Every good trip has a day of travel hell...

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Once again I woke up when James got up at 7am to say goodbye and wish him a safe trip back to Glasgow. An hour later he returned to our room because he had left his glasses in the room. Poor guy. I assume he made his flight and all because we didn’t see him again. We were up and packed up in order to check out by 10:30am. We noticed that everyone else in the hostel was checking out as well. I guess the holiday season was officially coming to a close today and everyone was shipping off back to their home cities. The dust had lifted and all the was left was an empty, cold city.

We had to pass the time SOMEHOW but we were tired of being in the cold all day so we went were all girls end up going once during a holiday or vacation, the mall. None of us had the money to buy anything but we thought we would just browse to pass the time. It worked for the time being. Once we hit every good store we braced ourselves for the cold and decided to do one last loop around the Tin Church to get a day picture of the Astrological Clock. While we were standing in the square we heard this English tour guide. I decided to ease drop. I only caught the end of the story so I still don’t know the significance of that dang clock but i did he the guide say this was a free tour and anyone was welcome to join them to the next destination. I thought why not, he got nothing else to do. The enxt stop was the State Opera House of Prague. The guy told us that this was the last remaining building where Mozart played live. He also mentioned that Prague was Mozart’s favorite city in all the world because he believed the people of Prague understood and appreciated his music like nobody else. We then learned that the movie EuroTrip was filmed entirely in Prague even though Prague wan’t one of the 7 or so cities that the college students allegedly traveled to in the movie. Prague never gets the credit it deserves haha. The guide then told us an interesting factoid: the people of Prague consume 1 liter of beer EVERYDAY, this included women and children. It now makes sense why the national anthem of Czech Republic is “Where It My Home” he continued. When the people leave the bars at night they are always singing, “so whhhhhere is myy hooomee?!????” hehe

Well we wasted as much time as possible so we decided to just head back to the hostel for the last time. We hung out in the lounge for a little until we just didn’t feel like waiting any longer. At 3pm we packed up all of our stuff and made our way to the Prague airport for our 9:50pm flight. It took us 20 minutes by metro to get to the bus stop. As we waiting for the bus to come it started to snow. We arrive to Prague in a blizzard and it looked like we were going to leave it the same way. The bus finally came and we took it to the airport. Julia had on one of those traveling backpacks that is basically the size of a human body, so when the bus made a right hand turn the bags momentum just took he right out of the seat and into the people standing next to her. I tried to grab her bag before she fell completely but I couldn’t find anything to grab hold off. She went flying and it was hilarious. Everyone on the bus laughed.

We got to the airport but our gate wasn’t announced (no surprise there. we were 5 hours early). We all just really wanted to check our bags and be done with it but alas we had to wait. Turns out RyanAir doesn’t open their check-in counters until 2 hours before departure. Harumph. Well I bought a magazine with my remaining Kc and read that page by page, word for word to help pass the time. We then decided to get dinner here because we didn’t know what food places would be open on the other side of the security check. We got pizza. It was really good and not to heavy. The best part was that we had leftovers and the pizza box had a picture of a man flipping a pizza with George Clooney’s face. We couldn’t resist taking a picture of it and drawing hearts around his head.

Finally the check-in counter opened so we got in line. This was the only time throughout the entire trip that Megan was really anxious because she knew that her big black suitcase ALONE weighed 10 kilos and the weight limit for checked bags was 15 kilos. She had tried her best to dump as many heavy things in her carry on as she could and wore ten layers and three scarves, but she wasn’t sure if that was going to be enough. RyanAir were real sticklers I tell you. Her bag ended up being over the limit so the three of us had to get out of line to help her redistribute the weight. I added a few of her items to my bag, but then my bag was over the limit, so we had to get out of the line again. Hey-Zues! Finally we achieved the perfect balance in our checked bags were able to officially check-in. I could have lived out of my carry on bag for a week with no problem due to the shifting of things. I had a towel, shoes, jeans, two changes of clothes, a tooth brush and tooth paste, and some reading material haha.

We our plane ended up being delayed for an hour so we didn’t board the plane until 10:30pm. We had to take a freezing cold shuttle bus to the gate and then walk outside in the cold to the plane. There were no assigned seats so it was first come, first served. Naturally I got on the plane early but J-M ended up being the dead last people to board. I had to hoard off the entire plane of people in order to save a row of three seats for all of us. The plane btw was freezing. I had to wear my gloves and scarf during the flight. Also nothing is free, you had to pay if you wanted a drink. What gives? To make things better RyanAir is in process of making people pay to use the toilet on board the plane and they not offer smokeless cigarettes. What is wrong with this airline???

We finally arrived in Frankfurt at around midnight or so. Another great feature about RyanAir is that they make you re-check your bags for every flight. So our next flight wasn’t until 6:40am so we tried our best to find a place to sit for the night but the airport was tiny and all of the chairs were already occupied. The good thing was that we weren’t the only people in need of chairs so it wasn’t a big deal finding a random place to sleep against the wall since everyone else was doing it. However, the spot Julia chose was near a door so we would get a chill breeze every so ofter. I couldn’t take it any longer so I moved around the corner. It took me forever to find a semi-comfortable position to sleep in but I finally managed to get a good hour and a half of sleep. The tricky part was positioning yourself so that your still holding onto your carry on bags while shielding your luggage at the same time. Its not an easy thing to manage i tell you. I also put my passport down my shirt so I knew that was good and safe.

At 4am on the dot I woke up and rallied the troops. Again we checked our bags for our flight to Girona, Barcelona. We got a decent breakfast at a cafe and then headed to our gate. This flight was on time but once again they made us walk in the cold to the plane and was again the plane was freezing. I tried to get some sleep on the plane so I shut the blind to my window in order to keep out the cold but the flight attendant tapped me and said open it. WHY?!?!? I mean come on, what is the point of keeping the shade up? As soon as we were in the air I put the shade down again (Harumph!) and got some sleep. Well I was rudely woken up by the same flight attendant who told me again to put the shade up. There was about to be a girl-fight on the flight. I had HAD IT with RyanAir. Never again!!!

We landed on time in Girona and for the second time retrieved our bags only to recheck them a few minutes later. Tedious is the word that come to mind. To be honest I have no recollection of the Girona airport, all I know is that we got boarded our plane on time for once. This was our last plane of the day and it was headed for HOME. We were never happier to be in Seville then that day (2pm). This time when we got off the plane and had to walk outside to the terminal it was breezy, not cold. It was an AMAZING feeling. At this point I took off my gloves and scarf. For the very last time we retrieved our bags, opened them up, and gave Megan back all of her stuff. We then waited for the bus to take us to Prado bus Station. We all got off at Prado and that’s where we parted ways. :(

J-M were headed back to Ecija and I was headed for my hostel because I was remaining in Sevilla for another 2 days in order to experience the 3 Kings holiday. I told them how amazing a trip I had and thanked them profusely for letting me accompany them. It was really sad. I didn’t want to leave them and that’s not a normal reaction for me. You would think that after 12 days of 24/7 hours together I would sprint away, rejoicing in my freedom, but this was different. I wasn’t sick of them and I wasn’t DYING for my space. I’m not use to this feeling at all.

I made it to my hostel without a problem and settled my things. There was a bathroom connected to my room so I jumped at the opportunity to shower. I thought that I would just want to collapse and sleep but surprisingly I wanted to shop a little and potentially see a movie. I asked the receptionist to fin on the map the location of the English playing movie theatre for me. When I opened the doors of the hostel it was pouring out. Oh Spain, how I’ve missed you so. I stopped into a few clothing stores just to browse but nothing looked as good as the clothes in the Prague mall did. After I left the last store the rain had stopped. I got a little snack and then decided to find the movie theatre. Since I didn’t know the movie times I figured the earlier I got to the theatre the better. Well I found this large mall that had a theatre in it but I didn’t see anything about the movies being in English. I scouted out the rest of the mall but still found nothing. Did the receptionist lie to me?? I waited until there was no one in line for movie tickets before i approached the ticket guy and asked if they had English movies. He told me that the theatre i needed was on the other side of the hotel that was next to the mall.

I did a small circle but finally found the much smaller (this is what I was expecting) theatre. However, the doors don’t open until 15 minutes before a show starts so it was currently closed. I was really hoping that NINE would be playing but unfortunately it wasn’t. My choices were Planet 51, the movie with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, or Avatar. For once in my life I didn’t know much about ANY of the movies presented in front of me so I decided to try out Avatar. I heard it took like 2 years to complete and people reported that it was worth the wait so I gave it a shot. I had to wait an hour before the theatre would open so to pass the time I got a sandwich at the mall and cracked open THe Lovely Bones. Big mistake. It sucked me in instantly and I didn’t want to stop reading. This book was supposed to last me until February and I knew that I would finish it within the week no doubt.

Reluctantly it was time for me to go to the theatre so I had to put the book away. I got to the theatre, bought my ticket, and ordered popcorn because I was really in the mood for movie theatre popcorn. Unfortunately the popcorn they had was only salted, yuck! I settled for a mini bag of M&M’s instead and headed to my theatre. I wasn’t surprised to be the only one there but within 5 minutes a few other English speaking people arrived as well. To pass the time I continued to read until the lights went down. When the lights started to dim I closed my book and just as I looked up I caught the silhouette of a girl sitting a few rows in front of me and she looked strangely familiar. She got up one more time to rearrange her seat and I got a glimpse of her face and I couldn’t believe it but it was Sam! Sam was the ONLY person in Spain I knew before I arrived here because she went to my high school. I never really knew her until this summer because I found out she was doing the same thing as me but in Seville and she was my best friends friend so we started to hang out a few times before I left. I couldn’t believe the extreme coincidence of this moment. However the previews were starting so I couldn’t say hi until after the movie.

The movie wasn’t bad at all. It was long but entertaining. The best part was when the natives were speaking their native language the translation was still in Spanish so I missed a word here and there. I didn’t cry but at times the movie moved me a little. Once the lights came up I gathered my things and looked for Sam but she was already gone. I looked around the rest of the theatre but I guess she just left as soon as the movie was over instead of listening to the music and reading the credits. OH well. I’ll send her a fb message about it later. It was dark by the time I got out of the theatre so I just headed home. I wanted to find a good place to read but there really wasn’t a warm cozy spot anywhere in the hostel so I settled for the uninhabited top bunk above me. I read for a few hours until I got really sleepy and called it a night.