1st High-Speed Train Ride

After the worst possible night of sleep (the dorm room turned out to be on the side of the hostel where a tonne of bars are located and the whole night I heard singing, shouting and glass breaking until 6:30 am when a drunk guy wandered around searching for his friend Pedro by continuously shouting his name for an hour) we dragged ourselves up at 8 am this morning to head to the train station to get to Barcelona (editor’s note: This sounds just like my place here in Asia!).

Our train wasn’t until 10:30 am, but we needed to validate our EuRail pass and we didn’t want to take any chances so we gave ourselves plenty of time. Before leaving Canada we had bought a 10-travel-days pass online because for non-EU residents EuRail passes are generally cheaper but they must be bought in advance, mailed to a foreign address, and then taken to be validated before you begin traveling.  It turned out that this is just a quick 5 minute process where the main ticket office puts a stamp on your pass, but finding the appropriate office and waiting in line for an agent to do this took us about 20 minutes.

When purchasing our tickets we had also made a reservation on the high-speed train from Madrid to Barcelona because most of the long distance trains require reservations.  You must pay a reservation fee on top of the ticket cost, and it is higher when you book in Canada; but again we didn’t want to take any chances for our first time traveling with our EuRail pass.  Also, while the EuRail pass is valid for either 1st or 2nd class travel, the reservation fee is a lot higher for 1st class so we opted for 2nd class.  Once we got on the train, we found that 2nd class is quite comfortable and the only difference seems to be the width of the seats.

The reservation provided us with a train number and seat number but we didn’t know which platform we would board from until about 20 minutes prior.  You basically go through security (which is really just putting your bag through a scanner and I think they are only checking for weapons, but since you don’t walk through a metal detector or any other scanning devices, it seems if you were planning to smuggle something on board you would just put it on your body) and then wait in front of a set of TV screens for a platform to show up next to your train number.

Like our first train ride to Porto, the train was smooth and efficient, departing and arriving on time.  For the first 30 minutes or so Paul watched the screen at the front of the cabin in amazement as the train hit speeds of 310 km/hr, but eventually he got bored and dozed off.  I stayed awake for most of the 3 hour train ride and have learned one thing- bring snacks and drinks on board with you!  The on board cart has very limited options and is quite pricey!

Considering the fact that a plane ride from Mardid to Barcelona is 1 hr and 15 minutes but you have to arrive an hour early and go through crazy security and you’re not allowed to bring liquids and all kinds of other stuff with you, I would sooner take a high-speed train any day!  The train ride was relaxing, I didn’t have to take anything out of my bag to go through security, and there were no delays!