The girls were to arrive at 7:30 am from Geneva, or Geneve as they call it! Well, I arrive at 9:30 and go thru customs and all that, really excited to see the girls. I havent seen much of Mel this summer and I havent seen Alvina for a year!!! So I strut thru and get out of all the paperwork processing stuff and cant find the girls. I wait and wait, then I decide to have them paged. Still, NO GIRLS! I decide to have them paged. Still, NO GIRLS! I have them paged two more times in the next two hours and finally the British bitch who was helping me, said, "Let me check to see if their plane landed." I said, "Of course, it landed then should have been here since 7:30 am." Well, she checked and said no they havent even left Geneve yet! Their plane was 4 hours late leaving and so I finally was able to relax.
During that waiting time and before knowing that they were delayed, this is some of the thoughts that went thru my mind. 1. Where the heck are they, should I go to another part of the airport to see if I can find them? 2. Should I just go on to the hostel and hope they find me 3. Do they even know where we are staying? 4. Why didnt I get Alvina's home phone number so I can call her parents? So now I have to wait until their arrival, but I am relaxed more, at least. I thought: holy shit, Ellen! Your disorganization is biting you in the ass again!!!
At 12:30ish, their plane comes in. I wait outside of customs, just knowing they would come out! Still, NO GIRLS! So, after everyone seems to have passed thru customs, about 10 minutes later, comes two hot teenage girls, struting out. Alvina with her short dress and long legs, Melanie with her long shorts and cute red top and a man! Smiling as happily as can be! Melanie was talking to the man about how/where she could meet her mom. She told him the story and he said he would help! Well, it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen, them coming out with the man and saying Oh, there's my mom! I realized then, that my daughter has really become a seasoned traveler, knowing what to do and who to ask when help was needed. In London, she proved that even more when she took charge of getting us from place to place. She never once hesitated to ask the British "tube" guards which train to take or how to get us there and where to change. Apparently, she and Alvina were traveling around France the past two weeks and they were both well seasoned!
So off to the Hostel where we were staying. Someone told me that the tube (subway) might be closed on the weekends. I just knew it wasnt going to be my tube stops. Well, it was and we took the tube as far as we could then tried to take a bus the rest of the way. We were on a tight budget and didnt want to waste money on a taxi. After walking around, pulling suitcases, out of the tube and onto the street, we went to one corner to find our bus. Not the right place. After going from corner to corner about 4 times, I told the girls we are getting into a taxi, but first we had to find out just how much it would cost! It was not very expensive so I said I would pay. So here is a pic of us, with the taxi man. Afterwards, it turns out we were so close to the hostel, the times we walked around trying to catch a bus, we could have pulled our suitcases to the door. Anyway, we made it to the hostel. This was a very very nice hostel. I reserved a room for the four of us only! YeaH to Hosteling!!! Now it is 2pm.
