Rome

Oh, when in Rome. Every time I think of Rome, I think of GGPP and her saying, “Every road leads to Rome.” I got the pleasure of finding out where this saying comes from. I saw the Coliseum, the Vatican, Tribute fountain, Spanish steps and a lot of the ancient ruins. I saw some other squares that I can’t remember the names of and this little island on the river that had a bridge spanning across it and connecting to either side. I walked around for half a day when I was stuck in Rome and had time to kill after getting my final plans set for Barcelona to see Andrea. For those of you who do not know, I will now give you a rundown of the disaster of a time I had trying to meet up with Andrea.

So……My plans were to fly out to Paris and meet Andrea on the 7th. We would stay there 2 nights and take an overnight train on the 9th to Barcelona. Welllllllll…on the night of the 6th, I received an email, notifying me that my flight to Paris had been canceled because of a French air traffic controllers strike. The strike was planned to last 2000 on the 6th-0800 on the 8th. I was screwed. I woke up early on the 7th and tried to figure everything out. I got my flight refunded because I couldn’t figure out how to change it to a following day without them charging my card. From there I went to a hostel down the street to book a bed, just in case I couldn’t get out on the 7th. When I was looking for flights on the 8th, one particular site gave me a three day window of flights. On the 7th, there was an available flights. I immediately booked the flight. It wasn’t too expensive, and I was anxious to be with Andrea in Paris. She booked a shady hotel in a shady part of town, because it was cheap and she knew I would be with her. I thought there is no way that this flight could be cancelled to Paris on the day of the strike, if it is showing it available on the day of the strike. I booked the flight thinking that the strike did not affect all flights. I went back to the Hostel where I booked a bed a few hours earlier and tried to get my money back. They couldn’t do it and told me that it is just going to stay as it (Thank goodness for this). I went back to my original Hostel and printed my boarding pass and made my way to the Airport. I took the one hour shuttle bus and arrived with plenty of time to board my plane. When I walked through the door, I looked up at the monitor to see that my flight was cancelled. I was so pissed!! How could it be possible that I booked a cancelled flight? Why would they allow me to book the flight if it was cancelled. This infuriated me! There is no way they cancelled it in between the time I booed my flight and when I arrived at the airport. It was only a four hour window. I started o think about it more though and thought maybe this was the case, because a French girl in front of me said that she checked the flight in the afternoon and it was listed as on time. Either way, I was completely frustrated. I had just waited a whole day in Rome sitting on a computer trying to book an open flight just for it to be cancelled once again. Some might be wondering why I booked the flight in the first place if I knew of the strike and if I knew all of the flights were cancelled. Well, some flights did make it into Paris. Not all the flights were cancelled, but most. After I saw that my flight was cancelled, I waited another hour in the ticket office line to work out alternate plans or get refunded. Luckily I was there early enough and was in the front of a very long line. I did get the pleasure of watching a few fights. One of them was in English, which was awesome. Everyone was speaking with each other all around me. I am sure asking, “So what did they say? Are there any more flights available for tomorrow?” The lady behind the desk informed me that I can’t change my destination, I can’t fly out till the 9th and that I have to go online to get refunded my money. After our short chat, I headed back into Rome and check into the Hostel I booked earlier and who didn’t give me my money back. What a blessing. I spent the next two hours down stairs on the internet worried about Andrea. I tried to make it back as quickly as possible, hoping I could catch her on the internet before she left for the airport. I didn’t have such luck. Come to find out, she spent two hours getting to the airport and waited for me. After a while, she went to a McDonalds to use their free internet. She was a mess and in tears. She was alone and frightened. I talked her through how to find her way back the safest way. Apparently she had been chased by some creepy guy earlier and now it was dark and she had to go back to the hotel in the ghetto. I told her to get a taxi. I didn’t care how much it would cost her. But she didn’t have any money. I told her to get a taxi anyways and have him swing by an ATM. I left her with that and wished her my best. She didn’t follow my plan at all and took the Metro. Lol. She made it home safe though. The rest of the night we tried figuring out our plans for the upcoming days. We had many options. Do we meet in Nice, France the next day by train, then train to Barcelona? Do I get a flight? Do we both fly to Barcelona the next day? We were unable to come to a set plan that night and it was getting very late. I told her to get up early and meet me on skype to talk about it some more. We both got up around 7 before meeting on skype at 8:30. We finally decided that we would meet in Barcelona the next day, a day earlier than planned. I would stay one more night in Rome and fly out the next day and Andrea would take the overnight train to Barcelona. I booked the only bed available in Rome at some shady Hostel. It was ok though, because it was right down the street from where I was and across the street from the train station.
The next day everything worked out brilliantly. I made it to Barcelona and to my Hostel to find Andrea sitting in the common room waiting for me. When she saw me walk through the door, she ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug ever. I was so relieved to finally be with her. She cried some tears of joy and relief while I laughed as I held on tight. What a journey. But now we were set for the next 4 nights in Barcelona. Time to get the party started!!!!! Ahhhhh haaaaaaa!!
Hope all is well back home,
Kurt