And then it got worse...

I'm sitting in a gorgeous hundred-year-old house. I'm kinda thinking all of the lay-overs and delays and vomiting was completely worth it.

Ah, back to our story.

I landed in Brussels, relieved that I finally made it. The path to baggage claim is ridiculously long. You go down two flights of escalators. Then you walk about half a mile (not exaggerating) through moving sidewalks. On a side note, I appreciated the fact that people in Europe actually walk on moving sidewalks instead of idiots in America who just stand there and block the entire path and then get mad when you destroy their faces with your luggage when you are running for your flight. After the half mile, then you go up three flights of escalators.

So I'm 10 pounds lighter, and the luggage comes down the circle thing (oh, hell, I can't think right now). I wait ten minutes. Twenty. Everyone from my flight is gone and I'm surrounded by Flemish-speaking people. At this point, I'm really not surprised this happened. I go up to baggage services. Nobody was there. I ask the guy at the money conversion kiosk and in very broken English, he tells me that there is someone there.

No, there isn't.
Yes, there must be!
Well, I'm saying there isn't.
Yes, yes, go look, straight ahead to right.

I go back. Still nobody there. At this point, I've vomited on some poor guy, I've gone 36 hours without sleep, I've been delayed and feel abandoned. So I call my mom.

Bless my mother. Just, bless her. She got up at 4 this morning to help me get another flight to Brussels and then I call, hysterical. For those of you who know me well, it takes a lot for me to cry (with the exception of dog movies, i.e. Marley and Me). I had a full-out anxiety attack. Europeans were staring openly at me.

She gets me calmed down enough to get me to call Sabine, my program director.

Bless Sabine. She drove an hour to pick me up and calm me down. I found out my luggage is still in Paris, and it'll be sent to my house either tomorrow or the next day.

Honestly, if I ever fly international again, I'll pay the extra fees. I'm flying direct.

I had a really great evening though, and I'll blog about it tomorrow.

But for now, a demain!