European Shenanigans #1: Cancelled Flight

     I took a little break from blogging.  Life gets crazy and I get crazier.  But I decided today to sit down and let the world know that I lived my dream! Ryan and I made it to Paris (and London and Edinburgh)! Everything was not perfect, and didn't always go as planned, but my dream came true and it was the most amazing experience! As a first-time cross continental trip taker, there were a lot of things I learned.  I'm hoping to share with you some of the wonderful things about my trip and tell you the things that I learned through my experiences.  I'm confident some of the things I learned will help you on your traveling extravaganzas!

     My first good decision was my travel partner.  Pick someone to go with who is adventurous and who you love spending time with.  For me, that was of course my husband.  I was more comfortable and confident on our grand adventure because I had someone along who isn't afraid to be out of his comfort zone.  That is a requirement for a good travel buddy!  

     We got all packed up for our nine day trip and made all the arrangements for leaving our five kids behind.  And let me tell you, that's no easy task!  I needed a vacation just from the prep work it took to go on vacation!

     Things went along as expected initially and we enjoyed our first flight to Toronto.  But upon arriving we found out, with zero explanation, that our flight to Paris had been cancelled.  This is where we had our first learning experience.  They basically told everyone we would need to stay in a hotel and leave the following day at 3 pm.  That was almost 24 hours after our planned departure time.  Instead of following the crowd and getting in the forever long line to get a hotel room, we took the alternative option of calling the online customer service for the airline.  Ryan was on the phone for over an hour, but he got us a flight out that night!  

     So lesson #1:
Expect that things will go wrong, and advocate for yourself to get them fixed!  Traveling is an adventure, and if you want things to be smooth you better just stay home!  I am so glad that we didn't just sit back and ride the wave though.  Because Ryan put in some extra effort, we were able to catch a flight that evening to Milan, an unexpected stop off, and get to Paris the next day well before most of our fellow passengers.  Don't be afraid to try other options and avenues and be flexible so you can get where you want to go!

     We didn't get to have church on Easter Sunday in Paris like we planned, but we did get to have a super cool couple of hours in Italy, which was an unexpected bonus!  The Milan airport is super cool.  It has fancy shops, a variety of restaurants, an amazing chocolate selection, and incredible art displays.  One of my favorite things there was the Gelato.  Talk about delicious!

     What kind of traveling escapades have you had?  Check back soon for more travel adventures and lessons learned from our European voyage!