Flew out of Chicago at 6:00 a.m. and flew into Laugardia in New York, took shuttle from Laguardia to JFK and waited till 5:30 to board, had trouble on the tarmac and left 2 hours late for Barcelona I arrived in Barcelona at 9:20 and got off the plane, My checked bag was lost when they went to put it onto the plane for London but that flight was cancelled so they put it on the next flight to london, I told them I could not go to London later and that I had to take the bag off of that plane. and "policia" came and were trying to see what was going on, I told him my flight was cancelled and needed to see my ticket because I was trying to get back in past customs, I showed him the ticket and after a discussion in 2 different languages he said I was trying to fool him and was going to detain me, I said I was not trying to fool him and he showed me the ticket he gave him and it was from a different trip, note to self: don't keep old flight tickets in your duffel bag anymore. after I showed him real ticket he laughed and escorted me back in to get my bag which they were going to "request" 2 hours later my bag finally arrived.
I walked out side the airport not knowing where I wanted to go or what to do, so I thought I would go to France to my friends house so I could drop off my luggage and travel lighter so I found a taxi and of course he didn't speak English either, sI told him I needed a bus or train station what ever one was closer soloing story short I ended up driving way out of the way, I swear they do that shit on purpose to get your money ,and then I didn't have Euros so I had to have him drive to 7 different "bank" till I found one that would make the exchange for me, I looked at the meter when we got to the train station which said 32.50 Euros but when I went to pay him he pushed another button and it added 8 more Euros making it 40.50 HOLY SHIT a $70.00 Taxi ride that took 15 minutes…they saw me coming.
Got my ticket to Toulouse on the Eurobus and that cost 39 Euros, it was a very nice bus though, and the bus driver did not speak English either, but was very polite and worked to explain things to me, even when I was sleeping half way through the 7 hour trip and he stopped had to come back and wake me up and scared the shit out of me, it was dark and I didn't know what the hell was going on, I thought we were there, he was talking and only confusing me more, anyway I understood that we were stopping for a break for 30 minutes and we were at a small French Cafe, I guess I forgot that there was a step down from my seat to the isle of the bus so as he is trying to explain to me what we were doing I was taking a small crash course in French bus departures…oh well, it probably made his day watching me stumble like a drunken idiot….anyway I went in the cafe and the food looked pretty good , it reminded me of home when you go to a hospital cafeteria, they served you but it was all pre cooked exactly like at a hospital, so I got a small dish with a pork chop and some potatoes, some sort of pie (that I am still trying to figure out) and a ice tea..,,,,,,grand total 19.50 Euros!!!! WTF??? $ 25.00 meal??? I think they saw me coming too, or there is something here I am not understanding, well I better learn fast or I will be heading back to the States in 3 days…LOL….
Got to the bus station and Alexia picked me up... we were both very nervous as to how we were going to communicate since we didn’t have “google translate” to save us, but we did just fine and her English is not as bad as she said it was, we manage to understand each other at least 50% of the time :) I will tell you!the conversations are very entertaining.
It was a 30 minute ride from the bus stop to her house, it is a beautiful little farmhouse in the French countryside... a beautiful view out of the living room window and very quiet and serene.... we sat up and had Champaign to celebrate my arrival followed by a great bottle of red wine, we talked until 4 a.m. until we both decided it was time to try and get some sleep.
Got to the bus station and Alexia picked me up... we were both very nervous as to how we were going to communicate since we didn’t have “google translate” to save us, but we did just fine and her English is not as bad as she said it was, we manage to understand each other at least 50% of the time :) I will tell you!the conversations are very entertaining.
It was a 30 minute ride from the bus stop to her house, it is a beautiful little farmhouse in the French countryside... a beautiful view out of the living room window and very quiet and serene.... we sat up and had Champaign to celebrate my arrival followed by a great bottle of red wine, we talked until 4 a.m. until we both decided it was time to try and get some sleep.
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