So, we’ve handed over the reigns to the guest bloggers for the rest of June! We hope you will enjoy and comment on their (each others’) wonderful articles and stories, and visit their great websites of course! In the first of our guest blogging series, Gary Child, who runs a website offering great free resources for primary school classrooms, has a run in with a less than helpful hostel receptionist:
My last visit to Spain was in April this year when I attended the GME organised by Ben and Marina. The whole event could not have been better and the Hostal Tijcal II I had booked in at was clean and reasonably priced. Though the shower measured only 24 inches by 24 inches square, we managed.
On the morning of the day before I was due to fly back to the UK I approached the receptionist at the hostal, who was maybe in his early 50′s, and asked if he would mind booking me a taxi for the airport. From behind his paper and, apparently at great personal inconvenience, he informed me that there were no taxis:
“No, taxis!?”
“No taxis señor.”
“What do you mean, no taxis?”
“There are no more taxis, I have booked three already.”
“But this is Madrid. It’s a capital city, there must be more than 3 taxis.”
“I have booked all the taxis I can book for today.”
And with that he returned to his paper.
This is what your typical Brit imagines your typical Spaniard to be like. I was aghast and I’m ashamed to say that I felt a Basil Fawlty moment welling up. I would ‘reason’ with Manuel – the customary two finger jab to the eyes should do the trick. But no… I had a vision of sirens and blue flashing lights, of being carted off to jail kicking and struggling, missing my flight and of she who must be adored hearing about it on the six o’clock news.
With a sigh and a shake of the head I declined to comply with the stereotype and resigned myself to make alternative arrangements.
In the end I shared a taxi home with another forero. He was staying in Hostal Tijcal I where the concierge was a good deal younger and more affable, but even he took some persuading to book us a taxi.
Is it a Madrid thing? Is it a taxi thing?
Who knows, safe to say it neither put me off the country nor its capital and once the winter flights are announced on the budget carriers I look forward to returning – often.
I even like grumpy Spain!!
When not living it up in Spain, Gary runs a free primary education resources website.
Traveling Guiri
7 Jun 07 at 10:03 am
Gary,
Loved your column! Next time, skip the hotel receptionist and take the airport shuttle to Barajas airport through a company called Aerocity. http://www.aerocity.com You can book online or call for a pickup. It’s cheaper than a taxi. That’s what I do and I never have had any problems.
DCkid
7 Jun 07 at 10:07 am
There are approximately 16, 000 taxis in Madrid. On a Saturday night your chances of getting a taxi are null. Gran Via is impossible after 3:00am. I’ve found myself walking home in most cases. A tip. Call ahead Radio Taxi. If your off to the airport do it atleast the night before.
Theresa
7 Jun 07 at 10:22 am
Sorry to hear of your bad experience, but I’m glad it hasn’t put you off Spain. There are lots of wonderful people here to meet, and I hope next time you won’t come across any of the grumpy ones. Radio Taxi is a good idea, especially on weekends when it’s nearly impossible to get one in any Spanish city.
markinSpain
7 Jun 07 at 11:27 am
This taxi thing – the standard thing is just to go into the street and hail one down (often waiting close to a bus stop or a big hotel is the best option). You rarely have to wait more than a minute or two. It’s the accepted way of doing this as a pick-up charges you for the taxi journey to your location. Hence most Spanish don’t have the habit of calling for a taxi, and are surprised that foreigners want to do this. However (as pointed out above) it is a lot more difficult to hail taxis in the early hours.
Que (Dave)
7 Jun 07 at 3:43 pm
lol. I remeber well
Que (Dave)
7 Jun 07 at 3:43 pm
lol. I remember well
Gary
7 Jun 07 at 4:36 pm
Are you still seeing double Que?
Gary
7 Jun 07 at 5:05 pm
@ Traveling Guiri – are the prices per person or per ride?
@ DCKid – It was a Thursday, I wanted to ring ahead but “Manuel” was not in the mood to be helpful… it was actually quite funny
@ Theresa – I feel very welcome when I travel to Spain. I know full well this is not typical, but it is also not uncommon and I am a regular enough visitor to Spain not to be at all annoyed by it. On the other hand the elderly couple I met at the airport (and had a three intercambio on the plane completely in spanish) were absolutely enchanting…
Gary
7 Jun 07 at 5:06 pm
Thats … three hour intercambio… oops!
Emily
7 Jun 07 at 10:30 pm
I have another strange taxi story:
I was in ívila and wanted a taxi to the bus station as my friend had a large box that she didn’t want to carry. We asked the receptionist at our hotel to call us a cab but she wouldn’t and instead pointed us to a pay phone on the wall to call for ourselves. Instead of using the pay phone I used my mobile. I tryed to hand it to her so she could talk to them as she knew the address of the hotel but she refused and I got to muddle through the cab ordering myself. The cab came so no problems but I still thought it was quite odd.
Emily in Portland, OR
Traveling Guiri
8 Jun 07 at 10:15 am
Gary,
I think they charge per person but if they pick up a couple from the same address/hotel, they might offer a special price. I’m not sure. I paid 18€ last month to go from the airport to a hotel near the Prado. It was a shared ride in a Mercedes sedan. Sometimes the rides are in a van. Just depends on time of day and number of other people sharing the vehicle.
richardksa
8 Jun 07 at 8:19 pm
At the end of my last stay I somehow rented a room in a hostel that had no receptionist. I had a very early flight with onward connections and did not want to arrive at the airport late. So the night before I stood by a road junction and copied the telephones numbers of the radio taxis into a notebook, later entering them into my mobile, thinking that at four the next morning that was going to be my only way to get a taxi.
At that horrible hour I exited my hostel to find five taxis sitting outside with nothing to do. One was only too happy to take me to terminal 4.
acosta
11 Jun 07 at 2:17 am
LOL at the faulty towers references, one of my favorite comedies. Course there’s the touch errr racist….
oh manual , he’s from Barcelona
that explains it.
ValenciaSon
12 Jun 07 at 11:11 pm
I loved Fawlty Towers! I especially liked the episode where Basil loses his memory afyer getting hit on the head by the moose’s head and has german guests which he manages to insult. I can see John Cleese goose-stepping with his humorously long limbs. Nothing to do with the taxi situation in Spain, I know, but I love that episode.