It was difficult getting up at 5 to wait for the shuttle
to pick us up to take us to the Paris Bauvais airport. And that’s where our
troubles began… First of all, the shuttle didn’t want to pick us up. The driver
told Franny’s parents that he wasn’t told of a second pick up and didn’t want
to do it, but they somehow managed to convince him thank goodness! On top of
that, the stupid shuttle cost 200 euros because the stupid airport is two hours
outside of Paris. NEVER fly in or out of Bauvais unless you are ONLY going to
Disneyland. That is the only thing you can get to from there.
So we finally arrive at the airport and we are two hours
early for our flight (which turns out to be a blessing in disguise). So I have
my boarding pass printed, check in, get my Visa checked, etc. and I’m good to
go!
The Delaney’s on the other hand… oh my goodness! So the
first lady they talk to is not a very amicable person, she’s kinda rude and
indifferent, saying that Franny’s parents were good to go but Franny hadn't actually checked in and she needed to pay 70 euros and go print off her boarding pass at the kiosk (which cost her 7 euros to use and print) and she
gets back only to be told she has the wrong paper. So they all go to the kiosk
and its not working, and her flights not coming up and she’s put in probably 30
euros so she gives up and they go to where I checked in to figure out if they
could print it. That little girl (she seemed to be 18 tops) was so rude I was
actually shocked. She said that Franny was checked in, but her parents weren't!
And she kept repeating “you have to pay, you have to pay” and she was no help
at all.
So they asked her to talk to the first woman and see who
had made a mistake. She was having nothing of it! She was just being so rude
and obnoxious, and when we asked for her name she covered her name tag and
became even more hostile. So we asked to speak to her supervisor and she
pointed him out. We walked over to him and explained our situation. So he took
the passports and started looking up their flights, while Franny’s mom
explained how rude the little girl had been. Which is when he became hostile,
saying the same as the second girl. We asked if he could talk to the first girl
about the conflicting stories and he was becoming so rude as well, also hiding
his name tag when we asked his name. Then he started saying things like “I know
you’re trying to intimidate me and it’s not going to work, blah, blah, blah.”
He even threatened not to let us on the plane, and all we wanted was for him to
talk to the first girl and get things straight. The Delaney’s finally give up
and ask him to just get them on the stupid flight because time is whittling
away and we don’t want to miss our flight. And he just keeps talking about how
he doesn't have to do anything and being a complete asshole!
So we have to go print off Franny’s ticket (15 euros) and
purchase her parents (70 euros each) so we go to the ticket kiosk to do that,
then we have to go back to that guy and have him print off tickets before we
can go through security. And he’s still being an asshole. We've been talking to him in English the whole time and when we return he mutters under his breath in
French “Stupid tourists shouldn't be allowed to travel here, go back to your
own damn country” (or something to that extent) not realizing that Franny and I
can speak French. Luckily, all four of us keep quiet and we get to security
without another incident. Franny’s dad is going to write a very angry letter to
Ryanair because of that, and I don’t blame him. Working in the service
industry, you can’t talk to customers like that! Head my warnings readers,
NEVER EVER EVER fly Ryanair. And if you can’t avoid it NEVER fly with them in
France. They do everything on the cheap and their customer service skills are
non-existent!
By now, it’s 45 minutes until our flight so we’re
panicking we’re not going to get through security fast enough (good thing we
were there early). So we’re pulled out of the security line and put to the
front along with 50 other passengers on our airline, go through security and go
straight out onto the tarmac to our flight. Now Bauvais airport is a shit hole,
it really is, there is a small coffee shop and a Relay store on the other side
of security, and from the looks of it before security I was surprised there was
even that.
I slept the whole flight to Barcelona, and when we landed
it was not the end of our troubles. We arrived only to find out that Franny’s
parents had mislaid the reservation for the apartment we were to be staying in.
So we’re sitting in the airport, trying to figure out what to do, internet isn't working properly, so we say screw it and we decided to just show up and see
what happens. Good thing Franny’s dad has a good memory because he remembered
the address. So we caught a cab to La Ramblas where our apartment was (its also
the main tourist street in all of Barcelona). And that’s when our luck changed.
We arrived only to find that they had an office, so they let us in, got all the
paperwork done and we were home free! They still needed to clean the apartment
from the last guests who checked out an hour before we arrived so we got to
leave our things in the office and we walked around for a bit to kill time and to
go have lunch.
We walked to Cathedral Barcelona and found a small tapas
bar across the square from it. We had no clue what we wanted so we let the waiter
order for us. I had a water to drink and Franny had a gin and tonic and they
poured it in front of her! It was really cool. The waiter brought us various
tapas which is basically small samplings of random foods. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!
I am in love with tapas, or at least the kinds we had. Especially this toasted
bread with olive oil and tomato rubbed onto it. It was so good that I order it
everywhere now.
After lunch we checked out a small street flea/antique
market in the square, and walked up the steps of the Cathedral.
And we stopped for gelato on the way back to the
apartment. The gelato was delicious, and he put it on the cone in the shape of
a flower. After checking into the apartment, we went to buy groceries at
Carrefour, then out for supper at a place called Taher’n Tapas I believe, it
was literally next door to our apartment building. There was really only one
thing on the menu I could order and that was “Kate’s burger” (the wife of the
owner is named Kate but I took it as a sign that that was what I needed to
order). After supper Franny and I went to buy her cough drops as she has a
wicked cold and has been coughing non-stop for most of our trip.
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