We flew out of Ft Lauderdale on 10/24/23 and our neighbor Bob drove us to the airport. We arrived at 9:40 but was too early to check in. Since our flight didn’t leave until 2:09, we couldn’t check in until 10:09. We flew to Philadelphia, and it was pretty uneventful, and we arrived on time around 4:52 pm. l. Then we flew out of Philadelphia to Madrid at 7:03 pm and expected to arrive at 8:10 am. The flight attendant moved us to a 2-seat row across from the bathroom which we were happy about. Then Don told me when we landed that his seat was very uncomfortable. We had a long layover in Madrid because we arrived at 7:30 am and our flight didn’t leave until 11:55 am. We arrived in Valencia at 7:30 am.
I was shocked at how unwelcoming and unfriendly the airports were in Spain. When we landed in Madrid, we had to take a bus to the terminal. Then we went through customs and had no idea what to do next. There were no signs or TV screens telling us how to find the gate for our connecting flight. We got on a train shuttle to the next terminal where we found a TV screen. Of course, it said that we couldn’t find out our gate number until 10:25 so we just hung out for a couple of hours. The flight to Valencia took about 40 minutes and when we got there, no one knew how to find their luggage. I asked one of the workers and he said he didn’t know and walked away. We ended up walking down 2 longer hallways (which we thought were exits) and found more luggage carousels. That is where we found a screen telling us which one would have our bags.
Next, we found the kiosk to get our Valencia Tourist Card (we bought a 72-hour. card for each of us online before we left home). It said I just needed to put in the information on my email and we would get the cards. We got our cards and decided to use them on Thursday instead of today, so we bought two single-fare cards for $5.60 each to get us to the City Central. But we had all these papers and couldn’t figure out which was the card. When we went to the office for help, the man tried to charge us more money. Finally, the lady came out to help us and told us that we didn’t get our cards out of the machine, and we just had receipts (one for us and others that people had left behind). She helped us get through and since we only had 1 card, she helped us get through the toll booth. I asked if we needed the card at the end, but she said no. She lied and we needed two cards to get out so we used one at the handicapped gate and we both slipped through.
So, we rode the metro to the Xativa station and got out. I didn’t realize we had to go up the really steep flight of stairs with our almost 50 lb. suitcases. 2 people helped me pick up mine and get to the top of the stairs. One man helped Don with his. I never saw an elevator! Then we had to try to find the hotel from my downloaded Valencia Map on Google. We were tired and hot, but eventually found the Valola Boutique Rooms (.6 km away from the metro station). There was no elevator, and I must have looked awful because the young hostess, picked up my heavy bag and carried up the huge marble stairs.
We are staying in Room 8 and it is a HUGE room. There is a bed area as well as a couch in the sitting area. Once we got settled, we went out exploring until 7:30 pm. We ended up eating at Burger King for dinner because we were too exhausted to appreciate a local dish. Don had a large gelato (3 scoops!) on the way back.
Things I’ve Learned:
- Bring your own snacks for the plane ride.
- Look for elevators in the metro stations.
- Be Flexible when traveling.
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