How does this happen two years in a row on the same weekend? The big weekend before Christmas, when one of the Rochford twins try coming home from a long semester abroad. I don't know how a blizzard suddenly decided to hit Paris. Or how it picked the weekend I leave. Or how it decided to last until Tuesday. But here I am, nestled up in the Hotel du Parc in Montpellier, much thanks to Emily.
Shall I commence with the events that took place yesterday? Maybe I should start with Saturday.
Emily's mom was supposed to fly into England and then Paris and then take a train from Paris to Montpellier. She got stuck in England and was there until early this morning. Luckily Emily was able to book her a seat on the Eurostar, the train that goes under the English channel. Apparently her poor mother slept in the hallway of a hotel Saturday night, but Emily was able to get her an actual room for last night. As soon as we saw that so many flights were cancelled on Saturday, I had a terrible feeling about my flights. But after getting to the airport and the gate with no sign of a delay or cancellation, I felt better.
I had gotten up at 5 to make sure I had everything ready and would have enough time to lug my stuff down the staircase in Triolet and hand in my key. Plus, I wanted to make sure my cab showed up. It did, which would have been great if my flight had actually taken off. I checked my bags, they were both slightly over the weight limit, but no one cared. If they care on Tuesday I'll flip out. Maybe if I show them my receipt from already checking my bags on Sunday they'll let me off the hook. We'll see. So I was sitting in the lobby, waiting to go up to security because I had a ton of time before my flight would board at 9:50. I saw the girl that lived with Emily, Melissa and then we met up with her friend Becky. We went up to the gate, no problems at security, took a seat. At 10:20, when our flight was supposed to take off, we were still sitting there, with no update even about a delay. People were asking the workers and they had no idea. Finally, about 20 minutes later, Becky checked the flight on her phone because she had the internet on it and it was cancelled. How did the internet know this before the people at the airport? So the three of us starting freaking out, along with the Greek girl sitting next to me. There was no one even at the customer service desk. So we ended up going back downstairs and waiting in line for 2 hours before booking flights for Tuesday. At least I only have to stop in Paris and Boston, as opposed to Paris, Montreal, and New York. We had to collect our luggage. It never made it onto a plane, and yet when I got it back it already had a tear in one bag and a cracked handle on the other one. How does that happen, Montpellier airport workers? Are you fucking retarded? Thanks for ruining my brand new luggage.
After booking my flight I started to panic, not knowing where I was going to stay or how I was going to get back to the city. I finally realized that Emily had a room at a hotel near the Place Albert Ier tram stop because her mom was supposed to come. So I called her and asked if she thought I could get a room there. So I went to find the shuttle, which had moved from the last time I took it. While I was searching for the new stop, I ran into the Greek girl, Victoria. She was looking for it too, so we figured that out. And thank God we were together or it would have been impossible to get all our luggage onto the tiny shuttle. Team work! I'll never forget her- she was next to me when we all found out the flight was cancelled, told me everything would be ok, stood in line behind us when we were waiting for new tickets, and then we happened to run into each other while looking for the shuttle. Thank you Victoria.
I met Emily at the Place de L'Europe tram stop and she helped me get my bags to the hotel, I got a room, and here I am. I had a wonderful breakfast with 2 cups of real coffee, none of that European gulpful of coffee. And the women who work here are wonderful. The one lady said she'd reserve a cab for me, but I don't know if she'll remember, so I'm gonna do that after I shower in a few minutes.
I will say this: I freaked out yesterday. I was actually doing ok for while. I cried when I called home to tell Mommy my flight was cancelled and again when I was getting my ticket when Mommy called to check on things. But the lady finding me a ticket was so sweet. She was a little older that Mommy and after I got off the phone, she put her hand on my shoulder and said that it was going to be ok and I'd get home. Then she asked how to pronounce my first name (on my tickets, my whole first name appears as Heather Mary). So I told her and she said she's never heard it before and that its such a pretty name. Thank you lady at the airport for being so sweet to me. I'm glad I've managed to run into the nicest people in this city these last two days.
I think it's safe to say that I completely lost it when I found out that Carl might not make it to the airport on Tuesday. I was completely exhausted after being up at 5 and not sleeping well the night before and standing in line for 2 hours and then going to a concert that Emily had originally bought tickets for her and her mom.
But now, I'm rested and have a clear mind. I know I was a bitch yesterday. I've always had it in my nature, hence I know every word of Daddy's "nothing to fear but fear itself" talk. I'm especially horrible after not sleeping or not eating, and I hadn't done either yesterday until late. So I'm better now, if anyone wants to know. Sorry for freaking out.
All the love and see you all tomorrow evening,
Heather *muahs*
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