ANDY IN MADRID - NO PROBLEMA - PASSPORT STOLEN
Hello,
I am Safe and Sound in a Hostel in Madrid...
I have all my money and debit cards, etc.
I have everything I need, except my passport.
Last night I had my passport stolen out of my side
pockets of my travel pants. Of course it also possible
that I place it down on something and forgot it, but I
suspect I got pickpocketed on the Metro, or Subway
here in Madrid. The reception or manager of the Cats
Hostel said it happens all the time and since I have
stayed in Barcelona for one month before I am about 85
percent sure I was pickpocketed.
The people in Barcelona always said, it is not who has
been robbed, it is
¨Who has not been robbed.
I feel really foolish as I try everything in the world
to minimize this happening and this the first time I
have had a passport stolen. I have though learned a
lot about what I should have done, and why maybe this
happened and how to stop it in the future.
My wallet was in the front secret pocket, but my
passport was in an around the neck pouch, and because
it is too large to put in a secret pocket it was not
in one of them. I needed to separate the recipts,
passport pictures, and etc from my passport and carry
my passport in a secret pocket. I do not do this
normally because I afraid of sweating and ruining the
passport and I never find a plastic bag the size of my
passport. Oh well, I will go to the embassy today I
hope and see about another.
I got on the internet now hoping that someone would
write and say they have my passport. Nobody wrote, but
then again, I realized now that I should have had my
email address, telephone and such taped onto the
passport and then I could maybe get it back. Right
now it would be a lot of work for someone to try to
return... So I have a lot of should haves...
BLOGGER DOWN OR NOT WORKING
I am using the
-Send from email option of blogger.com to send this. I
am hoping it works. I have logged into blogger, but I
cannot go to the page to write a blog. Who knows what
is wrong, just another glitch in life in a couple of
day full of glitches.
IT is very cold here and I was going to skip Mardrid
and go south to Malaga, and at the bus stop I realized
I had not passport. aaagh!
HOTMAIL DOWN OR NOT WORKING
Note to my mother...
Hello Mom and Dad,
You said that Hotmail.com is down and you had to write
me from the Library, but you can read my blog.
This does not sound like a computer problem, it sounds
like a Hotmail problem, but then again the hackers are
always playing the rich against poor card and trying
to hack the big sites. I am pretty sure that Bill
Gates owns Hotmail.com so they think they are clever
or too smart when they do this.
But maybe try going to this link.
http://www.msn.com
Or try typing in www.hotmail.com and not using the
favorites.
I am fine, and the Hostel is very clean and nice. It
is supposed to be the number one Hostel in the world
by Hostelworld.com.
http://www.hostelworld.com
I suspect to translate that it means they send the
most commissions to Hostelworld.com but I am Jaded and
although extremely nice, it is by far not the best
place I have stayed in 8 years of travel.
Platypus Hostel Bogota Colombia BETTER
Grand Hotel Quito in old part of QUITO BETTER
La Espana in Lima Peru maybe the best all around
Hostel.. No kitchen.
It is even hard to get on my list when all it give me
is a dorm bed and no kitchen to use. The Barmy Badger
at the Earls Court tube stop in London is better.
This is very very clean and made to look culturally
nice, but it is still a flop house Hostel. Bar down
below and dorm beds up top. BUT it is very safe and
clean for a flop-house. Plus they have beds, and that
is alway good in Europe where I believe you should
ALWAYS get a reservation. Hostelworld.co has their
affiliate program on page, or my likely I have agreed
to.
STOP!
The man here in the Internet cafe has to put more time
on my computer and he says it has to run out before he
can do so. I am in extreme danger of losing this. I
have copied and pasted to the notepad on my USB, but I
am still wanting to type...
IT stopped and proceeded. It is alway a bad idea to
type a long email or blog because I can lose the whole
thing if the power goes off or other misc stupid
things. Like what just happened, but he was correct
and it did work, but NEVER trust them. Copy and paste
to notepad and save on the computer. I saved luckly on
my USB.
So the Cats Hostel is very nice, but I am stil amiss
to find the kitchen. Any Hostel without a kitchen tha
cost me 15 Euros is not my favorite. They are really
rating the best party Hostels. I have not came up with
a good way to get a good quality of life Hostel. A
very good hotel or hostel like the Barmy Badger in
London will have regular people that never leave.
Because all the services and the price work together.
But the University students come to Europe to party
and that is what they get.
http://www.catshostel.com
I could talk all day about what is good and bad about
a Hostel. This place is ultra modern, and that annoys
me because I cannot find Madrid culture there. I like
the feel of a Old delapidate, but real building like
the La Espana in Peru. Still very good, but old. I
suppose they would say the Cats is old, which I was
laughing to myself. ... I am back in south America!
The is a sign in the toilet that says.
¨Do not put paper down the WC.¨
WC is for water closet, they mean in Amerian language
the stool. So as always, in my normal toilet civil
disobedience.. I flush the paper. I hope it clogs and
all the countries in the world put in adequate pipes
to handle the toilets. In Panama you can flush the
paper down the toilets and there are signs telling you
to do so.
My room is cold. Madrid is cold. I thought it would be
warmer and made a big mistake in not bringing a
jacket. I will hibernate and work on my computer until
I get new passport and go south.
The reason I keep going off on the Hostel is because
the idea of a Hostel was first thought of as place
where your son or daughter could send their children
and it would be safe and cheap in a expensive and big
city. This place is safe, but it is expensive at 15
Euros or about 20 USA dollars.
I just hate having a bar in my house.
