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A Burgos city bus leaving a stop in Plaza España.
To me, it seems as though Spain is light years ahead of the States in at least one thing: public transportation. I, for example, can get anywhere within the city that I’d like to go on the bus system, which is efficient, modern, and always on time. In addition to city buses, Spain has light rail systems, subway systems, and long-distance buses and trains that transport passengers to virtually any corner of the country that they would like to visit. For me, the transport system here is absolutely amazing.
Of course, there are always hiccups. Renfe sometimes is late, the metro in Madrid may occasionally break down, a bus could arrive a little behind schedule. Still, comparing with what I’m used to in the States, Spain is pretty “well off” in terms of public transportation and, in general, Spaniards can (and do) rely heavily on things like buses and trains rather than always grabbing the “coche.”
I’m sure everyone has had some type of awful experience while traveling on public transport; so, here’s something fun for this post. Would everyone who reads this please comment with your funny/unique/strange public transport stories? Perhaps later we can come to a conclusion about which of my readers has had the most unique public transport experience.
Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com
I suppose I will start off the comments with my own funny transport story. One time, while taking a bus between Valladolid and Madrid, I ended up in a seat beside a very old man who was, well, quite intoxicated. In fact, he had a bottle of wine that he had snuck onto the bus and he was sipping from it quite a bit. To make a long story short, he ended up asking ME if I wanted to “partake” in some of his wine. I, of course, politely declined…. I’ll still always remember the time the drunk guy offered me wine on the ALSA bus though!!
Post your unique/funny travel/transport stories below!
This story happened to me in the subway of Madrid (between Principe Pío and Opera). I want to clarify that the subway is completely safe, even at night. But this time I sat in front of a apparently inoffensive woman. But suddenly, she took a knife from her bag, and she began to touch the edge of the knife WHILE SHE WAS WATCHING TO ME with a face of psycho. Two grandmothers started to look at her horrified and they told me by gestures that if she did something to me, they will try to stop her.
Finally she kept the knife, and she took an anti-stress ball and she started to squeeze it.
When we arrived to Opera, I remember to the grandmothers running away and me leaving the train quickly, disguising my nerves.
But in spite of everything, it was funny!
(I’m sorry for the bad english!)
@Mrwon – What a scary travel story… I guess you never know who you’ll run into on the Metro!! You’re lucky that nothing happened to you!! Por cierto, hablas maravillosamente el inglés, así que no hay por qué pedir disculpas… de todos modos, puedes comentar en español si resulta más fácil para ti…..
My husband (who is in a wheelchair) and I were in Madrid in 2006 and we went to Atocha to buy tickets for a trip to Toledo. Seeing the long lines, we thought we would be smart and buy our tickets at the kiosk. We managed that even with our limited Spanish and feeling smug started on our way to the info office to inquire about handicap seating. That’s when the trouble started….our spanish not being so good we failed to realize that there is only one train car on the Ave that is accessible and you must buy a ticket for that specific seat. So the Kiosk was a bad idea. We ended up having to stand in line anyway and exchange our tickets. We laughed about it even then! Live and learn!
@Kim – Wow, I didn’t know that only one train car on the AVE is accessible… that seems kinda bad considering the AVE is a brand new train, you would think it would have more than only one car. At least in the end you managed to get things sorted out and can look back and laugh about the experience. Thanks for sharing your story!
To everyone: keep your unique/unusual travel stories coming!