By 
Hello from Madrid! After 30 hours of long tedious waits, a frustrating flight delay in LAX, and frosty weather in Moscow, I’m finally here.
However, I must say that the amazing people I met along the way and the beautiful scenic views I experienced from the air redeemed this onerous trip!
On Dec 18th, Isidoro, my Uber driver, picked me up to drive me to the airport. He’s Mexican and has been living in LA for 38 years. Isidoro has lived in most LA neighborhoods: Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Alhambra, and Culver City. He currently resides in Sherman Oaks.
Although he says LA is a beautiful city, he reckons that it has two downsides: people and traffic. Coming from a Latin country where people are outgoing and very neighborly, he found it hard to adjust to LA, where everyone lived immersed in their own bubble.
As you know, I’m a big foodie. However, I haven’t delved into Mexican food with the exception of Gracias Madre and Tacos Delta in Silverlake. Given the overwhelming number of food trucks and modern Mexican restaurants in LA, I asked him where I could get the most delicious Mexican food in the city. He said the food truck on Westwood and Santa Monica Blvd had the best tacos: super cheap and super good. Noted! Isidoro was not a big fan of modern Mexican cuisine; he liked the hole-in-the-wall kinds of places. He also recommended Frida’s tacos to me and said that most of the places in the North Valley were completely hidden gems. That was my best Uber conversation. We also talked about countries and, of course, Mexico City—where I spent 4 years of my life—and its surroundings.
When I reached the airport, I checked my baggage, went through security and customs, and eventually took my seat on the airplane—only to find out that the flight had been delayed by an hour! Well, long story short, we had to evacuate the plane, which never took off. The only explanation the crew could come up with was “technical difficulties”.
The guy who had been sitting next to me on the plane had come from Alaska, had spent 12 hours in L.A. and was now flying to Moscow for a six-hour layover before heading off to his final destination, Dubai. I also met Kristine, who lived in Anaheim and was traveling to Venice with her daughter. They were only staying for a week before returning to L.A. for the holidays.
After we had evacuated the plane, we waited for an hour at the boarding gate. We all looked grumpy and the kids were throwing tantrums. Finally, the airline officials whisked us back into the terminal, where we had to wait for three more hours at the check-in counter. When it was my turn, they gave me a $15 meal voucher ($15, really?) and told me to retrieve my luggage downstairs, where baggage claim was located.
Our flight was delayed until 1:00 p.m. for the next day. After I got my bag, I walked back up to the main terminal to see if they could at least provide me with a hotel but the unbearably long line immediately put me off so I Ubered back home. It was so good to get home, take a shower, change my clothes and lie in my own bed after such a tedious day.
The next day, I went back to the airport and met a girl in line at the check-in counter. She was originally from China but had been living in L.A. for four years. She lived in Torrance and was flying to Turkey via Moscow, where she was going to be gone for a month and a half travelling around Europe. We bonded over fitness, L.A. and traveling! I didn’t get her name, but I gave her the link to my blog (hello if you’re reading this!). She had stayed the previous night at a hotel and said that most people hadn’t gotten there until midnight. Thank God I went back home!
There were considerably fewer people at the gate for our flight than there had been the day before—probably because most of them had booked another flight. Lucky them!
After our boarding had been delayed by an hour, everyone took their seats on the plane and it finally took off (finally). The view from the air was truly the most beautiful that I’ve ever seen during a take-off. Not only did I get to see from an aerial perspective how huge L.A is, but I was also able to pinpoint most of the landmarks and locations. Peering down at the sprawling layout of the city and the long coastline with all its beaches, made me think about how small and insignificant our problems are in this vast universe.
Two hours into the flight, we’d left the bright blue California sky behind and were welcomed to the Great Divide Basin by the blazing sunset. Shortly after that, we flew over the magnificent rocky white-capped mountains as we headed north toward the sea, where we were immersed in breathtaking views of stars and white northern lights against a pitch-black sky. As you can imagine, I wasn’t able to take any pictures, but it looked something like this.
My jetlag had already kicked in when we arrived in Moscow. The Aeroflot terminal was tiny. There were only two security checkpoints to reach the terminal for the connecting flight, and the hallway was super narrow. I was constantly bumping into people. I immediately headed for the airport directory and found a sleeping pod to make my six-hour wait a little more bearable. If you ever have a long layover, want to sleep but don’t want to do it on the airport floor; being constantly woken by other people’s conversations; airport announcements and worried about keeping your bags safe, I can’t recommend this enough.
After my attempted four-hour nap (I did get some sleep!), I walked to my gate, which was crammed with people.
I couldn’t believe they had us take a shuttle bus to the aircraft in the deadly sub-zero temperatures. Was this some kind of torture? After we stepped off the bus, I waited a good 20 minutes for everyone to board as we all patiently stood in a line up the stairs, getting frostbite. It was so cold that they had to use a special hose to spray the plane’s wings and sweep away the ice buildup.
During the flight, one woman threw a tantrum because she noticed a small dog two seats over. I wondered whether she’d seriously expected the dog to be shipped in the luggage compartment. She eventually toned it down but kept making complaints to the flight attendants. I could see them exchanging looks at having to deal with this crazy lady. I gave her the side-eye through the entire flight.
We finally arrived in Madrid, and my bag was one of the first on the baggage carousel. I headed outside, where my dad was waiting for me.
This emoji accurately describes how I looked like by the time I got out of the airport:
Here concludes the summary of my trip! Despite having to deal with the discomforts that come along with traveling and losing a day in Madrid, the amazing people I met along the way and the ridiculous moments I experienced, made this never-ending trip worthwhile.
Are you going anywhere these days?
Until next time, Happy Holidays!
