So, here’s the deal. We land in Madrid, and immediately, you can feel it—this city has energy. Big, bold, loud energy. Sun’s out, people are everywhere, cafés spilling onto sidewalks, the smell of jamón in the air.
And me? I’m thinking, Alright, let’s do this.
The reason we’re here? Work. Conferences. Big industry talks. Logistics, sustainability, all the usual jargon. But also? A little team building in Madrid, a little fun, maybe a little bit of trouble.
Conference Mode: Business, Buzzwords, and Brain Drain
Day one: suits, lanyards, coffee that’s either scalding hot or cold and sad. We’re talking future of logistics, AI-driven sustainability, and all the usual hot topics. Smart people saying smart things.
Some of it’s useful. Some of it’s… yeah, not so much. By hour four, I can feel my brain turning to soup.
We Needed a Break. Enter: Madrid Scavenger Hunt.
So, here’s how this happened. We’re sitting at lunch, exhausted, slightly delirious, and someone goes, “We should do something totally different.”
Cue a scavenger hunt through Madrid’s old town.
Not kidding.
I don’t know how it got voted in, but suddenly we’re racing through Plaza Mayor, solving clues, figuring out random historical facts, and just generally acting like idiots in business casual.
And the weirdest part?
The usual office dynamic completely flipped.
- The quiet ones? Suddenly stepping up, strategizing.
- The loud ones? (Cough, me, cough) Taking a backseat, mostly laughing.
- One guy got way too into it. Like, full detective mode, mapping things out.
By the end, we’re sweaty, half-lost, and weirdly more connected than after months of office meetings.
Madrid at Night: Tapas, Debates, and the “How Much for a Gin & Tonic?” Moment
Evening hits, and, well, we go full tapas crawl.
First stop: jamón ibérico, because obviously. Then patatas bravas, gambas al ajillo, tortilla Española. All washed down with more wine than was probably necessary.
And then the bill comes.
The drinks. Oh my god, the drinks.
Apparently, a standard gin & tonic in certain places costs the same as a small car. I mean, worth it, but still—Madrid, what are we doing here?
Flight Home: What Actually Mattered
Sitting on the plane back to Frankfurt, I’m thinking: Yeah, okay, the conference was good. But you know what really stuck?
The people.
The random moments. The team actually seeing each other outside the corporate walls. The scavenger hunt. The wine-fueled debates about absolutely nothing important but somehow still meaningful.
Madrid wasn’t just another work trip. It was the reminder that business works best when you actually like the people you do it with.
Also, I may or may not have looked up apartment prices in Madrid on the way home. Just out of curiosity.
Totally not moving here.
(Probably.)