Day 1: Lagos🚌Lisbon✈️Madrid 😰

Start 12:00 …

The bus ride from Lagos to the airport in Lisbon was relaxing. Here we checked our luggage and waited for the flight to Madrid, from where we were supposed to continue to Bogotá in Colombia.

In Madrid, we planned approximately 3 hours for arrival, transfer between terminals, and check-in for the Bogotá flight.

However, things got really exciting – meaning it was more than tight on time!😧

We first arrived in Madrid about 30 minutes late. Unknowingly following the official airport signs for baggage claim, we only realized at the luggage carousel that our budget airline had its own pick-up area. Unfortunately, this was at the other end of the terminal.😫

After we finally got there in a hurry, with a bit of sweat on our brows, we had to find out that we were already outside the security area – the baggage carousel was inside. 😲😰

So we had to get in, no matter what. As the sliding door opened at the baggage claim exit, we rushed in and searched for the right baggage carousel – and fortunately found it right away. This was very good because the security guard was already behind us 🤣.

With a bit of persuasion (in Spanish😬), showing our ticket and baggage claim receipt, we were able to leave again quickly.

This whole 'baggage carousel' action cost us another 3/4 hour. 😲😰

Internally, I had almost given up on the flight since we still had to find the bus transfer to the international terminal.

Fortunately, that went smoothly.

After about another 20 minutes, we finally reached the other terminal. 1 hour before the scheduled departure, the flight wasn’t even displayed at the check-in counter anymore. Only the ladies from Iberia were still there. However, they were very nice and checked in the two nervous, slightly sweaty older gentlemen – despite the delay. 😅

Perhaps it was also due to the business class we had booked 😁

We even made it to the VIP lounge – and there, out of sheer relief, noticeably reduced the wine and food supplies available to us in the 15 minutes before boarding 😂

I actually didn't want to mention this anymore: our gate was “of course” exactly on the other side of the terminal – but we were already used to running fast.😁

End of Day 1, 24:00 …