1992, Spain just complete the high speed rail between Madrid and Seville for the World's Fair. The government didn't want to make the tickets available to the EuroPass, so, we can't buy our tickets until we arrived Madrid. We arrived on Friday morning, checked into the hotel, we casually told the receptionist that we are going to Seville the next day and asked where is the train station. We also wanted to check out any half-day tours. He told us "forget the tour, you better go to the train station right away. There are people waiting all day to buy a train ticket to Seville." So, we followed his direction and went to the train station. It was a big train station, the windows that sells the high speed train tickets are in a new section. I don't remember how we found it. Between my friend and I, we only know a handful of Spanish and that included numbers. The only word I now still remember is "Salida", exit, that's the last word I saw upon leaving.

We got a number from this number machine and waited for our turn. It was an hour before we got to the window. "We need 2 tickets to Seville for tomorrow" "sold out, no ticket". What? we HAVE TO get tickets for Seville! We have already PAID 4 nights of hotel in Seville which is over eight hundred dollars. If we don't get there tomorrow, we will lose that money, messed up our itinary. And, we will have to find a hotel in Madrid and the extra money to pay for it. This is totally un-acceptable! His didn't speak much English, he just didn't want to deal with us. He pushed the button for the next number, a woman stepped up to the window and started talking. With her flowing Spanish, we couldn't get a word of English in edgewise.

Now what? We had no place to turn. We went back to the information window hoping the lady directed us to the ticket window can help us, but, she left already. We started to tell our plight to the new information person, but, he just couldn't understand us. However, the gentleman standing in line behind us heard our story. He so happen to speak both languages fluently, he started to help us. He first help to translate our story, but the information window couldn't help us with the tickets. Then, he tried to call the bus station to see if we could take the bus to Seville. There was no luck.	(36k) This new section of the train station has a nice indoor garden. The watering system intermittently misting the trees.
Then, he looked his watch and said "well, I have time. Let me put my bag in the locker and we'll try to get the tickets again." We got another number and waited for another hour. Simon was living in another city in southern Spain, he was in Madrid for a seminar. Lucky for us, he just so happen to have a few hours before meeting his friend. When our number was up, he negotiated with the teller and got us 2 sleeping-cart tickets for Seville and 2 tickets coming back. We will get to Seville by Sunday morning, only missing one night of Seville!