Flight Cancelled

The news came on Tuesday 20 April in the afternoon after I returned from an day on the beach in Split.  We left our villa that morning and took the ferry back to Split and checked into our favorite Beach Hostel and went straight to the beach.  After we got news of our cancellation, Andrew and I spent much of the afternoon looking at possible options and prices, and then the decision struck: Should we move North and refund the cheap flight from Croatia? or Should we stay until Saturday, when we could get the next flight, but if that doesn't take off, we'll be stuck in eastern Europe with 3 days to get back to Belfast before class...?

Wednesday morning we caught a 5 hour bus to Zagreb where we found a bus that went to Koln, Germany that left in 3 hours.  After finding a kind hotel concierge, Andrew checked his email and saw no sign of cancellation of his flight on Thursday night so Mary and I caught the 17 hour (which ended up being 19 hours) to Germany from Croatia.  We travelled through northern Croatia, Slovenia, stopped in Austria for dinner, then came through Germany until we arrived in Koln (Cologne) at 11:30am.  Mary and I missed the cheaper 9:30am bus to Brussels, so we caught a 1:30pm train which got us to Brussels at 4:30pm.

It's now Thursday afternoon and Mary and I are shattered from our travels, so we got situated in Leuven, Belgium where Andrew graciously let us stay. Friday morning Mary caught the Eurostar bus to London then a ferry from Liverpool to Belfast.

As Andrew says, "I never actually expected to be back in Leuven with you." And it's true, I didn't realize my return trip to Leuven would be so soon, but I'm glad I got to spend the extra time with Andrew and his friends.  On Friday, I received some unexpected news after referencing my online bank statement.  Seems that at some point over my semester, my debit card information was stolen and roughly $700 USD was stolen over a two day period from an ATM in Bulgaria.  Then having to cancel my debit card, I've never been more thankful for being with a close friend.  Andrew was more than helpful with the situation and we found me a cheap flight to Dublin on Tuesday 27 April.  That evening we met up with friends at a house party then went to a bar, Bloc for some amazing music (as expected)!

Saturday we had a picnic in the park and got some reading done. And in the evening we attempted to have a barbecue but personally I think it was just a sad attempt because we were barbecuing over half hot coals and tin foil... fail. At least we were in good company!

Sunday brought more sun, church in the morning, and another day in the park with friends.  In the later afternoon Andrew showed me around the old Leuven Beguinage where women (mostly widows and religious) stayed and lived quiet religious lives being seamstresses and other traits.  Mostly it was just a beautiful place to walk around with its cobblestone streets, brick buildings, and built along a river, it was beautiful.

Monday, Andrew had class all day so I took some time to get more reading done while I was away, and we enjoyed Amy's favorite Thai for lunch.  That afternoon after Andrew was done with class he and I took some time to go through pictures from the first time we met when we were kids in the Ulster Project in 2004.  We then looked through the pictures from 2005, 2006, and 2007/2008.  We were speechless, but happy to see that we both have grown into better looking 21 year olds, past the awkward teenage years.

Monday night after a brief scare with my boarding pass, we got to the Brussels train station where I would catch a bus to Charleroi Airport.  Andrew came with me to the airport to make sure everything went smoothly. I caught my 6:45am flight to Dublin without a problem and then caught a bus in Dublin at 8:20am to Belfast where I arrived at 11:00am.  Glad to be home, and would never give up any of my experiences for anything in this world!