Transports, Madrid

I rushed onto the metro and slipped and fell. I had no need to rush, but I did. I lost my flip flop between the platform and the tracks. I have bruising on my leg and a sore big toe. The metro floors are a bit slippery. I had already slid on the train before that as it came to a stop.

Well I did get a few funny looks walking back to where we are staying with only one flip flop on.

4 more images

There are three possible hazards at the airport.

1) Security: When we landed from the US, we had to go through immigration. But to go through immigration that meant that we had to go back through security again, and my grandson still had his two bottled drinks that he bought inside security before we left, and I still had some water in my bottle which I had filled before we left. So we had to dump the water out.

1A) I took pictures in the airport (photo 4) without anyone saying anything to me until we left for the last time, and when I took a picture of the gate sign I was reprimanded. But they didn't take my camera or anything. (photo 5)

1B) Each time my grandson went through immigration he set off the alarm. The procedure seems to be that they ask me how old he is (in Spanish so it takes me awhile to figure out what the question is and then they look at his passport to verify), and then ask my permission to search him. Then they pat him down - they don't use the wand. I don't know why he sets the detector off here as he has not done so anywhere else even wearing the same clothing. I walked through the doorway and was fine. We did not have to take off our shoes anywhere in Europe.

2) Luggage carts These are free, but they have an automatic brake on them and if you don't read the directions (photo 2 and 3) you won't be able to move them. It took my grandson a little while to figure it out.

3) Finding the Departure Gate: There are no announcements on the PA system of the gate numbers. You have to look at the departure boards. Our plane was supposed to board at 10:35, and leave at 11:10. The notice boards were confusing, and there was no place to sit and be comfortable while monitoring them. My grandson asked if we were flight 1046 and without looking, I said yes, but that flight didn't have a departure gate yet, just that it was going to be a J gate of which there were 60.. We again asked a terminal person and she said the gate number would not be put up until a half hour before the boarding which would be 10:05.

Then it got to be 10:05 and they posted that we were to be at gate J58. We walked down there, and when they started boarding at 10:20, I asked the gate agent if we needed to check in again and she said (horrified) that this was flight 1046, and we were really on flight 2614. We should go and look at the boards to see what gate we had - the 1046 flight was a shuttle to Barcelona.

Ack. I had mistaken the flight number for the departure time.

We found a departures board - our gate was actually H13. We had to walk the length of all the J gates all the way down to the other end of the terminal and had to be there by 10:35, and it was now about 10:28. So we walked. I walked as fast as I could. And we did get there just before 10:35 - one of the last people to check in

...because on arriving from the city you must pay a 1€ supplement on your metro ticket. This supplement is already included on their period cards and Abono Transporte Turístico (read my separate tip about it). To make sure everyone pays, there's one or 2 guards in front of the machines.

As we were in Toledo we wanted to go to the railroad station in the late evening. there were no taxies going there anymore. If you have the same problem, considering you dont want to go on feet to the far away train station, there is a busstation near outside the walls. you can buy tickets there to Madrid.

Leaving Barajas by plain can be troubles. You get a gate area (A B C etc) but not the exact gate number. Then at the monitors suddenly the gatenumber is showed and you can go sit at that gate. However, beware that the gate number can change suddenly a few minutes before boarding, then you can find yourself running to the other side of the departure hall. So dont go sitting without listening to the messages or watching the monitor constantly.

This is a transportation warning. If you are in the area for more than just a few days, than most likely you'll want to make some side trip. Toledo is known as the closest one to Madrid. It is confortable and cheap to travel from Madrid to Toledo by train, but there is one thing you have to remember:
The trains to Toledo are almost always full! There's no possibility to stand on this 30 minutes ride, which means you have to make sure you purchased your tickets ahead.
It was just another, working, weekday when I decided to explore Toledo. I came to the Atocha station to get my tickets and was told that nothing is available and that there are a lot of people on wait list. I bought tickets for the next day.
Also make sure that you buy roundtrip tickets because coming back you'll have the same problem. And, if you buy the roundtrip ticket the price is cheaper. I paid about 14 Euro and it was a fast and pleasant trip. The train I took, both ways, was full and again there were many people who really hoped to get to Toledo and back.

As a result of a 2 hour flight delay, we arrived at Madrid Barajas at well after midnight. We must have been one of the last, if not THE last flight to arrive that evening at T4. There was little help from the airline or airport, and we had a long trek to a poorly signed train, which took us to the baggage hall, where we had a one hour wait for luggage.

There seemed little interest from any of the staff on duty. The new terminal looks good but, some of it's facilities and services are really poor!

A friendly recommendation: never use Iberia for your flight arrangements I had never been treated with such disrespect and poor service. I had the bad luck of loosing my ticket (not boarding pass, the ticket) when I was boarding my flight from Madrid to barcelona, and the supervisor in charge started yelling at me, like I was a little kid. When I told him to stopped yelling and be proactive the man got more irritated; I was completely harassed by this man, who finally after humiliating me, accepted to charge me 50 euros and board me. Amazing. !!