My trip thus far: Madrid Day 0

Background Information: I began this post yesterday, then took a siesta and then went out all night. I’m probably going to offend some people with my liberal grammar usage of tenses.

Today was unlike any other day I’ve ever lived.

I never understood how it must have felt for my parents to come to America with little to no English skills, but today it became clear as crystal. I’m in Spain right now and have absolutely no clue what it going on around me. It can be frighting at times, but very rewarding when something as simple as successfully communicating a thought or concept to someone occurs after a few painstaking minutes.

Nothing I have looked at, heard, eaten or smelled today has come close to replicating past experiences in my life. Everything is new, everything is fresh.

Let me take a step back, how did I actually get here? This is the story only a Nokia N95 could tell:

I woke up early Sunday morning to a very typical breakfast. Three boiled eggs, a block of feta cheese and a few tomatoes. Some may think this is unhealthy, but my father (a retired doctor) has been ranting about how Americans don’t know what food is ever since stepping off the plane back in 1991:

Once that meal was finished we all climbed into my mother’s Honda and got going to the airport. After failing the security checkpoint twice due to my wallet, I am finally granted access into the terminal; third times the charm. The tectonic plates shifted before my very eyes and out emerged this evil demon:

How do I know it was the spawn of Satan? I gave into temptation and touched it.

5 seconds later American Airlines makes an announcement that my flight is delayed. Coincidence? I think not.

Half an hour after my flight was supposed to depart, we begin boarding. I ran to the gate:

The next 3 hours would prove to be a true test of my patience. I don’t like people who fidget and I was sitting next to a teenager who must’ve had 10 too many Red Bulls. Trying to sleep is also quite difficult when someone is playing their PSP on full blast, without headphones.

Oh well, I won’t let this ruin my trip! As soon as the plane lands I dash to the front so I could distance myself from shaky only to come across another strange figure. I didn’t ask this guy what the mask was for, I just kindly requested permission to take a picture:

At this point my stomach was beginning to emit noises that would demand the services of an exorcist, so I go to the nearest restaurant I could find at JFK airport. Sure it was expensive, $15 for a damn chicken caesar salad, but I got that that much needed dose of food my belly was aching for.

Here is the real deal. I’m going to be on this sucker for 8 hours:

Before boarding I took a seat in the British Airways lounge and plugged my N95 in. I would’ve sat down longer if I knew how many people were going to board this airplane:

The flight itself wasn’t difficult, keeping my eyes to myself was. I have a thing for Latin women and let’s just say that the flight was definitely spicy. I’ve never flown Iberia before, but if I’m ever going to be in Spain again I will only fly with them. The flight attendants went out of their way to make me happy, the food was amazing, the feature movie "Little Miss Sunshine" was available in 3 languages and the coffee was magically delicious. I arrived in Spain with a smile on my face … until I saw passport control:

Two hours later I get on another line for 30 minutes to get enough euros for my taxi ride. My driver was going over 180 km/h (over 110 mph) in his VW Passat and thus he got a very nice tip.

Checking into the hotel was quick and efficient and I was now a man on a mission:

• Locate adapter for my American electronics
• Find the nearest bank to exchange dollars to euros
• Get my phone working

The front desk people rocked. They sold me an adapter, told me a currency exchange office was within the hotel, but they couldn’t help me find a prepaid SIM card. I didn’t let this upset me, I’m in Spain for crying out loud, it’s awesome!

I run back upstairs to grab my camera and on my way out the door I bump into Ganesh from the S60 Browser Team. I told him my issue and he was kind enough to let me use his E61i to call T-Mobile and get international roaming enabled. Thank you very much, you have no idea how much I appreciate that.

Now I leave the hotel and take on the streets. Spain is an assault on the senses and I was too busy reaping the benefits of experiencing a new culture to take out my camera and snap photos. After failing to locate food so early in the morning (11:00) I resorted to making a quick pit stop at a butchers and getting the proper supplies to make myself a hearty sandwich. The pork here is epic. After 5 hours of aimlessly walking around Madrid the jetlag kicked in. At 15:00 yesterday I was dead asleep.

I woke up around 19:00 only to get a phone call moments later from Phil for an invite to hang out. How could I refuse?

What was supposed to be a quick trip to the super market turned into an evening of good old fashioned fun that ended around 02:30

We discovered a company named after him:

But best of all was the half liter of cold beer after all that walking:

I had a blast and instantly fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow.

It is 09:00 in Spain right now and I just got of the shower. I’m starving.

There you have it: The story of how I got to Spain and how the first 24 hours went.