Hola Barcelona!

After four short hours of sleep I woke at 4:55am and hit my snooze button for another crappy 5 minutes of sleep. After a flick of my eyelids I jumped out of bed, grabbed my ipod and phone, which were next to me, and headed down stairs to take a shower. I warmed my shirt by the heater as I showered and psychologically prepared myself for the bus trip, plane trip, and new city that awaited me that day. Following my shower I quickly collected all the clothes and belongings I needed for my short three day trip to Barcelona. I packed three t-shirts, three boxer shorts, three pairs of socks, my sunglasses, my camera and ipod, and my rainjacket, just in case. I returned to the bathroom with a clear plastic bag (mandatory for carry-on toiletries, liquids, gels, and pastes) and packed my toiletries while making sure that none of the bottles held more than 100mls. With my bag packed and my mind ready I headed down the stairs at 5:30am to catch the first metro train to Concorde, then change for the metro to Porte Maillot.


You see, I was flying with RyanAir, and as any european traveller knows, RyanAir is cheap but its a pain in the ass. My flight to Barcelona return was about €40 including all taxes and extra charges, but it involves a 30 min metro trip to a place called Porte Maillot, where you catch a RyanAir chartered bus for one and a half hours and another €13 to Beauvais airport.


So i took the bus, and as i was tired I slept most of the way. As I was only travelling for three days I had just one bag so it was not much to worry about or to carry. I had my passport and my printout of my confirmation ready and went to the desk for check-in, the line wasn't too long. The lady was nice and gave me my boarding pass. I had 30 min to chill before boarding began. It was 7:30am. I went to the unclean toilets and then walked around for a little bit. As I walked I saw a Nepalese couple who I'd checked in at my hostel and seemed quite friendly, then I saw a bald Italian man eating a sandwhich who I'd instructed in my broken italian and his broken english on how to get to the Louvre two days before at the hostel. Then as I bought my own sandwich i stood in line behind a group of canadians who I'd spoken to at Aloha hostel on the previous night about the best way to get to Beauvais airport. The backpacker community is a big and small world.


In the little food store at the airport I had the choice between a small bottle of orange juice for €1.50 at 200mls that I thought i might have a chance of taking onto the flight with me, and a 1L bottle for €1.35 that I knew I'd have trouble getting onto the flight. I chose the big one and a ham cheese sandwhich for €3.50. The sandwhich was gross so I saved it to the flight, I then proceeded to drink the orange juice as quickly as I could because I knew my time was running out before boarding. I managed 500mls before throwing it out (bloddy terrorists wasting my juice) and I headed through security. I didn't beep but they searched through my bag and had a good look at my toiletries. But I passed and went into the waiting area to find a seat. I sat for 30 mins with no info, then I saw the nice Nepalese couple and I went and chatted with them for a while. After an hour of waiting they announced that due to fog my flight was cancelled. I went to boarding desk. Flight Cancelled. Next one in 13 hours. Maybe. Can't give refund for return flight. Okay maybe. Okay can give full refund. Cant give refund for bus. Sorry. Cant give refund for hostel accomodation lost. Took bus back to Paris, back to apartment. Slept and felt empty.