Spotlights and Symphonies

Mile High

I can't decide whether I'm excited or sad about going home. Three months isn't that long, but when the only consistent contact you've had is with your best friend it feels a lot longer. Yeah I love her but gosh she can be a lot to handle.

To start from the begin; my best friend and I decided to go on a three month trip to Europe. On a budget of course. Our freshly graduated asses grabbed $3000 each and headed out on our own. No phones. No resorts. No contact. Well, a little contact. On week five we both got home sick so we borrowed the computer from the kind women running the hostel we were staying at and Skyped our families. After that we had no interactions with anyone back home.

I am very surprised at our budgeting skills. We had roughly planned out how much money to spend each night and for food, so we covered our basics, while allotting money for activities. It was a struggle convincing Anna not to buy everything in sight but I am proud to say we have completed our trip without going into debt. Now that doesn't mean we didn't have our fair share of issues, or rather, situations that led us astray. In Greece I got food poisoning from a dodgy seafood place. We had to stay an extra day and after begging the motel to let us keep our room they charged us one and a half times the original price for a night.

Our most recent incident was Anna's little stunt in Prague. On what was supposed to be our last night, we decided to go to a club. We had more money than expected leftover so we splurged a bit. It was a great night! We drank, we sang, we danced, met some boys. As we were walking to their apartments we came across one of the many bridges that lined Prague's cities. Anna, or sorry, little miss trapeze artist over here decided she'd show off her drunken abilities by walking across one of the stone railings. I begged her not to, but the most I could persuade her in the vodka-driven pursuit was to take her heels off.

Long story short she fell off into the water, but not before twisting and fracturing her ankle. Or at least we think. We went to a walk-in clinic hoping for lower prices than a hospital and the doctor said there might be a light fracture. We didn't want to pay for x-rays and we figured we'd be home in a day so we might as well wait.

We paid for the appointment, paid for checking out late at the hotel as a result of waiting at the doctor's for so long and we headed to the airport with only $6.38 remaining. Thankfully, we had prepaid for our tickets.

We boarded the plane, Anna hobbling along with my help. It was nice to just sit and relax as we talked about our favourite memories on the trip and how excited we were to see our families.

The flight attendants have been so nice to Anna and I. They noticed her limping onto the plane so they have been offering us extra drinks, snacks and even neck pillows. This one guy in particular has been taking extra care of us. Within the past hour he has brought us free treats and told us jokes to bring our spirits up. He was walking down the aisle asking for orders when I decided I was going to follow him to the back and pull him into the bathroom with me. He has been so genuinely kind to us and I wanted him to know that I appreciated it. Plus he was cute. And that would be a good story for my first time.

My train of thought was derailed by a loud sound.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen-" a measly voice said over the intercom.

"A bit behind the times there aren't we?" Anna only half-joked before taking a sip of her water and looking at me over the top the way a principle does when you're in trouble.

"Unfortunately there have been some sudden weather changes and for the safety of those aboard we will have to land and wait until it is safe to fly again."

Anna and I look at each other, panic plastered on our faces.

"Are we going to be refunded? Or will they just let us on the next flight? What if the weather doesn't clear up for a couple of days? Oh my gosh what about your ankle? And we only have $6 left what are we going to do?" My mind races as all of the possibilities snowball into one huge mass of anxiety and fear. We have to get home.