Seriously, I am stuck in Paris! Yes, an unprecedented explosion of an Iceland volcano has sent ash into the air closing airports across Europe and stranded me in Paris with me my four college girlfriends. I know, break out the violin, as I have it so rough!
My sorority sisters and I decided to see if we could celebrate the big 4-0 with a bang by planning a trip to Europe. The depth of organizing a trip of this magnitude, figuring out a date, using our frequent flyer points, agreeing on a place and organizing child care is so enormous, that it was a miracle that the trip happened at all- and then to get additional days due to cancelled flights, was unprecedented. As my husband said, if a natural disaster happened on his Keys trip with the boys, I would have said, “Walk Home!” Well, I couldn’t swim back to the USA and he sensed my anxiety, so he told me to just enjoy my extension as eventually I will return home to reality.
Of all the natural disasters to occur, a volcano eruption never entered my mind and I am a planner! I wanted to enjoy the extra days, but I was a little stressed about my return to the United States. The news in Europe was much more exaggerated then here as the trains were striking (because they could) there were no rental cars left to travel to Spain (the only open airport), experts predicted another eruption (hence closing airports longer) and Paris isn’t the cheapest city in the world either! Since my friends and I are all positive, we actually thought our flight on Tuesday wouldn’t be canceled and once it was, we had to deal with the reality of we could be here a few more days. Now, we were in the backlog of people whose flights had been canceled since Friday. After phone calls to the airlines and rebooking back up flights, we tried to enjoy the rest of our extended trip by drinking, eating, and shopping - a girl’s favorite activity!
For those of you that maybe just planned a wedding, I know it is hard to imagine, but the girls that you just had as your bridesmaids could very well be your best friends in another 25 years. There is something about old (my friend likes to say dear because it sounds better) friendships and the comfort of knowing each other so well. Getting stuck was a joy with my friends and in true ChaCha style, we embraced a situation we couldn’t control with a few tears, but mostly laughter. We were part of a world wide event, the closing of European airport in April 2010. Needless to say, we all got home safely, on different days, on different flights, on different airlines with none of us flying directly home anymore, but with transfers, yet we are all happy to be back on this side of the pond! In looking back on the trip, the airport closing is one small part of the trip as the memories we made in Provence and Paris will make my 40th birthday unforgettable!
If you were stuck in Europe, tell me how you handled your situation in ChaCha style.
Contact Suzanne at s@chachabella.com
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