Tuesday, January 28, 2014

2013 Europe Trip - Day 16: Back Home Again

These stories are entries from my journal of my trip to Europe from June 8-24, 2013.

Wow. I kind of took a break there. Here comes the last one!

After a crazy night like I had on Sunday, there were bound to be consequences. And there were. I woke up in my hostel bed and realized it was 8:30, just two hours before my flight. I had planned to get up at 6:45 and leave by 7:30, but that was out the window. I scrambled to put some clothes on and finish my packing (luckily, I had pre-packed most of my stuff to avoid waking roommates in the morning). One crucial item was missing: the key to my locker. My suitcase was in there, along with my passport, among other things.

I hurried down to the desk and picked up a backup key, and I was able to get my things. The lack of locker key meant I wouldn't get my 10-euro deposit back, though, and my current balance of zero euros meant I needed to stop at an ATM.

While withdrawing money (at about 8:50am), I realized I really didn't have time for my original plan of taking the train to the airport. Luckily, there were two cabs on the street in front of me. The first said he wouldn't accept credit cards (I realized I needed a taxi only after completing my 20-euro withdrawal), but the second guy said he would. I was on my way, and I actually made it to the airport with time to spare.

I had some fruit and an orange juice for breakfast at the airport [and I spent the entire Barcelona-to-Frankfurt flight trying (successfully) not to puke]. I mostly slept on the way to Frankfurt.

In Frankfurt, I had a Frankfurter and a pretzel for lunch, and then spent pretty much the entire remainder of my two-and-a-half-hour layover waiting in lines and walking. I had to check in with Lufthansa, go through immigration, and go through security again, and immigration was about the most pain-free of the three. I'll probably try to avoid Frankfurt in the future.

My flight back to Seattle was pretty average: 767, fat German guy in the seat next to me, and I watched The Life of Pi. It was 10.5 hours, but the movie and two meals helped break it up.

Back in Seattle, I caught the light rail and then a bus to get home. Then I went to Tacos Chukis for my traditional post-Europe Mexican food. It was good to be back.

Frankfurter and pretzel.
Farewell to Europe!