As my friends, Sara and Drew, and I were making the 4-hour bus trip to Madrid we received a text message from our airline saying our trip was cancelled. Commence pandemonium. We were supposed to be meeting Sara's boyfriend, Tyler, in Paris and his flight was cancelled as well. We spent the remaining 2 hours of the bus ride after getting the news trying to figure out a plan B. And C and D...
At the airport the line for the desk was, as you probably could have guessed, long. And not only was it long, but it was moving very, very slowly. We spent about 2.5 hours in line. Thankfully AirFrance is not some lame budget airline like EasyJet and I will be able to get a full refund for my ticket. We also made some new friends in line! There was French Guy and Irish Couple and Holland Man and Japan Dude. We had a little international party in line.
Now see, we're poor college kids. None of us could really afford to get a random hotel room at a moment's notice in Madrid. So I got the pleasure of sleeping in yet another European airport. Well, I didn't so much as sleep as I played cards and watched re-runs of the Big Bang Theory on my iPod.
Okay, so this all sounds awful and ridiculous. And I suppose it is to some extent, but honestly? Last night was one of the best nights of my trip. We were exhausted and mildly hysterical. The whole night was hilarious. We decided our misfortune was my fault, because apparently I just can't win in Europe. (I mean seriously, this is the third trip in a row that has gone wrong. My next trip is backpacking. I'm a little nervous.) But we had a blast. And it's so ridiculous that it makes for a great story. I mean, think about it. We got stranded in an airport, my second airport, because a volcano in Iceland erupted. A volcano. In Iceland. Erupted for the first time in like 200 years. Because, my friends, that is how my life goes. How many people can say they got stranded due to the explosion of a previously dormant Icelandic volcano? I mean besides the other several thousand Europeans stranded as well. As the Almighty Rick Steve's once said, you have to be "militantly optimistic". Well, General Optimism reporting for duty! (Leave me alone, I just stayed up all night in an airport. I'm sleep deprived.)
So let's re-cap for a minute. My trip thus far, and it is far from over, has included: having my bank information hijacked and a sizable chunk of my money stolen, stupid ticket mistakes, sleeping in airports, getting lost in Sevilla, near-missed buses, and a natural disaster. No less than 4 people have told me to write a book, and I am honestly considering it. Tentative title: How (not) to Travel in Europe: A traveler's guide to surviving the outrageous abroad.
Everything that has happened to me is so unbelievable that it is believable. I've come full circle! You cannot make this stuff up. Steph and I have decided that my life is permanently on plan D. Oh! Alternative book title! Plan D: Go with it. I'm telling you. Best-seller. I'm gonna be rich.
All that being said, I wouldn't trade a single second of this trip. I have amazing new friends, far-fetched volcano stories, and I've had more than enough adventures to last me a life time. And I still have 6 weeks left! Just think of the hilarity to come! I told Steph that I'm going to end up stuck in Sweden working on a fishing boat to earn my way home. Hopefully some attractive Nordic man named Sven finds me adorably pathetic and takes me in so I have a place to stay.
Now for those of you who live for my pictures, take heart. Because in our deliriously hysterical mental state we brought Paris to the Madrid-Barajas International Airport. Thanks to the modeling styles of Ms. Sara Dobbin, I give you:
The Eiffel Tower
The Arc of Triumph
and The Mona Lisa
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