was originally the smoking room. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

...I guess I have a sixth sense about that sort of thing http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif... Now I know what some of those "herbs" were in the apothecary.

I wouldn't of noticed the shabby parts either but my friends pointed things out that didn't fit with their idea of what a palace would be like.