1st World Problem in Business Class

Our Living Room

Deck Overlooking Madrid

Bacalao - Salt-Cod Fritters

Veal Shank

Avi, our usual driver, picked us up about 3pm to take us to LAX. It was traumatic because we hate to leave Parsifal behind, but we are sure Kiesha / Layne will take good care of him.

 

LAX was it usually zoo. I can’t understand how the new People Mover will work in the real world. Every other airport in the world we have been to you pick up your luggage usually take an elevator down to meet at train that takes you to the exit. Here you have to go up and walk to the middle of the airport to meet a people mover which will take you to a remote site. I can’t picture it being efficient but will withhold judgement.

 

Last time we were at LAX we were flying to Mexico and were prechecked and it was simple to go through TSA. This time for some reason we weren’t so the lines were longer. We learned that if you are older than 75 you don’t have to take off our shoes. Wow what a benefit! Cathy declared herself as 75 (the whole point of this trip is to celebrate her 75^th ) and wasn’t challenged although she is a week short of the milestone.

 

We flew on Iberia Airlines the only airlines offering non-stop flights from LAX to Madrid. We had a brand new A350 and Business Class was quite nice. I was very impressed with it, although they didn’t have a rich assortment of movies to watch.

 

The whole point of for us in purchasing an exspensive Business Class tickets is to have the use of lie-flat seats, have a drink or two, take a sleeping pill, go to sleep and wake up at your destination, in this case Madrid, Spain.

 

Unfortunately for us and ALL of Business Class there was a couple with two young babies that screamed and cried the entire trip! It was a torture, both the sounds of their screams, the volume and the screech it self were continual and unending. The two babies never ceased! It overpowered the sleeping pills, the earphones we put on and the pillows over our heads. The staff was sympathetic but there was nothing they could have done except ignore my suggestion of stuffing stuffing them in an overhead bin and locking it!

 

This has never happened to us before. When we arrived, I started googling “Crying babies in Business Class” many people believe babies should not be allowed in Business Class or First. Others consider the parents inconsiderate for flying with crying kids. You are paying a LOT of MONEY to fly in Business Class, and it is basically wasted. I will write to the airlines and see what they say.

 

We arrived in Madrid about 2pm, very unrested and were driven to our hotel: The Principal (Jaimie had recommended it, and we had previously stayed at The Principal and like it).

 

Exhausted, we unpacked, took a nap and ate at he hotel. The hotel sent us a complementary bottle of Cava, so we drank it and FaceTimed our friend Barbara in SF as we do every night, no matter where we are.

The Hotel has an exceptional restaurant and we had Bacalao as an appetizer and shared a veal shank. Once again we were amazed that we had an excellent bottle of Spanish wine for $ 25. The entire dinner was less than $100. The food was as good as I remembered.  Sleeping Pills for us tonight and we will wake up for our first full day in Madrid which will include massages and a dinner at our favorite Madrid restaurant: Roostiq.