I travelled from Los Alcazares to Madrid today, the day before my flight to Japan, and stayed overnight in Madrid.
I got up around 6 am and got myself a mug of tea before having a shower and a shave. After getting dressed, I checked my email in case of any flight changes and then put my suitcase by the door. At 7 am, I met my neighbour, John, outside, and he drove me to the bus stop next to Los Alcazares town hall.
I got the bus and set off towards Alicante airport. The bus seemed to stop at every stop, and it seemed to take a lot longer than I remembered to get to Alicante airport, but I was there on time. I joined a queue of people waiting to check in, but one of the staff pulled me out of the queue when she saw my walking stick and took me through the first class check-in. She then arranged for me to get a wheelchair to the gate where the plane would be taking off.
It was the first time I had flown with Air Europe, and I found it very comfortable. The seats gave me a lot more legroom than Ryanair flights, and I wasn't squashed into a narrow seat that was difficult to get out of. Even the seatbelt went around me easily. We landed in Madrid, and I quickly collected my suitcase and went outside to the well-signposted Cabify taxi area. I made a booking with the Cabify app on my phone, and within a few minutes, my cab arrived. The driver put my case in the back of the car and took me to the hotel I was staying in overnight.
As I arrived at the Garden House Hotel, a lady met me at the door and told me to wait while she got my key so I didn't have to walk down a flight of stairs to check-in. She soon came back, took my luggage from me and showed me to my room. It was very comfortable and had a good size bathroom. Because I had to be at the airport no later than 4 am, I booked a Cabify taxi to pick me up at 3:30 am and tried to get some sleep.
Luckily, the early start this morning meant I was tired and I managed to fall asleep about 9 pm.