Summer 2018 was a time of travel! And what a fun time.

Many years ago I lived somewhat briefly in Greece as part of an international student plan. There were other students who were on the same program, staying with other host families, who I was able to travel with and spend time with. One of these students was a girl from Minnesota, USA named Celesta. Back in 2013 we became the best of friends, and made all the promises kids at summer camp make – that we would be friends forever, stay in touch, and travel together again.

Over the following years, we corresponded briefly, running into each other on occasion, but always committed to another travel adventure.

Well, 5 years later, that commitment was fulfilled. The two friends from far distant places spent hours on skype and finally booked our graduation trip – we both graduated from University this year! And so off we went to Croatia!

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Let’s just say my travel experience overall was a little rocky.

I live in Edmonton AB, but booked flights out of Calgary AB, 3 hours drive south. My parents live in Calgary, so I could leave my car with them, plus it was more cost friendly overall. So on Thursday morning I drove down to Calgary from Edmonton, hoping to arrive around 1pm, leaving some time before going to the airport for 3pm, with my flight leaving at 5pm.

Around 12:30, as I entered the north of the city, my phone started lighting up with texts and emails from my airline talking about delays and reschedule flights, but I couldn’t really tell because I was driving and such, and nothing made any sense. In a panic, I phoned my mom and had her log onto my email to find out what exactly was going on. At one point an email said i had a flight at 2pm now, which meant I had to rush straight to the airport and hope I still made it.

Turns out my 5pm flight was delayed by 2 hours until 7pm, and so all my connecting flights got rerouted because I would miss them. So at least now I have information.

Checking in at the Calgary airport was a nightmare. I stood in a line for almost 2 hours and it was slow and long and very annoying. Thankfully I was not checking any luggage, which my airline person was extremely thankful for. And after waiting for what seems like forever, we finally got on the plane to Zurich.

Now, the airline told me there was a chance they could make up some time in the air, and I could just barely make my connecting flight from Zurich to Dubrovnik (Croatia). So I hoped and prayed that that would be the case.

It was not.

I landed in Zurich with my flight to Croatia taking off without me. So I followed all the other travelers across the airport to the transfer desk. That was a very long line too. Thankfully, there was a pre-screen before entering the line, where the airline person pointed me to my new gate without waiting in the long line, thanks to the airline already providing me with a new route. Running out of time, I rushed to the other end of the airport to my new gate, with a fight to Istanbul. I got to the gate, got my new boarding passes, and boarded 20 minutes later.

From Istanbul I had a 1-hour layover before flying to Dubrovnik, so it was a tight deadline already to make it. And then we sat in the plane for almost 40 minutes before taking off, so things weren’t looking so good. Let’s just say it was a very anxious flight for me.

I got to Istanbul with 20 minutes before by flight to croatia took off. Easy enough, right?

While trying to leave the aircraft, I found 2 other groups that were also going to croatia – a family of 4 and a couple on their honeymoon. The 7 of us all had 20 minutes to get off the airplane, figure out our gate, and get to our gate. Turns out our gate was a 15 minute walk away from our inbound gate according to signs.

So obviously we run.

Now I’ve never run through an airport before. I’ve definitely rushed, speed-walked, hurried, shuffled, etc. But never sprinted. Well this time I sprinted. Over the last day or so, I had been stressed and hurried, barely slept (the middle seat on a 9 hour international flight – not much sleeping), barely eaten, and overall not at the top of my game in the first place.

But the 7 of us took off across the airport with backpacks and suitcases in a desperate attempt to get to the plane. It wasn’t easy, to say the least.

We arrived at the gate with 5 minutes to spare to find…… no one. The gate was completely deserted.

Empty. Nothing. Not a soul in sight.

That’s terrifying.

We have no idea what has happened, what’s going on, or what we’re supposed to do now. But at least we’re all in it together, which I was pretty grateful for.

After searching other gates until we found someone, we rushed back, essentially to where we got off of flight from Zurich, to a transfer desk, where we stood in line for some time. Nearing the front, a women announced that anyone who had missed a flight should get out of that line and follow her. A group of almost 40 people, including us, followed her through the airport, up and down stairs to get to ANOTHER transfer desk where we stood in line for another long time.

Finally getting through, I got my new flight details: 5:30, the next morning.

Sick.

The man at the transfer desk told me to go through passport control, and on the other side there’s a hotel desk where I can go to get a compensated hotel room for the night. Me and all my travel buddies set off with our new tickets to passport control.

After waiting 30 minutes in THAT line, we get to the border guard, only to have him tell us that we require a visa to leave the airport and enter the country.

So we had to go stand in a visa line and pay 50 EUROS to get a freaking visa. For reference, 50 euros is around $75 canadian. So that’s a real bummer.

After getting a visa, we went back into passport control, and finally made it through. While wandering around to find the hotel desk, the family of 4 somehow got separated from me and the couple, but the 3 of us eventually found the hotel desk – and the line down the airport hallway leading from the desk.

 

2 HOURS LATER, the three of us finally get details about our hotel, and they organized a bus to take us there.

Istanbul traffic is kinda crazy, but we eventually got to the hotel, checked in, along with 40 of our closest friends (other delayed travelers), had a shower, and went to bed.

So let me break down the timeline for you.

 

By the time I got to the hotel desk, it was around 9pm (21:00).

Our flight from Zurich landed around 7:10pm.

So it took us about 2 hours to run to the gate, realize we missed our flight, stand in line at 2 transfer desks, passport control, visa purchase, passport control again, and arrive at the hotel desk.

2 hours later, we get our hotel information – 11pm.

Organizing. boarding, and driving to the hotel – 45 minutes.

Checking in, organizing taxi’s for the next morning – 15 minutes.

So at midnight, after spending 5 hours to get the bloody hotel, I get to my room.

 

Now, you may recall that my flight was for 5:30 the next morning. International flights suggest passengers to arrive at least 2 hours early to check in – so we had to be at the airport by 3:30am.

Which means we had to leave the hotel at 3am.

Which means I had less than 3 hours in my hotel room that took me 5 hours of lines to get.

You can imagine my frustration.

 

Having now run through an airport twice, with nothing to eat in over 12 hours, and barely any sleep since I left Calgary over 36 hours before, I walked straight into the shower and then collapsed on my bed for a well deserved, and short-lived 2 hour power nap.

The next morning we made our way back to the airport, through security and such (did I forget to mention that while running to catch our flight the day before we also had to go through security? It’s very hard to get through that while in such an immense hurry) we made it to our gate, where we met up with the family from the day before. Apparently they made the decision to just pay for a hotel instead of waiting for a free one. Downside, it cost them some cash, upside they went to bed MANY hours before me. So I can respect that.

I finally landed in Dubrovnik, Croatia, splitting a cab with the other two, arriving at my airbnb around 9:30am, and promptly fell asleep for the next several hours.

So i left thursday night in Canada, arriving Saturday morning in croatia.

It was quite the whirlwind of a travel experience. And the crazy part is Celesta (my friend) also got horribly delayed and wouldn’t be landing until Saturday night around 11:30pm. So we both had a pretty miserable experience starting off our vacation.

But at least we made it, one way or another.

 

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Pretty wild huh? Bet that’s never happened to you! Honestly, I had never experienced real delays like that, the rerouting, etc. It was pretty scary being by myself. It was lucky I ran into the other travelers, which made the experience a little easier – at least we were in it together, rather than me stressing out alone. Well, me, and my mother. She was pretty stressed back at home haha.

 

Prepare for the rest of the trip notes – I think I will organize them based on city/geographical region, rather than by the day. I don’t feel like posting 10 posts for the 10 day trip.

Now, go count your blessings for all the good travel experiences you’ve had, and prepare for the next installment!

 

emma.k