I have missed a few buses in Spain, accidentally hopped on the scenic train in Belgium, boarded the wrong train in Boston, nearly missed a train to see my fairy tale castle in Germany and even taken a ferry to the wrong island in Holland. I guess my track record isn’t as good as I claim it is… but usually these mistakes are easy to fix.
This time, was different. I missed my train in Spain.
After an amazing Carnival weekend in Cadiz, filled with celebration, seafood, fireworks, music, and festivities, we were ready to go home. We even chose (by chose I mean, we accidentally fell asleep before midnight) not to go out the night prior so that we would not do the inevitable, and miss our train.
Of course, you can see where this is going. We missed a train. Actually, we missed a train, and then a bus, and then a second bus. All in all, our slight misjudgment cost us fifty euros each, and more than a few relentless hours of traveling with un-twistable knots in our stomachs.
The worst part is, we were on time! We arrived at the train station in Cadiz at the time of departure, 8:07 am. We were unaware that we were even running late. In fact, on the walk to the station we thought about stopping to take photos of a few things we missed, and we checked out of our hostel in laughter! At no time did we expect to miss this train.
You see, we arrived to the train station at the time scheduled on our tickets. 8:07 am. Unfortunately, 8:07 am is not the time the train departs. If you arrive at 8:07, you are in fact late, your train will be thirty seconds into it’s journey to your destination, and you will be left staring aimlessly into a dark tunnel praying for a train to appear.
So, we missed the train… no big deal, right? Wrong! If we did not get on this train, it meant we would not be able to get home until the next afternoon.
We consumed the only food we had, two squished packaged mini lemon muffins, and began the frantic search for alternative means of transport. We checked the bus schedules, we checked the train schedules, we checked BlaBlacar, we checked Carpool, we Whatsapped coworkers, and we had a small argument with the Renfe workers.
We were first to board the next train to Seville. Although only an hour later, this was a significant difference for us. We took a taxi from the Seville train station to the bus station with a quirky, cigarette smoking, fast talking, Andalusian cab driver who did not seem to have any prisa (he was not in a hurry).
We arrived with just enough time for Jess to buy a bus station bocadillo (sandwich) and a water for our famished and dehydrated selves. Next move: Bus to Granada. The bus to Granada was scheduled to arrive at three. This is the same exact time that the bus we needed from Granada to Murcia was scheduled to leave the station. This would catch us up to our original schedule and we would be able to arrive in Murcia by 6:30 pm in order to catch our last bus at 7 pm. Blah blah blah… Needless to say, mission accomplished.
One hundred extra euros later, but we arrived to our final destination at the same time as we would have if we did not miss that first train.
Moral of the story: Don’t miss your train in Spain!
