Day Five: When the French decided to alter my plans

Like the good traveler my parents raised me to be, I was up and ready with my bags packed Tuesday morning. Josh took me to the bus station, said goodbye, and I got on a bus that takes you directly to Bilbao’s airport. After a 30 minute ride, I arrived at the airport ready to begin the next part of my journey. I walked up to the Air France counter and all I could see was the word “Cancelled.” Luckily, I remained calm and got redirected to the help counter. While in line, I talked with a man who had heard air traffic control had gone on strike. The Air France workers said that the next available flight was at 8:40pm, so I got myself on that flight. Luckily, I was able to text Josh with our American cell phones and he directed me on how to get back to his apartment on the bus and metro. After settling back in his apartment, Josh had to get to class and I went with him and made my way to Bilbao’s Fine Art Museum, “Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao.” I strolled through the galleries for a couple hours before meeting back up with Josh for lunch. After he was done with class for the day, we made dinner at his apartment and I refreshed for my long journey to Paris that night.
The next scene is tragic- I was sitting at Josh’s desk brushing my teeth. I had finished an email to my mom telling her that everything looked like it was going as scheduled. Right when I pushed send, I refreshed the Air France page with my flight information to see the word “cancelled” right next to my flight. Sad to say, I started to cry just as Josh walked in the room and I was quite a sight sitting there with tears running down my cheeks and a toothbrush in my mouth.
Luckily, my mom was able to leave work to get on Skype at home and she called Air France for me. The chances of me getting to Paris by the weekend were slim, so I decided to change my plans and stay in Bilbao to avoid further pains of cancellation and stress.
It was a painful decision as I was planning on hanging out with my dear friend Emilie from my Berlin program, meet up with my friend Meggie who is studying in Belgium and be reunited with my dear, amazing, lovely friend Addysen.