Life in Spain...which should have been life in Athens...

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April 11, 2009
We left Barcelona today. It started off like any other day we have had here. We got up in the morning, got ready and then set out for the tedious chore of repacking our bags. I also took advantage of the free breakfast, be surpassed the shower because every day I have had here, the showers have been cold. We didn’t leave until 11, because that was check-out time and our flight was at 4pm.
We walked down the street, found a huge sculpture of a cat, took some pictures, and then proceeded to find some coffee. We found the same place that had had Cappuccino Nero, which was fabulous, so decided to stop there. All of us gathered on the patio because of our luggage and it was somewhat decent outside as well. Ordered a drink that cost way more than it should of, Cappuccino Fredda and then got charged to sit on the patio.
We then realized that we did not have enough time to do anything else so we headed to the train station early. We paid for a ticket, 1.35, got on our bus that took us to the train station. We asked the ticket lady that we needed a ticket to El Prat Airport. She told us to get on platform 9 and only 9 and we figured it went right to the airport and that is what Sarah’s directions said as well. El Prat Airport is 15 minutes in Barcelona and we were on the train for WAY too long. It took us an hour outside of Barcelona before we realized that we were way too far out. I asked some lady if this train took us to El Prat, and she gave the huge wide look of “no, no, no!!!” Right then and there I knew we were shit out of luck and that we would probably miss our flight. We hurried into the station, because we got out RIGHT away, and asked for tickets back to Barcelona. Then we got back on the train and attempted to head in the right direction. At this point we were all freaking out because we had less than two hours to catch our flight. We came across this couple and their young child, who were also trying to find the airport. They asked us if we the stop we were at was the right one and of course we had no idea, so we asked someone else and they said yes. Us three girls followed this family and talked with them throughout our entire journey to find the airport. We were on the same train for a while, hopefully heading in the right direction. They kept confirming and asking other people to make sure we were heading towards El Prat Airport. At this point, we had about an hour to catch our flight and were still about an hour outside of the city. Our chance just kept getting slimmer and slimmer. As a group, we kept talking over possibilities about what we would do if we missed our flight, if we couldn’t get one till later…and came to the conclusion that no matter what we were going to Greece.
Geneva threatened to beat the lady who gave us poor directions with a banana. She threw it out the train when it came to a stop, so we knew her threat was somewhat empty😊 We were all upset because at this point in time, we knew we would not catch the most expensive flight that we paid for. We ended up getting off on the right stop, finding the train to the airport and getting on. At this point, it was 10 till 4. We had given up hope😞 The train got us to the most massive airport and we were kinda running through it, but not really, because we knew it was a lost cause. When we finally found Clickair, they told us the plane had JUST taken off…we missed it. Right away we found the ticket counter, and got directed to a couple of places where Veuling had a flight leaving to Athens for 200 Euro a person at 10pm tonight. We thought about it for like 2 seconds and then agreed to do it. Our return flight home cost too much for us to skip out on it, so we had to do it! IT’S GREECE!!!
I think that we made the ticket guys day, because we were joking around at this point and realizing that we were going to Greece afterall, even if it did cost more money. AND OF COURSE, our terminal, was terminal C, which was a 8 minute walk outside, that had one option for food and was pretty tiny. Since we had about 6 hours to kill, we decided to make sure our bags were the right limit, so we constantly went back and forth to weigh them. I ended up being 1 kg over and so was Geneva’s checked bag. None of our bags fit in the little stand either, so we had some repacking to do. We then started going through our bags, emptying them out and making more room and moving weight around. Sarah started putting clothes on and I started going through the numerous receipts and maps that I had in the outer pocket of my bag. As we were doing this, there was this couple next to us that was just laughing. I didn’t know if they were laughing at us or something else, but it turns out it was us. When I dressed this morning, I put about 6 shirts on and I was showing Geneva. She was taking pictures of us doing all of this and the couple was getting some entertainment out of it. They thought it was the funniest thing! It was pretty funny and I was glad to make someone’s day😊 I got a coffee and a chocolate bar, and then we deiced to people watch to see what kind of carry ons they would let through. Basically everything, so I wasn’t too worried.
We were going to eat, but since our food options were so limited, we were going to wait until we got through security. OF course, it started pouring and thundering and lighting outside. Before we knew it, our next flight didn’t leave at 10, but got pushed back to 11:45pm. GREAT! We played Rummy till 7, and then went to see if we could check in. I didn’t think we could, but Geneva wanted to, so we did. She talked his ear off so much, that he didn’t even weigh our bags or check to see if they fit. Once again, go figure. We got through security no problem and then found our gate and are now waiting here. While we were waiting before we got checked in, we called our hostel and told them we would be late. They actually spoke English, which made our life a whole lot more less complicated. They told us that they overbooked, so they put us up in a hotel for the night and that they were going to charge us the same it would be for their hostel. FINALLY, good news! He gave us directions and a phone # to call if we had any problems. One part of the trip that worked out for our advantage. Now I m going to go get something to eat, use the couple minutes I have left to call my mom and tell the story and then we are going to have a drink😊
So far, almost our entire time spent in Spain has been in the rain. I ‘m ready to leave! Our day tomorrow probably won’t be that eventful, because we are going to be super tired, but we’ll see where it goes from there…it’s all in God’s hands!

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