Our journey from Toronto to Seville started on foot, around 1:45pm Thursday June 27 2019 in Toronto, with a 15 minute walk to the GO bus stop and Yonge and Sheppard.
After a 30 minute GO bus ride, we took the Terminal Link train from Pearson Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.
Our first flight (Toronto YYZ –> Montreal YUL) was delayed by about 2.5 hours due air conditioner problems. We watched as multiple mobile air conditioning units were towed up, hooked up to the plane, and fiddled with… none of which seemed to actually help.
The plane for Madrid finally left about two and a half hours late. As a result we missed our connecting train to Seville. While waiting for our luggage in Madrid, Neil contacted RBC Visa Avion insurance to open a claim. They will cover the cost of our dinner and the new set of train tickets we had to buy. Glad we booked everything on that card!
The taxi driver who took us to the train station offered to drive us all the way to Seville for less than the cost of the train, but we didn’t want to be cooped up in a van for 5 hours. Also, we weren’t sure if the credit card insurance would pay for a taxi vs. a train. So, as soon as we arrived at the train station, we arranged our new tickets to Seville.
The trains were almost fully booked, so we ended up with about 5 hours to kill in Madrid.
There’s a Vodafone shop just down the street from Madrid Puerta de Atocha train station. We got two local SIM cards on a promotion: 10€ activation, 15€ per month, 18GB data and 800 minutes (local and international).
Next stop (and not a moment too late!) was for food and water. We had a very relaxed and enjoyable dinner at SidrerÃa Restaurante La Casona near the train station.
A smooth 2.5 hour train ride brought us to Seville, where we learned two things very quickly:
- Taxis in Seville take a maximum of 4 people – even if it’s a minivan.
- Do NOT cross the lanes to the taxis waiting on the far side from the line-up (even if it looks like you’re headed for the only taxi in sight large enough for your family)! It causes significant consternation and rapid Spanish commentary from the local cabbies 🙂
15 minutes by cab (passing Las Setas, to Nolan’s great excitement) brought us to our home in Seville, the Apartamentas Campana. Lii Ling had access codes pre-arranged via AirBnB which got us in the front door and into a mailbox containing our access card. We got into the apartment around 1am Saturday June 20, 2019 in Seville – around 30 hours after we had left home.
Final note: The kids were AMAZING, despite all the delays and the epic journey. We kept them fed, and ensured they slept on the plane; that, combined with the novelty of new surroundings and the excitement of buses and planes and trains and taxis helped them keep it together surprisingly well.
Great to read the details of your adventures. The kids held up well and I assume the adults did too. Thanks for the photos and stories.