Lovely, relaxed breakfast at the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid – Mister Airmiles has already reported on this. Swift checkout followed by a taxi ride had us at the airport in no time. I can’t get over just how big the airport is. It has 4 runways, acres of space in the terminal (T4 and satellite 4S)and at no time gives the impression of frenetic, harried passengers.

Security was a pleasant experience with many stations and hardly any queue at any of them; the same with passport control. Apparently LAN do not pay to allow people to use the Fast Track channel.

We passed through, and I immediately spotted a Starbucks. It’s a bit of a joke in the family about my penchant for either a Starbucks or Costa Coffee as I am rather fussy. I like it weak, one shot, skinny milk and extra hot! The family album seems to sport many pics of me coming out of Starbucks from all over the world!
We boarded the train to 4S and headed for the lounge used by several airlines, including LAN. The whole of the middle floor in the picture below is occupied by the Iberia lounge that we used – it is vast!

Cool, quiet, clean, well provisioned and great views of the aprons.

Right beside the lounge was our gate and parked plane – a Dreamliner 787-9.

Boarding was efficient and we settled into our seats. The configuration is 2-2-2 all side by side, similar to Emirates.

Pre take off drinks were offered, with mood lighting at take off. I fiddled with all the seat gadgetry, and have come to the conclusion that it is a very comfortable lie flat bed. An afternoon snack was served of foie gras salad, and apple pie. Not so keen on the foie gras, but the pie was very acceptable, along with a crisp Chilean Sauvignon blanc.

We landed into Frankfurt and were on the platform for a train with tickets in hand about 10 minutes later – the joys of travelling light! It only took 15 minutes to the main train station and then was a short walk to the InterContinental by the river – more on that in Episode 4!

You can follow the whole journey here:

• Introduction
• Episode 1
• Episode 2
• Episode 2 and a half
• Episode 3
• Episode 4
• Episode 4 and a half
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7
• Episode 8