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Monthly archives "December 2009"

Puig Campana

Puig Campana

Puig Campana, Alicante

Concern

I am flying to Madrid this evening again. I am lately using air transportation instead of train or my own car for the Madrid-Alicante trip when I come to meet my family here. For me, flights have several logistic advantages to train, as I live and work pretty close to the airport in Madrid, and the total journey normally takes less than the train. Let me remark “normally”, as I am experiencing some issues… Last two times I’ve come by plane, I arrived with a significant delay to Alicante’s airport.

A couple of months ago, my Ryanair flight was diverted to Valencia’s airport. (180 km north) due to the fog. Alicante does not usually have that thick fog but at that moment, the visibility conditions did not allow the landing… and the captain did not try a second time (remember, this was a Ryanair flight) and we went to Valencia. We were provided a bus connection to Alicante’s airport, where we arrived with 5 hours of delay, and a bit sick after the bus trip.

For the Christmas holidays, I bought an Iberia flight, because of several reasons: convenient prices, better (planned) schedules and my desire not to get the unexpected result of the previous occasion. Result: Barajas Terminal 4 (the one devoted to Iberia’s flights) was a big chaos. Over 30 flights had delays of more than 2 hours when I arrived, and there was no consistency at all in the delivered information: they announced gates for flights which were delayed, they changed them afterwards, they cancelled flights with gates and imminent departure…

I was lucky enough to meet a friend there (with whom I share the 2 extra hours in the airport) and to have a ticket for my flight, and not for the previous one to Alicante, as this was postponed for the following day without further explanation. It was strange, as there was no apparent reason for this chaotic situation: there was no announced strike nor bad weather (most common reasons for this kind of extensive delays in Barajas). Final result: 3 hours delay in Alicante’s airport (we stayed for 1 hour in the plane in Madrid).

So, I’m concerned about today’s flight punctuality…

Regalos de Reyes

En mi casa tenemos un poco de enchufe desde que mis hermanos mayores son pequeños, y los Reyes Magos traen los regalos el día 24 por la noche. Sé lo que estáis pensando, y no: Papá Noel no viene a mi casa. Entre otras cosas, porque no tiene nada que ver con España. Esto de adelantar la venida de los Reyes en mi casa es una clara situación win-win de las que enseñan en cualquier curso de negociación: ellos adelantan trabajo del día 5, que están un poco saturados, y nosotros podemos disfrutar de los regalos todas las vacaciones de Navidad. Sobre todo, los niños pueden jugar con sus juguetes todas las vacaciones. 🙂

Christmas present

Este año, la comida multitudinaria en mi casa ha sido el día de Navidad, y los regalos por tanto, se abrieron ese día por la mañana. En los juguetes que se han pedido los pequeños de la casa hay de todo: muñecas varias, clics de Playmobil, libros, pinturas, algún juego de mesa, algún videojuego… y un camión de Lego. Como el sobrino en cuestión estaba en el límite inferior de la adecuación del juguete, nos pusimos un par de tíos y el padre a montárselo. Y allí nos tiramos una hora, 3 adultos, para montar el camioncito… Y cómo nos lo pasamos, buscando piececitas encima de la alfombra y descifrando las instrucciones. 🙂 Mi sobrino sé que disfrutará de lo lindo con su camión con moto y helicóptero, pero nosotros también tuvimos una tarde muy entretenida.

Al final, no sé para quién traen los juguetes… 😉

Candle

Candle Candle Candle

Autumn: Last Day

We’ll miss it…

2009 11 - Cortijo - 063

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