Travelling Adventure (long)

This story starts at 4am on Friday morning. Waking up was surprisingly easy. I'm pretty sure my parents live in the Eastern time zone. They get up three hours before I'm ready and go to bed three hours before I usually go to bed. Spending the holidays with them helped me adjust to getting up earlier.

So we get up and put my bags in the car. One of my bags weighed 65 pounds. This is a $200 fine waiting to happen, so I had to adjust some things. I got it down to 52 pounds. We head out on the road and I decide that we should listen to one of my church's sermons that I brought. We pop in the cd and it is either super scratched or the cd player is deathly allergic to bumps in the road. Whenever my dad changed lanes or hit any kind of bump, the cd would skip. Ironically, the sermon was on a verse in Peter that says, "My brothers, do not be surprised at the firey trials that you face as if something strange were happening to you."

We made it half way through the terrible skipping, but we turned it off and my mom plugged in her iPhone so we could listen to music. During the ride I wasn't nervous, but when we pulled off the freeway, I started to get really nervous.

We pulled up to the curb and my mom and I went inside and started waiting in line while my dad parked the car. After a few minutes, my dad showed up, and after about an hour, we get to the front. We would have gotten to the front sooner, but apparently the airport has a new policy where they will call out flight numbers of flights that are leaving so they can see if anyone is about to miss their flight. Whenever they called out a flight, five people would raise their hands. These people would get an automatic ticket to the front of the line. Annoying. On top of that, everyone in front of us was having issues with their luggage or tickets. I don't remember a single person that went through without an issue of some sort.

I get to the front and give them my itinerary and passport. She punches in some things into her computer, prints out the tickets and hands them to us. Then she weighs my bag. 52 pounds. I take out my shampoo, body wash, and shaving cream. 50.5 pounds. She said that was fine. Then she looks at where I'm going and punches in a couple other things into her computer. When she stopped typing, she had some bad news. I can't go to Romania. They can't legally allow me on my flight.

My arrival date is January 8th, and my departure date is May 31. You're only allowed to be in the country for 90 days without needing a Visa. My tickets said I was going to be in the country for more than that. They couldn't let me through.

I tried to explain to them. I would only be in the country for 90 days, then I'd leave on a mission trip to India, or Thailand. I was going to be in full compliance with the Visa laws. However, my itinerary didn't say that. I had no way to prove to her that I was telling the truth. The fact that I was going on a Christian mission trip didn't give me any added credibility. She told me that I needed to call my travel agent and have them change the date of my return flight before I could leave. I called them up while I was in line. It was 7am, they were closed.

I was freaking out. I'm going to miss my flight, and I have no idea how much it's going to cost me to get my ticket changed so I can get into Romania, then changed again so I can leave at the proper date. On top of that, my parents would have to make another 2 hour trip to LAX to get me to the airport. Neither of them had the time off saved up to do that. Freaking. Out.

I wanted to step aside so people behind me could get through, and I wouldn't be one of those annoying people that was holding up the line, but this is where my mom became awesome. (Well, more awesome. I already thought she was awesome.) She said No to the idea of stepping out of line. We were going to force the airline to deal with us.

We called over the manager. The lady behind the counter showed him the Visa requirements for Romania, and he glanced at them, but then left. He had to deal with 10 other customers first. We waited and waited. Twenty five minutes isn't very long to wait, unless of course your flight starts boarding in 30 minutes and you haven't gone through security yet. Freaking. Out. Yet still trying to remain calm. If I missed my flight, I could just take another one. I tried to repeat that fact in my head, but it didn't calm me down.

Finally the supervisor comes back, and my mom calls Paul in Romania. She hands the guy the phone and Paul talks to the supervisor. They talk for a few minutes. He hands back the phone and decides to overrule the mean lady. He explains that he and the airline could get in big trouble if I decide to go against my word and stay in Romania for longer than 90 days. Apparently there are big fines to pay if they let me through without a Visa.

He prints out new tickets under his name so that it doesn't get traced back to the mean lady in the case that I'm a delinquent. Yay! I have my tickets! Now I just have to get to my flight in 5 minutes.

We run over to the security line and show the bouncer dude my ticket. He gives us a free pass to the front of the line. Now it was my turn to be annoying and take cuts. I didn't care. I strip down. Shoes off. Jacket off. Pockets empty. I went into the scanner and they scanned me. I don't care if they see me naked. I look good naked. They should be so lucky. When I get through, the guy asks me if it tingled. Nope. Thanks for not blasting me with so much radiation that it tingled my bones. I appreciate that.

I get through security and put on my shoes and my jacket and get ready to run. One of the nearby guys calls out my name. Yeah? I'm still here. I left my drivers license in the bin. Woops. That would have been sad to lose that.

Everything on, I start to run to my flight. It's at gate 6. Phew, that's a good thing. I would only have to run to the 6th gate. I looked at the gate number that I just ran by. Gate 30?? Counting down??? ARGH!!

I tried to run, but I only made it about a hundred feet. Am I that out of shape, or is it just the fact that I'm carrying a 20 pound backpack, and another 30 pound carry on bag? My run turned into a brisk walk. Shin splint city increased in population, but I pushed through it. (Side note to sister: remind me to work out before we go on The Amazing Race...if they pick us.)

I get to my flight, and I'm the last one to board. Phew! I made it. Now it was smooth sailing to Romania, right?

WRONG!

The flights were all pleasant, and I decided that I like peeing on airplanes. I got to Washington DC and started looking for gate 9. I was at gate 23 or something, and it was counting down again. Why do all airports count down? Am I backwards, or are they backwards?

I get to my gate and buy some Wendys at the convenient price of 8 dollars for a 4 dollar meal. I wait for my food to be ready, and when it is called, someone else comes and grabs it. What the heck guy? Oh well, I'll just take his burger. He ordered a fancier burger anyways. I'm eating my food at the gate and texting my mom telling her that I'm all right.

A few girls sit next to me. They are all super athletic and have Nike USA backpacks. I turn my stalking skills up to eleven and start to listen in on their conversations. I thought they were on the US soccer team, but it didn't make sense that they would each have helmets. Later I heard one of them say they were on the bobsled team! Google search Megan Hill bobsled for proof. Awesome!

"We have an announcement. If you are waiting to go to Munich, Germany. You are screwed. The plane broke down. We'll keep you updated on exactly how screwed you are as we get more information."

Not Awesome!

Munich was supposed to be my next stop on my way to Romania. We waited and waited. They came back and told us that they knew what the problem was and that they couldn't fix it. They'd have to find a new plane.

More waiting. They found a new plane. Everyone needs to move to the next gate down. We waited and waited. I think the total wait time in this airport was close to three hours. Since my layover in Germany wasn't that long, that meant that I was going to miss my connecting flight. UGH!

I get on the plane and they have movie and tv selections. I watch an episode of Psych, then Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Then I try to sleep. Didn't happen. About an hour away from our destination, they flip on the lights and give us breakfast. Good morning? According to the time zone we were in, it was 6am or so, but according to California time it was 1am or so. My body clock was already getting messed up.

I exit the plane in Germany and now I need to decide which security check I need to walk through. There are no signs. There are no employees that I can ask. One of them leads somewhere, and the other leads somewhere else. I'm not really sure if going through these security lines is a one way trip, so I better make the right choice.

As I was pondering, and overhearing other people ponder, I notice a help desk for the airline I was supposed to go to next. I would need to talk to them to get me on a new flight. I hopped in line and went through security. I took my shoes off, but I don't think they cared. No one else was taking their shoes off.

I get to the help desk and this guy was actually helpful! What a concept! I'm in Germany, so I just assume that he speaks German and not English, so I spit out a few key words. Flight delayed. Missed connection. Going to Romania. I hand him my ticket that shows where I was going and he gives me two tickets to replace it. Two tickets means that I just added another layover to my trip. UGH.

I start walking to find my gate. I was looking for gate 24, and I was happy to find that it started counting down from 30. There are some useful signs every now and then. "Gates 26 & 25, this way." "Gates 23 & 22, this way." "Gates 21 & 20, this way." (Except instead of "this way" they used the universally understood arrow.)

As I realized that the numbers were less than 24 and getting smaller, I had to turn around. What happened to gate 24? Did I miss something? I walked back and found the same signs as before. There was no mention of gate 24. What is going on here? I decide to walk over to gate 25 and ask somebody. When I get closer, I see that Gate 24 is right where it should be, inbetween 23 & 25. Stupid signs.

I give them my ticket and walk down the runway. The runway turns into a stair case. The stair case goes outside. Outside leads to a bus. Now I'm on a bus. Am I supposed to be on a bus? I thought I was headed to an airplane.

I try to listen to other conversations to get an indication that I'm in the right place. They were all in German. Then a couple of English speakers got on. They started talking about the time zone in Romania. Score!

The bus drove down the freeway a bit, then turned back into the airport and pulled up next to a plane. The english speakers got on, so I got on. I had the option to put my bags on this cart, and they would load them for me. Screw that! I'm keeping these things with me!

I get on the plane. It's tiny. It doesn't need to be big since the flight is only 40 minutes or so. When I get to my seat, neither of my two bags fit in the overhead compartments. They also don't fit on the floor under the seat in front of me. This is in noncompliance with airplane emergency exit codes or something because the pretty flight attendant came and told me that I had to put my bags in the empty seat behind me. Whatever. That's fine.

We fly and land at the next airport. The entire flight heads one direction, but I notice a sign that says "connections" in the other direction. I walk up the stairs to find a security checkpoint that is completely deserted. Weird. Maybe this is not the way to go. I go back to where everyone else went. It was a populated security check, but it said "exit" above it.

I went back through the deserted one. This was a small airport, and it was easy to find my gate. It was right behind the closed door, red tape, and security guard. "Can I get through? My flight is through here." "No." I hand him my ticket as proof. Thankfully he speaks english well enough to tell me that I have plenty of time. I was confused by this, but went and found a seat nearby. I found a clock, and I checked my ticket. My flight didn't leave for another three hours?? Whatever, I don't care anymore.

After about an hour, they start letting people through. There are two passport lines: EU and Other. I jump in the other line. When I get to the front, I hand the lady my ticket and passport, that says United States of America in bold font on the front. She then starts asking me about my trip in Romanian. (This airport was in Romania, but not in the city of Cluj where I needed to go.) I responded as passively aggressively as I could in English indirectly informing her that I didn't speak Romanian and that she was an idiot. I don't think she picked up on it.

She switched to English, and asked me how long I was going to stay in Romania. The ticket I handed her didn't have the same information as my itinerary. My itinerary says I'm staying for longer than 90 days, which is what caused so many problems in LA. I knew not to show her that. I told her I would be staying for 90 days.

She frowned a bit at the preciseness of my response, since it was the exact amount I could stay without a Visa, but then she moved on. "Business or pleasure?" "Pleasure." "Is this your first time to Romania?" "Yes." No one else had this much trouble by the way. They all got through pretty quickly. She stamped my passport and let me through. Now I had the privilege of more waiting.

When they called Cluj, I got up and followed people onto a bus. This bus took us to another plane. I knew I was in the right place, because someone in front of me asked about which bus to take. They had clearly responded that if you want to go to Cluj, that was the bus to take.

I get on the plane, and it was another nice flight. They were all pretty pleasant, except for when I couldn't sleep. I get off the plane and go to pick up my bag. When it comes, I grab it off the carousel. All of the exterior zippers are unzipped! The baggage guys went through my stuff, and they took things!!

So far, the only thing that I've noticed is missing is the fancy iPod docking station that will work in any outlet worldwide. My friend Stacey ordered it online, and I was supposed to bring it to her. Fail! I have no idea if they took anything else. I guess I'll notice it when I go to look for it and it isn't there.

I go out to meet Paul and find out that he had been to the airport twice today. Once to show up for when I was supposed to get to Cluj, and once when I actually got to Cluj.

We got to the base around 6pm local time on Saturday. I had been travelling for 38 hours. Well...actually, I crossed ten time zones so it was 28 real hours. I hadn't slept, and I hadn't showered. I tried to stay up as late as I could so that I would sleep through the night. I made it to 9pm, then I fell asleep.