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I need to confirm this but my initial research indicates that the train to Madrid which takes about 90 minutes costs between 35 and 50 €, that’s ludicrously expensive. Buses look to be a lot cheaper but take ages so I’ll have to weigh it all up.

The hostel is okay, the massive building has bags of character and the facillities are good. The people staying here are a bit odd though. Lot’s of funny looking young Germans sporting a variety of horrific styles and odd behaviour. I think they’re some sort of youth group, though some of them seem quite old for that. It’s like Byker Grove gone wrong, they’re freaking me out a bit.

After I checked in I was told my room wouldn’t be ready for a few hours so I went down the supermarket for supplies. It took me ages, the layout was barmy. Pasta on one aisle and then the pasta sauces on a complete different wing. You think you might get apple juice near the soft drinks section, nope, you have to navigate the toiletries, pets, dairy and meat sections first. There were many more examples of rudimentary supermarket planning practises ignored. Bloody Spanish.

There was also some bloke shoplifting away blatantly in front of me, 2 paella ready meals down the front of his jacket without a care in the world. Bloody Spanish.

I think the lack of sleep is making me cranky (ier than usual), I have been up for around 35 hours though now (unless you count a couple of 20 minute power naps on the bus).

I’m relieved though as I’m here for 3 nights so I can afford to take my time a bit. I don’t plan on doing anything but carrying on with my New Zealand visa and flight scouting tonight, then some much needed shuteye.

One thing I don’t need to sort anymore now is hostels, I booked ahead for them all while in Milan as most of the places I am visiting now only have 1 or 2 hostels that have dorms and if they fill up that spells problems for me. The only one I haven’t booked yet is Paris as there’s plenty there, though for some reason several people had previously told me there’s none in Paris. Wrong they were.

I’m likely to leave visiting Normandy on this trip now, I’d pretty much need to hire a car to visit the D-Day beaches properly which is an expense I could do without at this point. I’ll see though, but at worst it’s marked down for a scooter trip for a later date.

Some heavy duty Zaragoza exploring is in store for tomorrow, what I’ve seen so far is extremely unimpressive, but that was just on the half hour walk from the station through estates full of hightower blocks. I expect everything the other side of the hostel to be very different.

PS I actually didn’t get a chance to do any NZ stuff or sort out my bus or train ticket for Madrid. I’m not really sure where the day has gone, I think I’ve just zombied my way through it at a terribly slow pace. As it’s half 12 and I’m closing in on having been up for close to 40 hours, I think it’s time to finish my Ambar beer and go to bed. It won’t take me long to finish it though as the measure at the hostel bar is 0,2l. That’s not even half a pint, on that bombshell I’ll say TTFN.