Thread by @PaliparanDotCom

What I hate most about flying during COVID: no online boarding pass w many airlines. Look at this queue for the @wizzair check-in desk running through the entire airport! Horrible experience, please bring back document checks at the gate where they should be.

This queue is like the old Tell Sell commercials: "But wait, there is more!" Utter chaos as well as the first Wizz flights (Paris, Charleroi) are about to depart and there are still people far out in the queue, w pax from later flights sneaking ahead.

Bizarrely enough, Wizz actually hired two security guards to watch over it all but it's still about the most unorderly queue I have ever seen, with dozens of sneaky queue jumpers creating chaos. And I've been to India..

The worst flying experience in the last five, six years for sure. Until this total shambles is solved and mobile boarding passes are back no more Wizz Air for me. Happy that my return flight is on good old TAROM as at least they have priority check-in desks I can fortunately use.

Quite a pity to say as in normal times I like Wizz Air. Last year during the pandemic they had none of this and just normal mobile boarding passes and document checks (PCR test etc) at the gate. At 35 euro (+15 euro for seat 1A), this 4-hour flight is certainly well-priced too.

Flight itself was actually rather pleasant with seat next to me empty. But: not the kind of weather I was expecting on arrival in Spain!

View from my hotel over Madrid's Puerta del Sol on a not-so-sunny day.

The 9th floor of the Corte Inglés at Callao has a cool luxury food court with great views over Gran Via down below and the entire city of Madrid as far as the royal palace and thr vast Casa de Campo park. Good first stop!

So all the bars etc are open in Madrid. Which is why half of France is here. I don't think there have been so many Frenchies in town since the Napoleonic era. Easier access for them than from Barcelona as regional borders closed! Masks/social distancing seems strictly adhered to.

Having visited the sights & museums of Madrid before, I just plan to eat and drink around town for most of my stay. If anyone has some great tapas bar recommendations or anything similar for food/drinks, I'm open to suggestions. Pictured: Picasso's Gernika at the Reina Sofia.

The sun is finally showing itself! Sure, it may not be the cheapest beer ever, but you pay for the view at Plaza Mayor.

A little snack on my balcony while re-reading parts of Antony Beevor's excellent book 'The Battle for Spain'. A must-read for anyone interested into the Spanish Civil War.

Gorgeous Parque el Retiro - one of the world's finest city parks.

I took it easy for the last two days, but today I'm going all-in on my tapas crawl. To start, some great patatas bravas and croquetas de bacalhau (cod croquettes) at Las Bravas - a Madrid institute on a particularly lively tapas street.

Found a nice Galician place for some great 'pulpo a feira' (Galician style octopus). Traditionally paired with a red wine - and not with one of the region's famous Albariño whites. This Mencía (from the Bierzo DOP) does the trick.

Calle de la Cava Baja (and the greater La Latina neighbourhood in general) are great for tapas.

Being in a bit of an Anthony Bourdain mood, let's eat more food. One of the most underrated Madrid neighbourhoods for food/drinks is working class Lavapiés. Bar Melo there is a must for its zapatilla (sandwich w cheese & Galician shoulder ham). No-frills comfort food at its best.

And while my plane back to Romania is inbound flying somewhere above Croatia, I'm making my way to the airport on Madrid's excellent metro system.

Madrid Barajas' ancient terminal 1 is a far cry from beautiful T4. It's a ghost town too. Lounge, bars closed, except for the La Place which somehow made its way here from 🇳🇱. Check-in agent winked that flight is overbooked, so praying to the upgrade gods that all pax do turn up!

And the upgrade gods have heard my prayers! Gate agents just called my name: new boarding pass, from 5A in economy to 2F in business class it is. Long live massively overbooked flights for Orthodox Easter!

This old school Boeing 737-700 (YR-BGG) has big, comfy recliner seats in business class. Lots of wear and tear though! And TAROM's business class service is normally not that great too. But as it's a free upgrade, I won't complain today and will just quietly sip my gin tonics ;)

Although the big seat was nice, TAROM still hasn't reinstated proper catering so my upgrade didn't even get me a G&T, only a bottle of water. Sad! Not that their real pre-COVID service is noteworthy. TAROM's sparkling wine is a €4 supermaket bottle!

paliparan.com/2020/03/26/rev…

Anyhow, what counts is that I safely arrived back home (on time!) and am reunited with these two cuties.