Departure from Barcelona
I woke up at 3am, threw my clothes on, and looked out the window to see if there were any taxis sitting around and there were 2 by the hotel. Pauli had told me to check for some before I called one. So I knocked on her door (she wanted me to wake her so she could watch me leave). She came out and I headed down to ask about the taxi. When I got down there, they were both gone! I called back up to her and she let me back in. She called the taxi for me and I stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting. After about 10 minutes she hollered down at me, I don’t know where they are, I am calling them again. Then this stupid street washing machine was going by, she yelled down that there were several taxis stuck behind it! I was like great!
Finally it passed and I went out to stand by the road. Three taxis passed and none of them were mine, she was yelling at me that she thought it was the next one and I was pointing and yelling at her and she was like yes and the guy in the car was nodding his head, so I walked over and jumped in. He asked me something in Spanish, I assumed it was where to? So I just answered Estacio Nord. We hit almost every read light and my bus was supposed to leave at 3:45…it was 3:37! We finally got to the station and he was talking to me in Spanish and I was like I’m sorry I don’t speak Spanish and he was like do you need a receipt and I was like oh no lol.
Then I ran into the station to find the gates were closed and the passage to where the tickets and information were was closed! I headed down the stairs to the platform freaking out because I thought I couldn’t buy a ticket. It was pretty dead there because it was like 4am! I saw this guy sweeping up trash and I was like do you speak English and he shook his head yes and I was like is it too early to buy tickets? And he was like Girona? And I was like yeah and then he started rambling in Spanish and pointing and then I saw a group of people with suitcases so I headed over there. I tried to go through the doors that I thought the guy was telling me to go through, but they were locked too! I just stood there wondering what to do for like ever and then I saw these two girls with tickets in their hands and I was like excuse me do you speak English and thank the Lord they were like yes very well! And I was like great, where can I buy a ticket? And they pointed me in the right direction and said to go up the elevator.
I finally got my ticket and got back down and on the bus. A few minutes later it left. I ended up being on the 4am bus rather than the 3:45 bus, but I was hoping I would still get there in plenty of time for my flight. Online it showed that I should, but also online it said people on my flight should take the 3:45 bus. Anyway, I couldn’t sleep on the bus, but luckily it had free wifi! So that and my music kept me entertained! I finally reached the airport, but after getting through security, the screen still didn’t show which gate I was supposed to be at! I decided to go to the cafeteria area to get something to drink and some breakfast. Even though it was ridiculously over priced and I try to never by anything in the airports, I was dying of thirst!
After my breakfast, I was beginning to worry because the screen still didn’t say what gate and it was nearing boarding time. Finally I realized that the words flashing on the bottom of the screen were switching through languages and it wasn’t all in Spanish! That’s when I realized that they don’t post it until 1 hour before departure…which I find kind of stupid if the gates are supposed to close half an hour before departure, but whatever!
Finally I got on the plane and there was this kid sitting behind me that was screaming and kept kicking my seat! I was like great this is gonna be a fun 2 hour flight! Luckily, I guess I was tired enough that I finally fell asleep, but only for about 30 minutes. After arriving to Frankfurt Hahn, I had to wait an hour and a half for the next bus to go to Mainz. Why they don’t have more busses running I don’t know! :( Anyway, made it to Mainz and had to wait a little less than 30 minutes for the train to Wiesbaden and then in Wiesbaden I went to Vodafone finally and then the train was delayed so I had to wait there too. After a long morning of traveling and waiting…I finally made it to my house around 1:30!
You would think that I would have passed out, but I didn’t. I stayed up and added pictures to facebook. I went to the store to get some food to last my final week here in Germany and then my house mates had a party because they were going home the next day! It was a great night and I am really going to miss those guys! Hopefully I can go visit them some day in Singapore! :)