The truth about adventuring

There are no pictures on this post and that is because when we aren't having a marvelous time we are having a rotten time. (No one takes pictures of that!)
No, not always, but when it comes to adventuring there are some true adventures that can only be appreciated a week, months or even sometimes years later.

The fact is, the more you travel, the more you will have these horrible , no good, rotten "ADVENTURES" but to be fair we should discuss them for a few reasons.
#1) Honesty, can't let you think its all glam and glitter and hide the harder parts.
#2) This blog is about Family history and I am sure some day someone will find this funny (I still need some time)
#3) Reality, No one should try to live up to an unrealistic ideal.


So most often when we travel, there is some difficulty. Late trains, bad weather, forgotten underpants ( more time than not its the last one) However sometimes they are big difficulties and often they are because of having too much fun and not paying attention to dates on the calendar  (Sorry Jeanne for making you race back from Venice to go to London with a three hour turn around instead of a 24 hour turn around)

Sometimes you thought you bought seats on the ferry when in fact you bought just a passage and standing room only. (Sorry- guy running the ferry for arguing with you over seats I didn't actually book)

Sometimes you book 2 rental cars or can't find the confirmation email with the flight info and have to call another country in a language you don't understand and try to get someone who doesn't understand you to re- send an email and cancel a car booking (but just one of the bookings because you still need one car when you get there!)

Sometimes you think your destination is only an hour or two from the airport and yet when you get there it is actually 6 or maybe 7 hours from the airpot. ( have a nice scenic drive)

Sometimes you and your husband are passing in the airport and one needs to leave keys for another and they put them in the car in the parking garage and then lock it so no one, not even the spouse that supposed to pick them up, can.

As you might be coming to the understanding, all of these.... sometimes have happened to us.
The most recent ...shall we call it ... "Unplanned adventure"
was on our way home from Spain. A most wonderful vacation as I am sure you can see from all the bright colored and smile filled pictures I posted on this blog.

On the return flight Dan was leaving for an assignment and the kids and I were left to make it home alone. Really not an issue and not the first time we have done this. I looked at our tickets. We leave at 4pm, he leaves at 8 am we will catch the train around noon and no problem.

We sent him off, enjoyed our morning with our friends! Dressed up in Valencia wear, played with kittens, and around 11 am I began to gather my things and looked at the tickets again....
first leg of the flight leaves Valencia at 10 am and second leg leaves Madrid at 4pm.

I had miss read it (this one goes back to that having too much fun to look at dates and times)
Its 11 am, I am in a country where I do not speak the language, I am 3 hours away from the city where the second leg of my flight leaves from to get home. My friends have all gone to work.

WHAT DO I DO???

First I tried to call my friends, no answer (DUH! They are working) Then I remembered they said an american lived at the end of the street. Maybe I can get help from them. I ran down the street (still didn't tell the kids I was panicking ) No one was home, no one answered my 6,000 doorbell rings but the yipy dog! ( he didn't open the door and call me a cab) I ran back to the house and franticly looked on line for taxi cabs. How much does it cost to go to madrid I asked in Italian to the Spanish guy who answered the phone "Madrid? Impossible!"
AHHHH!!!

Then my friend called from work and helped me by calling her husband who like a race car driver (Ask Paige who got a little car sick) took us to the airport, put us in a cab to the train station with clear instruction (as clear as Spanish and Italian intersect) to get on the speed train to Madrid and then take a taxi to the airport! Speed train is 1 1/2 hours its now noon. This would get us there with about 1 hour to spare. We got to the train station and the automated ticket booth had no tickets to Madrid. So I went to the counter, well of course.... you take a ticket number and wait your turn.  You know when there are people working behind the counter but not helping the next number and they call the same number 25 times and no one goes up and you are watching the paint pealing off the wall with every painful second you wait.... yes, that was me.

Then they call my number and I explain my situation and they let me know the train is 99% sold out so if Id like to send one of my kids on, or leave them here and make it home myself that would be possible but there was no way three of us were getting on the train. I asked the man how can I get to Madrid in just 3 1/2 hours. He said rent a car and drive very fast. So my next question was, where is the rental car place.

As you can imagine no guy was standing there with a key in an outstretched arm just waiting for me to race by , grab it and speed off into the sunset. No it took that 1/2 hour I had to spare in order to get the car, get out of the parking lot and on the road to Madrid. Seth as a navigator and Paige still feeling queasy in the back seat we dashed out and made our way out of the city and onto the free way where we were going to pick up speed and defy time and space. Or.... we were going to hit a traffic jam and sit still on the free way for 20-30 minutes we didn't have to spare.

We re routed and made it around the traffic jam and were just picking up speed when ... another traffic jam slowed us down.
I decided driving like a maniac wasn't going to get us to Madrid on time and the traffic was really not going to let us try. My best hope was for a delayed flight. As I drove Seth searched for the phone number and when we called the airline and asked about catching the second leg of the flight and if by any chance the flight was delayed. The nice gentleman explained to me that if you miss your first flight the rest of your connecting flights are canceled. "Wait so I am driving to Madrid in a rental car hoping to catch a flight that doesn't exist"

Well, lesson for us all... you are welcome for me figuring that out for you!
So next Navigator/ mobile internet research specialist Seth finds a hotel in Madrid and looks up some airline tickets. We pull over at a gas station, feed the kids. (If there is anything worse than Spanish food, it's gas station Spanish food) While I literally spend 2 hours trying to book a ticket. NO IDEA WHY my phone would not let me purchase a ticket. I can see it, I can get through the billing forms (10 times) and yet when I hit purchase ...NO! This is where there should have been a picture of two half asleep teen agers with their heads on the table and empty chip wrappers in a busy gas station while I bang my phone against the table over and over again, moaning and clenching my teeth and calling my phone all the names and contemplating a life in a gas station somewhere between Valencia and Madrid.

So hard to believe less than a week earlier we were all so happy enjoying beautiful Madrid and going to the Temple. Enjoying the sun and the beautiful landscape. PFFFTTT...... not now!

I called three friends, no one answered. I just need someone with a lap top and not a phone to help me buy a ticket. And not one of the tickets that takes 3 days to get from Madrid to Naples by having a 24 hour layover in Turkey! TURKEY??? How is that on the way to Naples?

Finally I was rescued and a ticket was purchased. We left the gas station with a slightly frozen tuna fish sandwich and 3 hours of logged time that we will never get back at this one table in the gas station!

We headed towards our hotel, settled in with no clean clothes and an early morning ticket to Rome and a plan to take the train to Naples.

How I wish the story ended there. Isn't that enough for one trip. For heavens sakes!
No, when we got up and out in the morning, we needed to refill the gas tank from he three hour drive we took, for no apparent reason. Then the gas stations were closed. Do I move on and just pay extra at the rental place or do I wait? I waited, I mean really Im just about at the airport and I have over an hour and a half before my flight....

Filled the tank, returned the car (no one was there so we had to find the drop box for the key)
Got in line to check in (remember all I have is an email confirmation form the ticket my friend bought for me the night before) As I am standing there a airline woman approaches me puzzled and asks where I am going and when. Once I tell her. She kindly informs me, I am at the wrong terminal.
Well I hadn't worked out all week so a mad dash through an entire terminal seemed in order.
Got to the new terminal with 30 minutes before boarding, A line of atleast 50 people long, and 2 open desks with very slow workers. Back to that burning panic again. But honestly who misses two flights? in a row?

Finally got our boarding passes and RAN to security (which doesn't make us look suspicious )
We got in line behind the "Ive never traveled a day in my life" couple. Look, for all of you who do not travel much, let me give you a few tips. 5 pocket jeans are for style, not to put a few coins in each pocket. You take 1 cary on bag and you are allowed 1 zip lock bag with liquids. 3 small rolly bags per person are not allowed, you might as well have paid for a large suitcase. Just because it is small doesn't mean you bring more of them. Do not wear boots, those have to come off no matter what. And for the love of all the gods of travel, the full arm of bangles we have to watch you take off one at a time is best saved for your sexy night at home, not the  flight to the honeymoon! Good night!

I literally called the security guard over knowing full well I'd be pegged for a full cavity search and pointed at these jokers. Im going to be late while this lady is singing "walk like an Egyptian" with the bangles. She luckily also rolled her eyes and pulled me and the kids in front of them and we were through so fast she was still putting stuff into blue bins behind us! INSANE!

Seth took off running to make it to the gate before us and hold it if necessary. Paige and I came huffing and puffing behind (sorry we both had lots of churros in Spain)

The story ends well, we made it on our flight and weren't even the last to get on. When we landed I flipped on my phone and saw another friend posting a selfing and saying "Just landed in Rome" So we caught a ride home with her instead of the train and that was much better!

There was only a little scare about being locked out of the house for the next 7 days when we got home, but it only lasted an hour or so before we found some keys, so we all lived!

In fact it was just what we are always out looking for.... an adventure.