Yes, the title of this post speaks truth. In 3 short days, I will be boarding a plane at Boston's Logan Airport en route to Madrid. The image directly above this text was taken a little over a year ago, when I was on my way to Madrid for the first time. I recall snapping this photo when I was about 25 minutes away from landing at Barajas International Airport, which is Spain's busiest airport and the tenth busiest airport in the world according to madrid-mad.com. The number of passengers coming into and departing from the capital of Espana is impressive, seeing as its location in the dead center of Spain is not particularly near any one body of water.
I am scheduled to land in Terminal 4, which has been a source of controversy since its opening in 2006. From the airport's perspective, opening Terminal 4 was the only way to maintain Barajas' reputation as the creme de la creme of European airports. Its opening more than doubled the number of flights/hour, pushing the number of passengers/year over 50 million. Spaniards living in the northeast neighborhoods of Madrid, however, didn't like the idea of an expansive terminal invading their neighborhoods. Many protested the terminal's grand opening, believing pollution would skyrocket. Others feared that even more noisy planes would hover above their homes, disrupting their daily lives. Nevertheless, Terminal 4 opened and 3 years later is working overtime. From a passenger's point of view, Terminal 4 is a bit large and requires some walking, which is never fun when your only travel partner is an overweight suitcase that refuses to keep up with you. That being said, the architecture is unique and the size of the terminal resonates. Last year, knowing that I was competently navigating around the world's largest airport terminal left me feeling like an accomplished traveler. (Note: In the summer of 2008, China opened an even larger airport terminal.)
Now, you may be asking, "how can a poor college student afford to spend her spring break in Europe?" Funny you ask. I'm actually wondering the same thing. The best answer I can give you is that I can't, but I'm going anyway. My second tour-de-Madrid is going to make this blog worth reading and writing. I plan on exploring the ins and outs of Madrid's diverse barrios, compiling photos and videos along the way. Upon my return, I will embark on a similar adventure in Boston so that I can present you, the reader, with an in-depth understanding of both cities. So, if I don't update over the course of the next week, you know why. I'll be somewhere in Madrid, eating tapas, watching flamenco, wandering Retiro, etc. Seems life as a poor college student isn't so bad after all...
A view of Terminal 4 (above)
Wow, much, much better now. Tell u one last retouch. In the post composition box, there some little icons for text justification. To be + specific in the "compose" tab. If you select all the text and then click the last icon to the right all the text will look like a solid block. But believe me this looks spectacular as it is right now.
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