Introduction
Hola amigos!
This FR will cover the last leg of my trip to Sri Lanka back in 2016.
The whole series was reported in these previous FRs:
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
On the way back to Colombia, one of my BFFs who happened to live in Madrid invited me to stay a couple of days…given that Madrid is one of my favourite cities in the world, I didn't let the chance pass by.
But now, it was time to go back home.
MAD is one of the best connected major airports in Europe. You can reach the airport either through the Metro, the Cercanías train, bus, etc… I chose the Cercanías because I was near Nuevos Ministerios and it was quicker and straight to Terminal 4, where Avianca departs from.
At Madrid-Barajas airport
One of the things that I find super interesting is how local idiosyncrasies become evident when abroad, just from observing the check in lines on a flight. I didn't need to check signs for the AV counters, I just followed my folks' accent and dissorder. Having been so distant and different lands, it felt a bit refreshing. The queue didn't take too long, and without much trouble I got my BP for a window seat.
I find the shop and food offering at T4 (Schengen gates) much better than that of the T4S (Non-Schengen gates), so I decided to spend my time there and try to have some food before moving on to the T4S. I had one last "bocadillo", who knows when would it be the next time I'd be able to have one…
Then it was time to grab the APM to T4…I've always found the Guayasamín mural odd…
I crossed the border without any questions asked, and then I was free to spot the cool and rare planes visiting MAD that evening…
Back in 2016, IB still had some planes sporting the old livery (it was so good…) and it still had A343s flying around…
That day AV had two flights departing, if I'm not wrong, aside from mine to BOG, the other one was going to CLO. My plane actually arrived from CLO.
Boarding the AV dreamliner
I don't recall why, but I was one of the first to board. This was cool because the cabin felt so fresh and novel… As it has been mentioned before, the seats did look and feel more cramped than those on the A332s, but the awe of flying on the 788 made up for it. Each seat had a blanket and a pillow waiting to be freed from their packing.
hello there!
The flight was more or less full, many of my fellow passengers hailed from Peru and Ecuador….Once boarding was completed, we taxied to RWY 36L and we were off to cross the Atlantic.
En route to bogota
We flew over the Sierra de Guadarrama, and then we were over the clouds…there was chance to have views when we flew into the Ocean.
IFE, as it was usual with AV then, was provided through the PTVs (as far as I know AV suspended IFE "because of sanitary rules in Colombia")
Less than 2 hours from Take off we were offered lunch. I don't remember what was the other option, it was okay and it was at least more generous than the offering on the BOG-MAD flight.
As we flew the day came to an end…
Before arriving we were handed a little snack. I found it pretty good. The crew may have passed a couple of times offering water….but not much other than that.
We made it into Bogotá without trouble… And so my most exciting trip (thus far back then) came to an end.
