Nightmare

So….here’s the story of my travels from Ankara to Angers…and as you can tell from the title, it didn’t go well. Lol This is a super long blog, just fyi. For those of you who don’t know, I have two really large suitcases that I was traveling with, which is a super pain. I made it to the Ankara airport ok, but that was still a challenge in itself. In the airport I was pretty lost but finally found the place I was suppose to check my bags in. I had looked online to see how much weight they allowed and I knew I was probably a little over but I figured I would take things out at the airport if that was the case. They took my bags, put them on the belt to put into the airplane and then started working on getting my tickets for my flight. Then one of them said “one of your bags was over. You can only have 15k. you need to pay before we will give you your tickets.” Online it had said 22k so I told them that but they were like “no. that’s incorrect. You need to pay.” At this point I was really frustrated because I would have taken things out but they already had taken my bags and I knew I needed to make my plane on time, as well as get my tickets which they wouldn’t give me unless I paid. I think they said I was like 26k or something close to that and know what they charged me? 250 euros…at that point I was ready to burst into tears. I knew I was being scammed but there was nothing I could think of to do. I needed to be on that plane..and my luggage was on that plane. So I paid and found my flight. Not a good start. I was still nearly in tears as I got on the plane. The plane to Istanbul went alright but finding my plane in Istanbul was very confusing and I almost missed it. But thankfully I didn’t!! First off, the plane from Istanbul to paris was the weirdest plane I’ve ever been on. It was just build weird. There were two rows of three but the seats were different sizes. The two on the end were large and the middle was tiny. Literally. You could see that just by looking at it. And of course, I was in the middle. Naturally. I barley fit. That made for an awkward flight. I keep praying all day for God to send me an angel once I was in paris cuz I knew that it was going to be a nightmare once in paris to get to the train in angers. I really had no idea the extent of that. When we got to france there was a little snow on the ground but not much but there must have been ice on the runway because when the plane hit the runway it lost control. We started skidding and spinning. A guy in the back of the plane let out this loud scream. That really didn’t help. My stomach was already in my throat and the sound of a grown man screaming just made it worse. The pilot got the plane under control and we came to a stop. As soon as we felt the plane under control, even before it stopped all of us on the plane started clapping and cheering. I turned to the Turkish guy sitting next to me and exclaimed “Welcome to Parie!” he laughed and clapped at that. Once in Paris I got my bags and finally made it to the RER. That was hard enough. Once at the RER station I met my angel. He was from Saudi Arabia and was in Paris for two weeks on vacation from his work. I don’t know if I could of made it as far as I did without him. We switched so he had my large suitcase and I had his medium one (he only had one) and my medium one. I think I got the better end of the deal cuz his was super light lol It was so difficult getting past all the gates because they open and close so fast and you have to pay to open them and we couldn’t get all our luggage through. I don’t know how I would of made it without his help. We got on the RER (I was on for a little over an hour) and he got off before me. I was very sad to see him go. Getting off was a challenge cuz the train doors open and close so fast I threw one suitcase out and jumped out with the other. It was soooo hard going up and down all those stairs….wow…finally found the right metro line, got on that. Those doors open and close even fast than the RER x.x  by the time I got off the metro I was exhausted…I didn’t know how I could go any farther. One of my wheels on the biggest suitcase had broken by one and so I was dragging that one. I just wanted to sit down but I knew if I did that I’d never get any farther. At one point I was walking backwards two steps at a time pulling my large suitcase, then reaching over and throwing my other one ahead of me, then two more steps and repeat. Finally I just couldn’t go any further. My hands were sweating so bad I simply couldn’t grasp the handles. That’s when a girl who was my age from Ireland saw me and helped me. She was here in Paris with her boyfriend and they each grabbed a bag and carried them all the way to the train station. I was soooooo happy! I could put so many “o’s” on that  lol they helped me get my ticket to Angers cuz they spoke some French and then sat me down in a little café and then they had to leave. They wanted to leave me at my train platform because there was 1-30 something but the lady who sold me my ticket said they wouldn’t know the platform until 20min before the train left. (which is actually a lot of bs but we didn’t know that)  I started walking to my train platform 20min before the train left and seriously almost missed my train. It was starting to pull out and I wasn’t on it and neither was my luggage. But I made it!! Once on the train I just sank in my seat and put my head against the window and didn’t move. Lol I could barely feel my hands, which was probably a good thing. I was just so happy to be there. The train arrived in Angers and I struggled up the stairs and down the allies to get to the gate. Once there, there was no one there…I was suppose to be picked up by someone from the university. I was like “great…just what I need..” I had no working phone to call them on because my cell phone only works in turkey so I was screwed. I saw a pay phone and then realized I had literally no voice. I’d been struggling with my voice because I’d been sick and was still sick then but had always had something of a voice. Nope. Even if I could get that pay phone working, no voice. After several mins of trying, I finally got something of a voice and asked a random girl how to use the payphone. She didn’t speak English but I understood that you couldn’t use cash. You had to buy a phone card. I was like “my life sucks” She took out her cell phone and dialed the number for me but the number wouldn’t go through. Now I felt even worse. I figured at that point I was spending the night there because it was raining and no one would be at my residence at night and it would be locked and I didn’t have a key. The girl left and then came back with her boyfriend who spoke English. I explained the situation and he was like “ok, I will keep calling until they answer.” I was so happy lol the number wouldn’t go through but then finally did and got a voicemail. So I was back to thinking I was spending the night there. After about the 20^th time of calling, they called us back. I had said on my form I’d come on the 9pm train but there was no 9pm train. Only an 8:30, which I was too late to take, or the 9:30. Well the girl who was suppose to pick me up had gone to the station the day before to pick up two girls, waited two hours and they never showed. So for me she came at 8:30, didn’t see me, and after 20min left…and she said she had an old cell phone so it only worked sometimes. Great. But she came and got me and took me to my residence. I was so happy to be there….blaaaah…I’m SO happy that’s all over.