Well, that didn't happen. But almost.
Yesterday was my last day in Madrid. It was a good day, as I had an unused ticket for the Hop-on Hop-off bus, which i took to a part of town I hadn't visited yet. I saw the stadium, the Embassy section of town, and some other parts.
Aditionally, I walked around by an area near the hotel. I jumped on a city bus just to find out where it would take me, stayed on for about 20 miniutes, watched people get on and get off, and I got off myself. I found out I was a very short walk from where I got on the bus.
At 6:30 pm, it was time to go to the airport. If you remember, I was at the airport the previous day, to change the name on my ticket-because I put both my first and last name in both fields. The airline rep said it was ok to fly, so I went to the airport today to get on the flight to Seville.
Upon getting to the very large Madrid airport, the airline agent checked me in and my bag without an issue.
When i got to Seville, it was around midnight, after I picked up my bag and took the bus downtown. The shuttle bus was full of people going to hostels, who we're unsure where to go. The average age was 31. (without me it would have been 21). I got off the bus at the last stop, and had no idea where to go. The bus driver gave me some directions to a square in town, and I walked there (about a 10 minute walk), and still couldn't find it. Just about every business with wifi (Starbucks, Mcdonalds, etc), we're closed-with just a few resturants in town open. I asked several people, and they had no idea of where I should go. I even found a group of students sitting on a bench who went to University of Florida, and they tried looking it up on cell phone, and couldn't find it(although I saw what i though was my hostel on his cell phone, and he didn't want to look it up it seems-but since he was helping me I didn't want to critisize him).
By this time it was already after 1:00. I gave up hope off finding the hostel. I passed by a hotel with double doors, the front set of doors opened-without saying anything, the agent behind the front desk saw me with my bags and rudely signaled that there was no room.
At this point I figured I should find a park bench. Nobody could find the hostel. My notes we're so bad, I had trouble reading them myself. Then I remember one thing I saw on my last cruise, a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas that helped me find the hostel: In Nassau Bahamas, the main visitors center, was closed for renovations. But crew members we're still sitting directly outside using it's wifi. I figured if I could find a Starbucks, Mcdonalds, etc-even it was closed, I might be able to sit directly outside and access their wifi. I found a closed Starbucks, and that is exactly what I did. And it worked-I accessed my email, went to the hostel website, and got the directions-A good 1/2 hour walk from where I was, stopped for a Gelato, and by 2:15 am I found the hostel. (and yes, I still stay at hostels).
