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Madrid
Aug 7, 2023 13:52:54 GMT
Post by johnc on Aug 7, 2023 13:52:54 GMT
We are just back from 8 days in Madrid trying to find a flat to rent for our daughter is going out to teach English, as part of her course, for 8 or 9 months from the end of September. The Spanish obviously do things in a different way to us. Instead of the landlord paying a monthly fee to the letting agent, as happens here, it is the tenant who has to pay a fee to the letting agent. It is an up front payment of at least one month's rent, in addition to up to 3 months rent as a refundable deposit and the first month's rent. Rentals are always for a year, or if they are prepared to rent for 9 months, they just divide a years rent by 9 and up the rent!
My daughter has a friend she is going to share with but any half decent 2 bed flat (of no more than c70sq mtrs in total) costs between 1,600 and 2,000 Euros a month. This is going to be expensive!
That apart, we were walking 16,000 + steps a day in a beautiful city with fantastic buildings and friendly people. I don't think I have been anywhere that there have been so many beautiful people: my wife, daughter and friend were all giving the barmen scores of 9 or 10 out of 10, whereas everywhere I looked the women were all worth one!!
Very hot at this time of year with 42/43 degrees on most days and it was still 33/34 at 9pm but it is a city I would like to explore more.
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Madrid
Aug 7, 2023 14:56:00 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Aug 7, 2023 14:56:00 GMT
I had a friends son doing a TEFL in a school in Spain for a year as part of his degree. I'll ask how he made it work if I see him.
Great thing to so is Teach English as a foreign Language. My Mum started a course in Paris just as something to do and ended up getting jobs at companies like Chanel and Ford. If you want to do some travelling but earn as you go you can't beat it.
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Madrid
Aug 7, 2023 17:40:06 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Aug 7, 2023 17:40:06 GMT
Take a 12 months rent and sublet it for the last 3 which will handily be in summer? Probably not allowed but worth a try!
Sounds like she'll have fun though and a good year. Just so long as she doesn't pay too much attention to those barmen...
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Madrid
Aug 7, 2023 18:20:24 GMT
Post by PG on Aug 7, 2023 18:20:24 GMT
Rent it out (unofficially) to family members for holidays to get the 3 months back. Or just go and live there yourself for an extended holiday.
One of my neighbour's sons lived in Madrid for about 2 years for work before he relocated to the US. He and his wife both loved it there.
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Madrid
Aug 8, 2023 11:46:02 GMT
Post by johnc on Aug 8, 2023 11:46:02 GMT
We did think we might just use it for a bit of a holiday ourselves. Our daughter is currently in Edinburgh at the Consulate to get the huge amount of paperwork sorted for her visa (it has cost c £500 to pay the visa fee and to get all the documentation and translations carried out and certified). The friend that she is sharing with has Irish grandparents so managed to get an Irish passport and can just breeze into Spain with no other documents!
I have to say I was well pissed off with Easyjet - once we were in Spain they kept sending us messages that due to delays at passport control and security we needed to arrive in plenty of time at the airport. The delays were nothing to do with passport control or security. The delays were entirely Easyjet's fault with only 2 desks and 2 people to deal with at least 3 flights. We joined the queue as soon as we arrived in the airport 2hrs 45mins before the flight (they tell you that bag drop only open 2 hours before the flight). An hour and 25 minutes later we were at the front of the queue ready to check in!! All the time we stood there, there were people panicking and going to the front of the queue because they were going to miss their flights. Had we adhered to their 2 hours we would also have been in the same position.
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Madrid
Aug 8, 2023 12:52:11 GMT
Post by Tim on Aug 8, 2023 12:52:11 GMT
That sounds like a total ballache. We flew to Prague in May and didn't have to check in at a desk, etc because we only took on cabin bags, it's much more efficient if you can take so little stuff.
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Madrid
Aug 8, 2023 13:52:10 GMT
Post by Martin on Aug 8, 2023 13:52:10 GMT
Sounds like Luton. We had speedy boarding which includes bag drop, fast track security and arrived just about 2.5 hours before departure, but only had about 30mins for something to eat before boarding. The delay was entirely at bag drop, which took nearly 90mins, the normal queue must have been well over 2 hours. Complete contrast to Barcelona, where we were in the departure lounge less than 30mins after getting dropped off.
I'm expecting it to be quieter and a more civilised when we fly out of Heathrow T4 in 5 weeks time.
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Madrid
Aug 8, 2023 18:38:37 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Aug 8, 2023 18:38:37 GMT
This is why most people only bring cabin bags for their flights now. BA have moved to using self checkout style bag drops at Gatwick and tbh I'm not sure why Easyjet don't just do the same.
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Madrid
Aug 8, 2023 19:58:42 GMT
Post by Martin on Aug 8, 2023 19:58:42 GMT
This is why most people only bring cabin bags for their flights now. BA have moved to using self checkout style bag drops at Gatwick and tbh I'm not sure why Easyjet don't just do the same. They have self service bag drop machines in Luton. The main problem is the number of people who are so useless they can’t scan a boarding card and put a label on their case….. It still amazes me how many people don’t know the rules on liquids or what they have to remove from their bags for scanning. How many years has that been in place?! Don't get me started on cabin bag behaviours on low cost airlines! For starters, putting your case in the first available overhead bin several rows in front of your seat, presumably to either guarantee a space or make it easier to leave the plane. We were on fairly early and in row 1, but saw others having to wait until the plane was pretty much empty because they couldn’t go back multiple rows to get their bag. No more ‘low cost’ airlines for the foreseeable future thankfully.
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Madrid
Aug 8, 2023 20:51:44 GMT
Post by Martin on Aug 8, 2023 20:51:44 GMT
Back on track… sounds tricky and expensive, but will be a fantastic experience.
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Madrid
Aug 9, 2023 11:03:07 GMT
Post by johnc on Aug 9, 2023 11:03:07 GMT
We are making progress on the flat. We saw one at 6pm on Saturday and the guy that showed us round turned out to be the owner, not only of the flat we saw, but several others in the same building. He isn't going to charge an agent's fee and only wants a month's deposit. Having looked him in the eye and had a decent conversation I feel more comfortable. He is sending through a draft contract, for a year, starting in 2 weeks and once we have checked it over, it will be signing time (I think). It's in one of the nicest bits of Madrid with good restaurants/cafes all around and two Metro stations within a couple of hundred yards.
Easyjet have the self serve bag drop at Glasgow and it worked well on the way out but Madrid is still an old fashioned desk where you lift your bag on to the belt/weigh scales. We were there for 8 days and whilst I could probably have managed with a carry on bag, there is no way the girls would (or maybe that should be no way they think they could)
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Madrid
Aug 9, 2023 20:18:31 GMT
Post by ChrisM on Aug 9, 2023 20:18:31 GMT
..... but Madrid is still an old fashioned desk where you lift your bag on to the belt/weigh scales. We were there for 8 days and whilst I could probably have managed with a carry on bag .... Wow - that's a long time to have to wait to check your luggage in........ We went to Madrid with younger daughter and S-i-L from the USA to visit a B-i-L and his family pre-pandemic, just before Easter in 2018. I found Madrid an interesting city. I think we were there for 5 days. I remember finding out before we left that the taxi fare to the city from the airport was a fixed rate so with 4 of us, it worked out better to take a taxi rather than work out how to use public transport from the airport. It's one of those places I'd like to return to given enough time and money. Was a little crowded in places:
Not forgetting the zoo
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Madrid
Aug 10, 2023 8:11:59 GMT
Post by alf on Aug 10, 2023 8:11:59 GMT
This sounds nice! I have flown to Madrid but never seen the city (went West to the Gredos mountains), it sounds well worth a long weekend, ideally in the winter when there is no sun here.
That sounds familiar from Easyjet as per our Turkey holiday at easter. Massive queue for old fashioned bag drop, because they had so few staff there. Since the latest comedy from all the budget airlines is to decide that standard sized cabin bags also deserve a huge premium, I can see why more people check luggage in. And as to behaviour on planes, everything Martin describes seems standard on all airlines! Flying Air Canada back from Toronto, with just hand baggage, I could not get it in the overhead locker as some Arab woman near me had filled it with hand bags and laptop cases which we had specifically been told must be under the seat in front. Half the time you get on a plane the bins above your seats are already full, it would be nice to get allocated space!
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Madrid
Aug 10, 2023 8:23:00 GMT
Post by johnc on Aug 10, 2023 8:23:00 GMT
Re Chris' point about the taxi fares, it was 30 euros fixed, each way from the Airport to anywhere in the centre of the city and for other journeys of a few miles it was very reasonable. We took a taxi to get back to the hotel one evening, having walked about 20,000 steps and run out of steam and it was just over 5 euros. I have taken similar length trips in Glasgow and London and it would have been an easy £10!
The Metro is really good though and 9.10 euros gets you a refillable card (cost 2.5 euros) and 10 trips anywhere in the city on bus or Metro. Subsequent fill ups omit the 2.50 euros. The trains are busy but clean, very regular and always on time.
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Post by alf on Aug 10, 2023 10:11:20 GMT
You'd have to get a loan out to do 10 trips anywhere in London by bus or Metro. Everywhere I go in Europe, public transport is way cheaper and less crowded/skanky than in the UK, and parking is cheaper and often free!
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