it's important to have something to look forward to. That way it's easier to cope with the everyday hassle. So when my friend suggested we have a holiday kick-off to mark that "the holiday is one month away, and we are getting exited -now!" my immediate response was "YEEEY! I'm in!"
As it turns out, the kick off is not all that different from an ordinary vorspiel with wine, good music and good friends, but I'm still exited. In exactly 27 days I'll be on board a plane taking me to sunny, joyful Greece. We are guaranteed sun, we are guaranteed strong drinks and we are guaranteed flirty, tanned guys - all important ingredients in a summer holiday!!
As it turns out, the kick off is not all that different from an ordinary vorspiel with wine, good music and good friends, but I'm still exited. In exactly 27 days I'll be on board a plane taking me to sunny, joyful Greece. We are guaranteed sun, we are guaranteed strong drinks and we are guaranteed flirty, tanned guys - all important ingredients in a summer holiday!!
This year I'm travelling with a very good friend of mine - she is blond and pretty as most of my friends are..! We have never been on holiday together before, but I'm pretty confident I wont discover any weird habits I don't already know about (charming perhaps, but not weird). She has told me that she needs eight hours sleep but that she's willing to do parts of the sleeping on the beach (there's no need to take it out on the late-night-partying) and that she's not a fan of dressing up when she's on holiday. In return I have told her that my sense of direction is terrible and that I'm not a light packer, ( actually my sister told her these things...still). So far so good. These are all things we can work around, the rest we'll have to take as it comes. None of us are new beginners when it comes to travelling abroad and we are strong, healthy girls with just the right amount of decency and good sense, so just because we're both blonds I see no reason to fear any big mistakes or tragic outcome..... still this is what I told myself and everybody around me last year and that didn't quite turn out the way we planned...
Ahh...you want the story from last summer don't you. Fine, I'll tell you! Last year I went to Barcelona with another friend of mine. Also blond and very pretty. We got the warnings; be careful, don't drink to much, don't be naive to friendly strangers - a friend of us even called the Norwegian embassy in Barcelona telling them we were coming and to please keep an eye on us... (OK, he SAID he had done that, I haven't really got confirmed that it actually got done. Anyway). We took in all the friendly warnings with a sigh and responded to each and everyone of them: "Come on! What's gonna happen??" Now in the light of the afterwisedom (if that word makes sense) I see that they all had a point. Anyway.
Just to get the most out of our money and make sure we had a nice long travel, we ordered the trip with two in-between-landings. The first one went OK. Had some lunch at the airport in Copenhagen, did some long-distance-flirting with some Italian guys (what?? Come on, that's part of the trip and you know it!) and arrived safely at airport number 2 - Hamburg. We checked out the gate - number 21 - the flight was in route so we headed straight for the tax free. As we got caught up trying on various perfumes - we lost track of time and had to run to our gate. Luckily we knew exactly where it was so we had no panic even if all other passengers had entered the plane. We strolled to the gate and handed our tickets to the friendly woman at the gate. She smiles and in a friendly voice she asks "are you girls going to Barcelona?" , we smiled back and responded cheerfully- "yeah!". Her response "hmmm, yes, 'cause WE are going to Berlin" quickly got us back on the ground and we hasted towards the right gate. No panic - we made it in time and all was good.
When we landed in Barcelona our baggage arrived just as planned and we go towards the custom. My friend went first, and got right through. Me on the other hand was stopped by the elderly guard asking me " where did you come from Miss?" My head went totally blank - and all I could think was that the last airport started with the letter "H" - could it be Honduras?? ( yeah, geography is not one of my strong sides) The guy was starting to look at me strangely and in desperation I call out to my friend "where did we come from??" This ridiculous question (yes, you don't have to tell me, I know I should have known! ) just made her laugh and as she couldn't stop laughing and help me out, the guard decided to lend me a helping hand by offering me some alternatives (what a nice guy) He says: "Oslo?" "YES" i replied happily. This whole incident obviously convinced him that I was not able to smuggle anything so he let me pass.
Great start I thought, this can't get anymore embarrassing...Man was I wrong. We had decided that even if it was a bit hassle, we should take the buss to the metro and the metro to the hotel. We find the bus-stop, the bus arrives and I enter. I turn around to see if my friend needs help with her two(!) pieces of luggage (which her boyfriend had ensured her would be no more hassle than one- boy was he wrong) but as I turn around, the door closes and the bus starts moving.
I'm yelling to the driver to stop and my friend is trying to push all kinds of buttons to open the door, but the bus keeps moving and I desperately see my friend get further and further away.
By this point I'm starting to panic a little and starts talking to myself in Norwegian - "What an idiot". "What is he doing" "This is NOT happening". Caught up in my own furie I hardly notice that the bus stops, and all passengers get off. Relieved by the outcome of this strange situation I start laughing and get of the bus. I run back to find my friend who is standing at the bus-stop laughing, laughing and laughing. I think we stood there almost ten minutes before we could stop laughing and stand up straight. And this was just day1...
Like I said - what could happen?? Obviously a lot, but as long as it ends well there's no harm. And, not to forget, we have lots of good stories to tell our friends. I mean we spent two whole weeks in Barcelona and didn't get robbed once! I think that's pretty good. And the part of the holiday where we got drugged by some strangers are all forgotten now....! Really!
Man I can't wait for my next holiday!!
Love,
E
Ahh...you want the story from last summer don't you. Fine, I'll tell you! Last year I went to Barcelona with another friend of mine. Also blond and very pretty. We got the warnings; be careful, don't drink to much, don't be naive to friendly strangers - a friend of us even called the Norwegian embassy in Barcelona telling them we were coming and to please keep an eye on us... (OK, he SAID he had done that, I haven't really got confirmed that it actually got done. Anyway). We took in all the friendly warnings with a sigh and responded to each and everyone of them: "Come on! What's gonna happen??" Now in the light of the afterwisedom (if that word makes sense) I see that they all had a point. Anyway.Just to get the most out of our money and make sure we had a nice long travel, we ordered the trip with two in-between-landings. The first one went OK. Had some lunch at the airport in Copenhagen, did some long-distance-flirting with some Italian guys (what?? Come on, that's part of the trip and you know it!) and arrived safely at airport number 2 - Hamburg. We checked out the gate - number 21 - the flight was in route so we headed straight for the tax free. As we got caught up trying on various perfumes - we lost track of time and had to run to our gate. Luckily we knew exactly where it was so we had no panic even if all other passengers had entered the plane. We strolled to the gate and handed our tickets to the friendly woman at the gate. She smiles and in a friendly voice she asks "are you girls going to Barcelona?" , we smiled back and responded cheerfully- "yeah!". Her response "hmmm, yes, 'cause WE are going to Berlin" quickly got us back on the ground and we hasted towards the right gate. No panic - we made it in time and all was good.
When we landed in Barcelona our baggage arrived just as planned and we go towards the custom. My friend went first, and got right through. Me on the other hand was stopped by the elderly guard asking me " where did you come from Miss?" My head went totally blank - and all I could think was that the last airport started with the letter "H" - could it be Honduras?? ( yeah, geography is not one of my strong sides) The guy was starting to look at me strangely and in desperation I call out to my friend "where did we come from??" This ridiculous question (yes, you don't have to tell me, I know I should have known! ) just made her laugh and as she couldn't stop laughing and help me out, the guard decided to lend me a helping hand by offering me some alternatives (what a nice guy) He says: "Oslo?" "YES" i replied happily. This whole incident obviously convinced him that I was not able to smuggle anything so he let me pass.Great start I thought, this can't get anymore embarrassing...Man was I wrong. We had decided that even if it was a bit hassle, we should take the buss to the metro and the metro to the hotel. We find the bus-stop, the bus arrives and I enter. I turn around to see if my friend needs help with her two(!) pieces of luggage (which her boyfriend had ensured her would be no more hassle than one- boy was he wrong) but as I turn around, the door closes and the bus starts moving.
I'm yelling to the driver to stop and my friend is trying to push all kinds of buttons to open the door, but the bus keeps moving and I desperately see my friend get further and further away.By this point I'm starting to panic a little and starts talking to myself in Norwegian - "What an idiot". "What is he doing" "This is NOT happening". Caught up in my own furie I hardly notice that the bus stops, and all passengers get off. Relieved by the outcome of this strange situation I start laughing and get of the bus. I run back to find my friend who is standing at the bus-stop laughing, laughing and laughing. I think we stood there almost ten minutes before we could stop laughing and stand up straight. And this was just day1...
Like I said - what could happen?? Obviously a lot, but as long as it ends well there's no harm. And, not to forget, we have lots of good stories to tell our friends. I mean we spent two whole weeks in Barcelona and didn't get robbed once! I think that's pretty good. And the part of the holiday where we got drugged by some strangers are all forgotten now....! Really!
Man I can't wait for my next holiday!!
Love,
E
3 comments:
Have fun on your holiday kick-off! I miss traveling with you. It's not good to be all blondes, you know. You need a brunette too.
I know! That's why I included an illustration with a brunette - even if you were not there in real life... Miss you to!
I see, and I appreciate it. Thumbs up for all the great illustrations, by the way, you should be a graphic designer or something. Think I gotta do something to lighten up my own blog.Have to do something to attract the crowds...
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