The flight home to Uppsala.
(Weird, that I call home Uppsala, it sounds totally normal but weird at the same time)
My journey
Madrid-->Berlin-->Stockholm
At the Madrid airport at 10AM my flight was at 1pm. Luckily the Madrid airport is big, so I had time to make a pit.
Like I said, the Madrid airport is big.
My gate was Gate H, and since I've been through many airports, I thought that this one would be easy.
It wasn't
This was after I checked in my luggage. It told me that Gate H was upstairs, so I went upstairs and then I saw this sign.
So then I ignored that sign and turned and saw this sign.
Then I went towards the middle of the airport and then saw this sign.
So then I went right and there was another sign that gave me down arrow.
I swear the Madrid airport is so confusing.
I finally found my gate and settled down until it was time to board.
And now here comes the story of my flight:
-Sidenote: there will be usage of swear words because I'm writing it in the form of how I was thinking, so to my family, just a warning.
My flight was set from Madrid to Berlin. I was one of the first few people to get on the plane so I could easily put my backpack on the luggage carrier and get into my seat.
And then the plane started to fill up. Like FILL UP. It got so full that every person on the plane had a carry on with them and had to find a spot for their carry-on and it got to the point where some people had to put it away from their designated seats.
This option, was not in favor for one passenger.
I was in an aisle seat and the girl sitting next to me on my right had a big Coach purse and a shopping bag as her carry on. (I'm serious that's what she had).
She went to put her stuff above her seat and realized that it was taken by other people's luggage. She then asked one of the flight attendants whose stuff it was and whether she could move it.
The flight attendant said no, that the flight was booked and that there wasn't enough room for her luggage and that she might have to put her stuff somewhere else.
This was not the news that the girl wanted.
She ended up throwing a fit throughout the plane stating that the rules are that your carry-on goes above your designated seat and proceeded to ask people whose stuff was in her seat.
The flight attendants were a little to preoccupied at this point, so she just continued yelling.
Then the women next to me on my left turned to the girl and told her that she had to compromise with her stuff and move it somewhere else, like she and the other people did.
The girl still wouldn't budge, the idea that putting her luggage in another compartment was like the end of the world for her. She continued screaming and asking the flight attendant if she could help her figure out what to do with her stuff or assign her to another seat where she could put her luggage right above her.
The flight attendant did help her....5 minutes ago when she suggested that she needed to move it because the flight was full. But she instead, decided to find an empty seat on the full plane to make the girl happy.
At this point, the whole plane was getting tired of the girl's fit and all wanted her to be quiet.
The girl finally sat down, but still had her coat on and her bags on her knees, probably thinking that she was either going to leave the plane or move somewhere else.
Being the good Samaritan (well actually I wanted her to stop throwing a fit and making the plane angry), I looked to the girl and told her that I only had a backpack and could easily squeeze it under my seat so she could put her stuff where I was. She told me "No it's ok, I'm fine, it's not a big deal anyway...
BITCH WHY YOU GOTTA THROW A FIT THEN!
Seriously.
Then the flight attendant who was helping her came and told the girl that there was a seat in the back with ample room in the luggage carrier for her stuff. Then she said, again, "No it's ok, it's not that big of a deal, I'll stay here and have my stuff here..."
You fuckin' kidding me?
You throw a fit in the airplane, screaming at everyone and arguing with the women next to me and then demanding a seat where you can put your stuff and then when people come to help you, you say it's not a big deal.
I swear, as much as I love talking to people and hanging out with them, I really do hate people sometimes.
You know? Like you have an April Ludgate moment and just ate people and want to pet a dog/cat.
When the girl calmed down and the plane was filled, the pilot came on the speakerphone and announced that we were 30 minutes late in flying.
Wait what?
I looked at my phone, and realized that it was 1:30PM. Between the girl throwing a fit, 30 minutes had passed by and we still hadn't moved.
But the girl wasn't the issue.
So remember when I said that the plane was filling up and everyone had their carry-on in the beginning of the post?
Well, it filled up so much with so much luggage that some of the luggage had to be moved to the bottom so distribute the weight equally.
Then, I guess, a woman on the plane had paid for her flight ticket with a stolen credit card and her luggage was on the plane, and since the plane was so filled up, they did not know where her luggage was, and because of that there was possible suspicious activity in it.
So in basic terms, the plane might blow up.
You gotta be fuckin kidding me.
The women next to me started to laugh and explain to her 8 year old son what was going on, and then started talking to me in Spanish of how this was the most ridiculous plane ride ever and how you just have to laugh it off. I laughed half-heartedly with her, but secretly my heart was pounding inside that I thought my heart was going to explode.
Was this the last day on earth for me?
Was this how I was going to go? On a plane? in Madrid with a bunch of strangers and an annoying girl who just threw a fit 5 minutes ago?
WAS IT THE GIRL THAT PAID WITH A STOLEN CREDIT CARD?? WAS THAT WHY SHE WAS THROWING THE FIT AND NEEDED HER STUFF IN NEAR HER? WHAT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY WAS IN HER COACH PURSE?
I stopped the crazy/maybe truthful accusations and ate some of my Milka chocolate bar and read Mindy Kaling's wonderful book of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
If I was to go down this moment, at least I had Milka chocolate and Mindy Kaling to go down with me.
Luckily, as you can probably tell, the plane did not blow up and we started flying.
But the bad plane ride didn't end there. In the midst of enjoying Kaling's advice on boys and dating, a little toddler decided to cry at the top of her lungs. And by crying I mean screaming. Like that piercing scream little kids make when they don't get the toy that the want and they scream until their lose their voice or until the parent caves in and buys it for them.
That kind of scream. For a solid 20 minutes.
The toddler was the icing on the cake to this bad and long 2 hour flight.
Why couldn't the mom be smart like my mom and given her Benadryl or put her down for a nap to knock her out. Didn't the mom know that when people see a baby on a plane they automatically groan and get upset no matter how cute the baby is?
I swear people....
Finally the plane landed, safe and sound in Berlin, but I had 20 minutes to get to one gate to other.
Little fact about the Berlin-Tegel airport, it's big. Not as big as the Madrid airport, but when you have 20 minutes to get to a gate that's on the other side of the airport plus go through security, yeah it's pretty big.
But it's ok, because the best part about leaving planes is that everyone takes their time taking out their carry-ons and walks at a snail pace going through the aisle. (Note the sense of sarcasm here)
This was the point where the good samaritan in me was gone. I was impatient and started to push to get off the plane because there was no way in hell, I was going to miss this plane.
But then as I was walking, I saw the little screaming toddler, who had interrupted my good reading. She was in between the seats and, I guess, had gotten a little claustrophobic because she was pushing the seats screaming to get out. So naturally the good Samaritan in me let her and the mom go first.
I swear sometimes I hate that the good samaritan comes out in me, because this little toddler decided to take her time and go at a sloth's pace (yes, I went down in slow animals-sloth's pace) and talk to her mom about the balloon in her hand.
Really toddler really? You HAVE to tell your mom about your damn balloon now?!?! You couldn't have told her in the 20 minutes while you were crying?
At this point, the mom should have picked up her child and ran out of the plane, but no. She let her go telling her to walk faster, which in little kid language means nothing.
After about a minute the toddler and mom finally got off, and I put on my backpack and bolted to my gate. Quickly asking a worker where it was, I powerwalked/ran like there was no tomorrow.
10 minutes later, I got to my gate and had to go through security.
Now when it comes to security I'm usually fine. I take everything off that I have to take off and even ask the workers if anything else needs to be taken out just to make their job easier.
This time I got beeped and had to step to the side to the security lady.
Now let me tell you one thing:
In all my 20 years of traveling and going through security and the times I have gotten beeped, I have never NEVER been touched by a security lady the way I was touched by this German security lady.
Even in the states when going through airports like New York where security is tight like belt, I've never been touched that way.
After all the mess of the girl throwing the fit, the plane almost blowing up, flying 30 minutes late and the toddler screaming at the top of her lungs, I started to laugh while the security woman was searching me. At that point, I didn't care, I was so tired and just wanted to go back to Uppsala. I was like that lady in the plane seat next to me, I just had to laugh because the situation I was in was so ridiculous.
After getting violated, I grabbed my things, ran to the gate and got on the plane to Stockholm.
Fortunately, this plane flew on time, there was nobody throwing a fit (mostly because the plane was barely full and I had the whole aisle to myself), there was no sign of suspicious activity and no toddler in site.
It was beautiful and quiet and just what I needed.
At 7:45PM I finally landed in Stockholm and waited 30 minutes for my luggage then hopped on a bus to Uppsala, then got on another bus back to Flogsta and was in my room at 9:30PM.
I immediately started to unpack, change into my comfy clothes, said hello to my corridor mates and was in bed by 11PM to get ready for class the next day at 10AM.
Going to pretty much every form of transportation (minus ship) and running around in my boots, I was just happy to be back in Sweden, in my bed and to start a new year and take in my last semester here.
(Note: writing those last three words was a pain, the thought of leaving just makes me want to cry, so if you could do me the honor and not mention that I'm leaving in June, that would be great, thanks.)
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