FENAVIN day 4: home again
07-May-09 - And this time it did work. Cab to the station to catch the 10:32 from Ciudad Real to Madrid, then another cab to Barajas Terminal 1. Arrived there well and early but AE has a continuous check-in (none of this 'check out opens two hours before departure' nonsense) so I was through airside and in the lounge by about 13:00, helping myself to a large one and settling down to a good couple of hours' work typing up all my notes from the fair. The lounge in Terminal 1 is very spacious and, if you're so minded, has huge deep and comfortable sofas and armchairs. Unfortunately, with my dodgy hip and knee if I get down into one of them it's almost impossible to get out. Fortunately they also have individual cubicles with lamp, electric socket and swivel chairs and I swiftly commandeered one of these. After a thousand words or so, another couple of large ones and a sandwich and a glass of wine (the sandwiches, to be honest, aren't up to much, but at least they are food, as opposed to the pretzels, peanuts and cake which are a feature of most UK airport lounges), it was off to the gate, which was conveniently situated immediately below the lounge: minimal walking!
I got a seat in the waiting area next to an attractive young woman who appeared to be reading religious texts on her laptop, which seems an unusual thing to be doing at an airport departure gate - although it's probably no more weird than immersing yourself in an airport bonkbuster. She asked me in a kind of indeterminate accent if I would be here long, and I replied that I wouldn't be going anywhere until the flight was called. She asked me to keep an eye on her laptop and bags while she went for a smoke (they have special smoking areas at Madrid airport, allowing for human frailty, unlike some countries I can think of). She returned in due course, picked up her laptop again and appeared to say "have you heard of Vegas?". I asked her if she meant Las Vegas, but apparently not. She spelled it out to me and what she was saying was 'Zeitgeist', although how you get it to sound like 'Vegas' I don't know. "Yes," I replied cautiously, "but it seems to change repeatedly according to the political climate..." At that moment the flight was called and I made my escape, just in case she was about to try and sell me some religious tract.
The flight was on time (I slept through most of it anyway), and the gate at LGW was less than three miles from immigration, so just two or three pauses for breath did the trick, a quick stagger through baggage reclaim and the car was waiting for me, mercifully not parked on the other side of the car park, and home in time for apéritifs. As travelling days go, not the worst by any means.
I got a seat in the waiting area next to an attractive young woman who appeared to be reading religious texts on her laptop, which seems an unusual thing to be doing at an airport departure gate - although it's probably no more weird than immersing yourself in an airport bonkbuster. She asked me in a kind of indeterminate accent if I would be here long, and I replied that I wouldn't be going anywhere until the flight was called. She asked me to keep an eye on her laptop and bags while she went for a smoke (they have special smoking areas at Madrid airport, allowing for human frailty, unlike some countries I can think of). She returned in due course, picked up her laptop again and appeared to say "have you heard of Vegas?". I asked her if she meant Las Vegas, but apparently not. She spelled it out to me and what she was saying was 'Zeitgeist', although how you get it to sound like 'Vegas' I don't know. "Yes," I replied cautiously, "but it seems to change repeatedly according to the political climate..." At that moment the flight was called and I made my escape, just in case she was about to try and sell me some religious tract.
The flight was on time (I slept through most of it anyway), and the gate at LGW was less than three miles from immigration, so just two or three pauses for breath did the trick, a quick stagger through baggage reclaim and the car was waiting for me, mercifully not parked on the other side of the car park, and home in time for apéritifs. As travelling days go, not the worst by any means.
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posted by John Radford at
12:26
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