The time has come, my little friends, to talk of other things. Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings. Calloo, Callay, come run away. With the cabbages and kings.

 

Anticipation. Longing. Thirst. Wonder. Excitement. Nervousness. Yearning

That is what I felt before my grand adventure. And now it has all past with the blink of my oval eye. I had been granted the privilege to experience new things, meet new people, launch new friendships, and see new things which some only read in books.

 After all of that, have I changed? Am I still the same girl who loves rootbeer, prefers plastic utensils to metal ones, obsessed with brushing her teeth, puts milk in her ice cream, and would rather live in a library (with a ginormous bathtub) than a castle? The answer is yes. She is still here. I can’t say I feel any different… tired maybe… nor do I feel any older or wiser. But I do know that my palate has absorbed the sweet flavors of gelato and my eyes have been opened. I have studied the world and how it turns from a historical and Biblical aspect; but sometimes, the mind can’t fully comprehend what it hasn’t experienced or seen. My 2,496 hours across the world revealed the world in which my eyes saw, my heart understood, and my mind comprehended. Through the many smiles and few tears, I don’t regret a single second.

The depravity of man and this world is clearer to me now. I have gained/re-gained a love for people, food, and cultures. I love all sorts of people and have always needed a variety in my life. My 149,760 seconds in Europe re-affirmed that. My food intake had been quite limited, but I am proud to say I have slightly broadened my horizons. I have taken on a greater appreciation for the different ways in which people live and why people do the things they do. I was shown a glimpse into the concept of “time” and the lack of it. Many questions were answered, but even more have risen.  

My mentality of the importance of friends and family strengthened during my stay. It seems to me that many are lacking in that department. That, within itself, saddens me. BUT, just because it seems to me it is lacking, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Which was encouraging. 

The Return

Our final, final day in Germany. Sad day in the neighborhood. Kelley was going to take us to the airport once again. Did we not do this before? Take 2.Woke up quite early to get ready and be packed with the goal of departing Kelley’s apartment at 7:00 a.m. Can we do it? Yes we can! Pft, mildly fail but not too horribly. Plus we had to make a pit stop at a bakery for some pastries, which of course was a necessity. We got caught in some mild traffic and we still had to stop at Katriona’s apartment to grab our luggage that we left before we went to Greece. We ascended the 130 stairs and descended the 130 with our ginormous bags that weighs about a bagillion pounds. Then we were off to the airport where Andrew and I still needed to re-pack our bags. I claimed that we were not late, we were right on time. We almost became late because we took a zillion years to sort everything and shove it all back into our luggage. I was sprawled out on the airport floor with my bag open and going through all my possessions. But that time was worth it (for me) cause after some re-packing, my bag was not over weight! Hooray! We once again said our goodbyes and started the first installment of security. Never in my life have I beeped going through those detector thing a majigs... But I did. Sigh. First time for everything I suppose. The lady had to extensively pat me down which I have to admit was mildly awkward. I was being frisked. But that was not as awkward as turning around to see this middle aged woman with her pants down. What in the world is this lady doing? But obviously nothing was wrong because no guards were tackling her or anything of that sort. Hmmm. Well at least I didn’t have to take my pants off….. I woulda mooned everyone! My feelings about leaving Germany were neutral. When in Greece and traveling back to Germany, I was definitely ready to return home. But during our last few days, I fell in love with it all over again. I was pondering these thoughts as we had to go through several other metal detectors and check points… I now realize why they want you go be there 3 hours prior to departure if you are going to the United States. I did find out why I beeped the first time. I had a bobbypin in my pocket. But when the first lady “hand metal detectored” me, she didn’t find it. The second time I went through the detectors, it did not beep, but everybody is hand mental detectored and she found the bobby pin… I believe there are some kinks in those systems. They probably just have them to irritate people. We made it to our gate just as they were boarding. Phew! Perfect timing.

We boarded the plane where I had an aisle seat and no one sitting to my left so I was able to stretch out which was fabulous. The best part about these international flights.. MOVIES! I first started Couple’s Retreat and Andrew started the Blind Side. Within 20 minutes of his movie, he tapped my shoulder and said he could have actually cried it he wanted to. I giggled. I finished my movie and started a second but then my tiredness hit me. I am not sure how long I slept but it must have been for quite some time. When I woke up, it hit me that we had really left Germany. I then started to watch the Blind Side. BAD IDEA. Man! That movie is really good but I too could have cried during the beginning! I was already semi-emotional because of the whole leaving Germany thing. I was mad because I was a bit emotional, which made me more emotional because deep down I’m a tad bit emotional when I’m angry. Emotional. Emotional. Emotional. I despise crying, and if I do… it makes me mad.. which makes me cry harder. Sigh. That movie was like adding gasoline to the fire. If I wanted to bawl in that airplane, I could have. But fortunately, I haven’t bawled for a very, very, very long time. Luckily, under normal circumstances, I can control these things so no mental breakdown occurred.. but it made me more tired. We began our descent which meant the movies turned off so I never got to finish my movie. It torked me off which just added to my brew of emotions. I tend to get very motion sickness and this was the worst episode I have ever had on an airplane. I began to feel the beads of sweat pouring and I became nauseous. I then had to start stripping my layers off. A few days before, I had watched the movie French Kiss. Meg Ryan is on a train and she ate a metric ton of cheese but she is lactose intolerant. Now, I realize that I am not lactose intolerant but the point is...we were both nauseous. In the movie, she starts screaming “MUCUS! MUCUS! It’s here. The mucus is coating the intestinal wall. Spasm! Spasm! Not the cow! I just ate that cow!” Off all the things, that is the only part of the movie I could think about. Which made ME think about MY mucus, which made me even more nauseous. Oohhhh boy. Andrew looked over and said, “Baby cuz are you ok?” That would be a negative. I leaned forward and rested my head on the hard screen. My eyes were squeezed shut to block out all the motion… I had to remind myself to breath. Alright its final, I really didn’t want to leave Germany. We landed in Philadelphia and did the whole customs thing. Yah! No longer a fugitive. All of those lines took 20 lifetimes and to top it off, our flight to Seattle was delayed cause they had to fix a seat, or that is what they claim they were doing. We were suppose to arrive in Seattle at 9:02 and Andrew and I still had to catch a flight from Seattle to Spokane. If I miss this flipping flight I am NOT going to be a happy camper. I do not know what is wrong with Philadelphia, but there airport is smoking hot! Holy cow! It’s the 21st century people.. AIR CONDITIONING! I was still nauseous, hot and irritated. After many moons of waiting we were finally able to board. This flight was PACKED. There was no more room so our carry-ons had to be stored with the other baggage. While sitting in my designated spot, I whipped out my German People and Place’s book and started the first part of my final. Productive with an attitude. The plane was late in boarding and it apparently was “rush hour” and we were 15th in line. Rush hour? This isn’t the city peoples, its an AIRPORT! I passed out and didn’t even stir during take off. I awoke, chatted with the gentlemen next to me, finished the first part of my final and was anxious to land in Washington. This flight was one of the longest flights of my life. I didn’t think we were ever going to land.

We finally did land, late as expected. We had 1 ½ hour to get our baggage, go check in, re-check in our baggage, go through security, and get to our plane. Now my mother told me to print my itinerary and I did like an obedient daughter. To bad I did not have the faintest idea as to where it was located. I tore apart my backpack and luggage with no luck. Oh man…. Nicole was NOT a happy camper. All I knew was that we were flying Delta. While I was riffling through my bag, I asked Andrew to go wait in line. As he was standing there, this lady asked him if she put him in that line and he said no. She said he would have to get out because her job is to place people in that line. She was quite nice about it but Andrew had an attitude and responded with a snide comment... which she didn't appreciate.  I just looked at him and almost said something.. but he eventually apologized to the lady and she attempted to help us. After a big, she said she was sorry but we had to get in the line she took us out of. Grrreat. We had to wait in line for what seemed like hours and the clock was ticking. During that wait in line Andrew kept complaining about the rule of 50 pounds in your baggage and I blew up. Yes, I did make a scene in an airport. And yes, people were staring. I was annoyed and wanted him to shut up. During our whole time in Europe we’ve had many minor hissy fits and one minor argument, but nothing ever huge. I had never complained about his crying and moaning about things, but that streak came to an end. Ooo this one was real. We were screaming at each other. I told Andrew to stop talking and he responded with he will say whatever he wanted to say. I then proceeded to tell him he can go talk over there (my finger was pointed to a place, far, far, away.) After more words were exchanged over the next few minutes, and as more people began to stare, Andrew basically told me to calm down and stop making a scene. I quietly told him that I was sorry (kind of), to please shut up, and I turned around with no intention of turning back. Silence.. thank the Lord! My nauseousness was coming back. I wanted to cry.. I did cry. Tears were streaming down my cheek. My face was red and I could feel my eyes beginning to puff. The lady (customer) in front of us at the counter heard the whole thing turned around and smiled at me, giving me a reassuring look. That was helpful.. I knew I was right.

After all that waiting it was finally our turn and we were told we had to go Alaskan Airlines. You’ve GOT to be kidding me. We then got there, and the attendant was like “You are going on the 11:00 p.m. flight!” Yes I know we are late, thank you captain obvious. She was not very nice. In the beginning she made it sound like she wasn’t going to let us board the plane. She decided to but said out baggage wouldn’t make it there until the following day. Fine with me, I just wanted to get to Spokane. Andrew’s bag was over weight by a couple pounds and he had an “episode”. Oh man that really torked her off. He made the argument that the same weight would be on the plane, whether or not he moved some stuff to his carry-on. She then told him that it the bag was over 50 pounds, 2 men would have to pick up the bag. He looked her in the eye, and picked up his bag with one hand. That was it, she started shaking her head at us, telling us she didn’t deserve this and she didn’t have to let us on the plane. For a second, I honestly thought she wasn’t going to let us get on. She just kept repeating that she didn't have to let us on while she fervently typed on her computer. I wanted to pretend like I didn’t know him but he was part of my ticket so I had to claim him. It's a good thing we had last names or else she probably would have thought we were married. He had to pay $50 extra dollars which made matters even worse. I was SOOO mad at him. I apologized for him and it turns out my bag was a couple of pounds over but she told ME she would let it slide. Haha. That is what you get for being NICE! I could have killed Andrew. I could feel the tears welling up but this time, I refused to let them loose. She told us we would have to run to catch the plane. Step 2: That went fairly quickly and then I sprinted to D7. I wasn’t going to wait for Andrew so I left him in my dust. Keep in mind that through security and looking for my itinerary, I tore apart all of my carry-ons and it was one big mess. The flight attendant wouldn’t let me board without fixing my stuff and combining it to "2 carry-ons". I tried to explain why it was a big mess and said it really did all fit but that was a no-go. That is where I lost it. I was out in the hall outside of the plane cramming my stuff back into my bag. I had some speck of thought that the plane would still leave me while I was standing right next to it. Andrew came and was nice enough to help and put some stuff in his laptop case. We don’t have to like each other but we still love each other. I then boarded the plane while giving a flight attendant a nasty look and showing him my TWO  Our seats had been next to each other but a couple wanted to sit by one another so Andrew sat in a different seat, which was probably good. Unfortunately, on the plane I lost my bearings and began to cry for the fourth time. Why? I do not know. I was on the plane heading to Spokane. All was well. My eyes turned to fountains. BLASTED! I freaking hate crying. Yes, hate is a strong word. Not only do I hate it, I entirely loathe it. The lady felt bad for taking his seat but I turned to her and said “Its ok, he is my cousin and I did NOT want to sit next to him.” Our 50 minute flight was a breeze compared to the rest of our trip and we landed in Spokane, Washington with my dad, mom, and aunty Deb outside the gate with their cameras. Once the hugs were exchanged Andrew gave me a hand-hug. All was well.

Fugitive Diaries: Day 12 & 13

I awoke in a room and not a train compartment. Bliss…Minus the fact that I woke up at 5:00 a.m. I was able to fall asleep for a short while longer but that didn’t last long. I knew Andrew wouldn’t even begin to stir until noon. Luckily, there were about a zillion movies which were alphabetically organized calling my name. It just so happens that I had previous knowledge of this little collection of movies and was quite excited to veg. All it took was tiptoeing through the kitchen to the door, opening the door, through the hall, another door, and BAM, there was the living room. Right when I walked through the arch way I looked to my left and the name Doris Day caught my attention. Old movies, splendid. Those movies consumed my morning. A picnic had been placed into the agenda for the evening which was accompanied by a bike ride. I had noticed that my glutemous maximus was a little tender.  The moment I sat down on the bike seat everything clicked. Blasted bikes from the previous day! Enough to say, the buns were soar. We went on a short ride to a location by a creek surrounded by trees and dirt roads. The one food product I had consumed the most was dill pickles. Not just any pickles, but Vlasic dill pickles. Yes, Sam. I thought of you the entire time.  We enjoyed our little picnic and packed up to return to the apartment. We were on bikes with baskets… which automatically triggers thoughts of the Sound of Music. A few bars were hummed and Andrew and I got to racing. Weird. We know. He was ahead of me and wouldn’t let me pass. Weird again. For a nano-second he wasn’t paying attention so I thought I would seize that opportunity. Unfortunately, he snapped back into reality and tried to cut me off. Keep in mind that we are on a dirt road. I had to swerve to the right so our tires wouldn’t collide. My tires skidded in the dirt and I ate it hard core in the field to the right of us. There was zero grace in this wreck. Zip. Zero. Nada. Ouch. The only positive thing that came out of this “accident” was that Andrew actually felt sorry and apologized. Whoa baby! An apology. Haha. Sucker. I probably should have been mad… but I wasn’t. Mildly torked…but not mad. At least my wounds drew blood. Battle wounds. I told him a little quote about payback in which he accepted. This payback has yet to be executed.. but the opportunity will present it self in the near future… We had extra bread in which we fed the mallards. Top favorite things to do: Feed Ducks. Why? I haven’t the faintest idea… I just enjoy it. When we got back, Kelley was a nurse and doctored my “owies.” I was a big girl and didn’t cry. I was rewarded with a gummy candy. Yes. I later did discover a bruise the size of Alabama on my thigh. Fantastic….

The next morning was basically a déjà vu of the previously morning…. Including Ms. Day and Mr. Hudson. Such a shame he is gay because he is SMOKIN. Quite unfortunate. I also observed dozens of photo albums within the book shelves. What is the purpose of photo albums if they are not looked at? Nothing. So I thought I would give them some attention. Chuckles. I love pictures.  Instead of a picnic, the consummation of ice cream and Italian food took place. Not any old Italian food, but the best calzone in the entire world! Before the calzone was ordered and digested, we played miniature golf. I have never, ever played mini-golf in my life. I normally despise participating in activities in which I am not good at. But even though I was quite horrible, it was actually fun. I did cheat once. Shhhh. The best part was watching Kelley beat Andrew. Muah ah ah ah ah. Later that night I had realized that I did not know anything about our flight from Seattle to Spokane since my mom had purchased the ticket. I gave her a little jingle and she sent me our itinerary. She demanded that I print it out and have it with me. I obeyed and did exactly what she told me to do. Gold star to me. Kelley was taking us to the airport the next day. No more trains, sweet. I had thought our flight left at 12:45. Wrong-o! Good thing I checked or else we really would have been super, super fugitives. That was our final night in Germany. On our journey from Greece to Germany, Drew and I were quite ready to return home to Whitman County life. But being back in Germany once again revived the feelings of not wanting to leave.

Fugitive Diaries: Day 11

Familiarity. The Muchen Bahnhof. Many memories were made here which I will never forget. Thank the Lord we made it in one piece. A multitude of problems could have occurred on our trip, in which they did not. And for that, I thank God. At that point, we only had to travel a short distance to Amberg, where I would fully be relieved. But, in the meantime, we had to purchase our tickets. We had 40 minutes until our train left. Perfect timing. We boarded a typical German train and re-traced our steps back through Regensburg and forward on to Amberg. The ticket we bought was the Bayern pass, which was the only ticket we had ever purchased for traveling within Bavaria. As the lady came around checking tickets, she brought to our attention that this ticket was no good. Blasted! We have heard this response before. I had completely forgotten that the ticket would not be effective until 9:00 a.m. She made us buy separate one-way tickets to Amberg which were quite pricy. To tell you the honest truth, I could have really cared less because I was so thrilled we were almost to our final destination. But Andrew was TORKED. We all know how Andrew’s moods go and it was a high degree. His moods are a zillion times worse than mine. He has anger issues. I at least try to be slightly courteous to others when I am in a mood. I become even more sarcastic than I already am. But oh man. I did not want to become an accelerant to his anger so I excused myself to use the restroom and returned at my own leisure. If that was the worst thing that had happened to us on our little jaunt south and back north, I was a-o-k with that. We went through Regensburg where Andrew and I both longingly stared out of the window at the station which we departed the train countless times. Regensburg had become our home, our group had become our family, and “Old School Sista” had become our Guardian Angel. Andrew really wanted to stop there or at least go back within the next couple of days. To be blunt, I did not. I knew it was never going to be the same and I wasn’t about to pretend that it would be. I did not want to re-visit the sadness of our last day, which would continue to haunt me. I developed a particular feeling in the pit of my stomach which is unsettling. As the train began to slowly accelerate toward Amberg, my heartbreak remained but a blanket of relief slowly sheathed me. Amberg. As Andrew and I would quote from Dumb and Dumber.. “We’re there!” 

We entered the station and slumped onto the bench. I hadn’t showered in 3-4 days, I was famished, and tired.. but I didn’t care because “WE WERE THERE!!” I looked straight forward and it was a sign from God: R-O-O-T-B-E-E-R. I couldn’t believe it. I marched my hiney straight into that store and bought myself a can. I noticed some computers and I figured I should probably check my e-mail to see if Kelley had said anything. German keyboards are stupid. At one point, I accidentally turned on the caps locks and hadn’t the faintest idea on how to take if off. I felt like an idiot. I finally resulted in beckoning Andrew for his help. I felt like I was just learning how to type. I had my two pointer fingers erected with the rest of my fingers formed in a fist. I stared at the keyboard and was searching for the letters and symbol I needed… typing at a record speed of 5 words per minutes. I not only felt like an idiot, but I looked like one too. I got the information I needed and let Andrew have his turn. I bee-lined for my seat at our bench and it wasn’t 2 seconds before Andrew came out asking where the “@” was. Chuckles.  I called Kelley and no answer. Andrew then whipped out his computer to play Free Cell and I retrieved my book for its second time through. It wasn’t after I had read a dozen pages and whhabang! Kelley appeared out of thin air. I just stared blankly at her because #1 I had never gotten a hold of her to tell her we arrived and 2. I hadn’t seen a person I recognized in ages. Yah! She then took us to her homey apartment where I took a shower and she made us a feast of FRENCH TOAST. Yes. I said French Toast! Not only French toast, but bacon, eggs, strawberries AND Nesquik chocolate milk (Which is the second next best thing next to Rootbeer). Holy Moly. We felt like royalty and ate like champs. We were basically exhausted and to top it off, now full. Andrew and I picked a movie to watch and got comfortable. I am notorious for falling asleep during movies and this situation wasn’t any different. I watched about 2 minutes of the movie before my eye lids fell down in exhaustion. Later that afternoon, we were introduced to Arthur and Emma (2 of the neighbor kids), rode bikes, played FIRE, and visited the coolest playground EVER. I haven’t ridden a bike in eons. I had a popsicle in one hand while attempting to steer with the other. I was getting awfully close to the fence and out of habit I started to peddle backwards because we were moving slowly. Well.. I had not yet discovered that peddling backwards is the brake. Wham! Fence! Whoopsie. Nicole apparently cannot ride a bike anymore. Chuckles. It was funny. 

I now must explain this game “FIRE”. From what I am told, this ridiculous game is derived straight from the imaginations of Kelley and her sister when they were children. You are riding a bike. Once a car comes, you need to maneuver your bike to a fence, hold onto the fence with one hand, stretch your other arm toward the sky, and stick your feet straight out. Other than your buns, no body part can touch the bike. If any part of your body is touching the bike while the car passes, you get burned… hence the name “FIRE.” Strike 1. 3 strikes and you are out! I do not know why, but for some reason putting my body in that position gives me a cramp in my hips!! Pain. But it entertained us for quite some time. And at this playground, Andrew and I had the same, if not more fun than the kids did. Emma and I took off our shoes and played in the water while Arthur and Andrew scooped dirt. And then at another stop, there was this giant pyramid shaped structure that is strung together. You are able to climb from the top and throughout this jungle gym, they have small platforms which resemble miniature trampolines. F.U.N. Shortly after return, we ate some BBQ at Orr Central with Jerry. Mmmm. BBQ & French Toast in the same day. My stomach was about to explode. The rest of the night was filled with relaxation and eventually sleep. The sleep part was exciting because I was in a bed where I didn’t have to worry about anyone jacking my stuff. Sweet dreams were sure to come.

Fugitive Diaries: Day 10 Part II

As the clock was ticking, my stomach was grumbling. I hadn’t eaten a meal in 2 whole days. Thankfully, they had an Italian restaurant which was open. Italian in Croatia? Why not. We still had some time to kill, so a stroll around Zagreb was in order. It looked like an interesting city. There was a beautiful fountain with locals seated on the benches yapping away. I popped a squat next to the others. I had brought my laptop to search for Wi-Fi so I could text the parents that I had not been abducted by Serbian guards and sold into human trafficking or anything of that sort. My mother was a little weary of our current situation so this text was a priority. One problem. My computer was about to die. Thankfully, I was able to connect quickly and shoot off a message. Our time there had come to an end and it was time to board our train. At this point we were down right giddy. Germany was oh so close… and yet so far away. We were not quite the early birds and the train had filled up quickly. As we were looking for an empty compartment, a train attendant, who most likely thought that we were married, opened up a locked compartment for us. Yah! Our own compartment to sprawl out in. AND this train was a German train. Hallelujah! Equipped with plug-ins!! We were so sleep deprived that we probably looked like children on Christmas morning. Now I can watch the Office all the way to Germany! This was quite the treat. We got settled in and awaited for the train to start rolling west. 

We still had to go through Slovenia, Austria, and then Germany. At this point, I did not know that Slovenia was in the European Union. Remember, we are fugitives here. I thought we had to go through two more check points until we were home free. Routinely, the guards came to our compartment and requested for a little looksie at our passports. The guard peered at Andrew’s and then my turn arrived. He had an indiscernible look upon his face, which made me nervous. He kept flipping through my pages and inquired my destination. I politely told him that we were going to Munich to fly home. Blasted volcano *cough* *cough*. He then stepped aside and called in all of the information with my passport pages and all of the stamps I had acquired throughout the past couple days… which was like 12. Mildly suspicious.  Holy moly. He was a pleasant guard.. but looks can be deceiving. You would not have been able to tell by my demeanor, but inside my mind I was flipping out. My mind was racing. What if they weren’t going to let me in? Where would I go? It was late at night! I would have to sleep at the train station with the bums. I would become a bum! Would I get thrown into prison? As these thoughts came and went, the guard returned my passport back and moved along to the next compartment. I sighed with relief and gave Andrew a look of “What the heck was that?!?” They didn’t check his passport. Only mine! What is this? I still thought we had to go through another process of “passport checking” to get into the European Union and became quite worried. I did not want to go through that again. What I did not know was that Slovenia was in the European Union. Wish I had known that little tid-bit beforehand.  Drew and I watched a couple episodes of the Office but he became sleepy and nestled onto his chairs and fell into a state of slumber. I, on the other hand, was very anxious and watched some more of the Office. At one point, I thought a guard was coming to check our passports so I quickly awoke Andrew and we were prepared for the next round. But turns out those were not the man’s intentions and he never came to our current abode. Whoops. My bad Drew. Back to sleep for him. I felt fairly safe and figured I should make attempt at some shut eye. We would arrive at Munich at 6:00 a.m. I fell into a light asleep and woke up to the train stopping at the Munich train station. I was perplexed at the fact that we were never asked for our passports…. But I didn’t care. We were in Germany and that was all that mattered. As we disembarked, multiple layers of anxiety shed away. We were finally in Germany. Next step, the U S of A.

Fugitive Diaries: Day 9 Part 2: Day 10 Part 1.

Our presence in Delphi was protected, but once we left we were vulnerable. Once we made it to Thessaloniki, our system was almost infiltrated. We were able to seclude ourselves to our hotel room until we were able to depart on our train. Obviously, the 2 options we had were going through Albania or through the Balkan states. Human traffickers or communists? I’m going to have to go with communists on this one. We bought 2 one-way tickets to Belgrade, Serbia. Upon boarding our train, I was able to install surveillance cameras. This gave us ears and eyes on the inside. As we first crossed the border, the guard who was fully loaded, came and took our passports. He informed us which police station we were able to retrieve them and exited quickly. Our passports passed through many hands and ended in the expert's hands who were searching for any type of fallacy within our information. Our identities were rock solid. We sat and waited in our compartments for many hours before a guard graced us with his presence again. We were then given detailed paperwork in which we were demanded to complete. Without it, the train would not depart. In the middle of this paperwork, we were summoned to repossess our passports. As we picked them up, looks of failure and resentment were given to us by the expert. We returned to our compartment and witnessed our baggage being riffled through and dogs were brought in to search for illegal substances. We were clean and they had no choice but to let us on our way. Next stop, Belgrade, Serbia.

Just because our train began to move, did not mean the scary men with big guns would not return. As we exited and entered countries, guards came in and out demanding our passports and we repeatedly filled out paperwork. We passed through many little villages that had abandoned and rusted buildings. There were little dirt roads that ran parallel to the train tracks. Carts being pulled by mules was not irregular to see. Minus the abandoned, graffitied, and rusted structures, it was beautiful countryside. Flooding season was apparent by the overflowing rivers and small lakes that increased the waterline to the midriff of the trees. Just like Greece, it was very green. As the sun began to set, our view of the countryside began to subside and our eyes began to become weary. Sleep was not possible for many reasons. #1. There was no way I was not going to be coherent on this train. Who knows who would barge into our compartment and I wanted to stay alert. #2. Guard were constantly returning which inhibited slumber. #3. The heater. All through the day, it was comfortable temperature throughout the train. Only God knows why they decided to crank the heat. We have a temperature controller in our space, but it did not work. Weird. We were sweating profusely. If we opened the window, the blasting noise of the wheels on the tracks would blow our ear drums. But if it was kept closed, we would die of heat exhaustion. Decisions decisions. It was miserable. I had set my alarm for 5:00 because we were suppose to arrive in Belgrade at 6:00. I laid down but was unable to fully fall asleep. My alarm sounded and I gathered all of my belongings and waited. 6 came and went. 7 came and went. 8 came. We had no idea where we were or when we were suppose to arrive. Andrew went out into the train multiple times to try and find someone who might know. Failure. Nobody was around. We had pretty good attitudes the day before but now we were tired, hungry, hot, and annoyed. As we passed these minute train stations, no signs were present. I was worried we either passed Belgrade or we were supposed to get off somewhere and we didn’t know. It would not have surprised if we were not informed of such steps. Silence. Andrew was awake so I felt slightly comfortable to take a little snooze. Our train kept stopping out in the middle of no where for long periods of time. We were not happy campers. As we were discussing our situation, we decided there was no way we went through Belgrade because it is one of the largest cities and compared to the little abandoned villages, we knew we didn’t pass it. Then the possibility that we were to arrive at 6:00 at night instead of the morning arose. This possibility was valid, but worsened our moods. FINALLY we could see a city in the distance. As we got closer, we were able to decipher “Belgrade” on some trains and buildings. HALLELUJAH! 17 hours later, we were in Belgrade.

Once we exited the train, we headed directly to the ticket counter to purchase our tickets for Germany. As we approached, we observed this German man who was ahead of us in line. He asked for a ticket to Munich and was getting the details from the lady. He asked how much it was and she responded 11,000. “EUROS!” he exclaimed. “No, no, no. Dinars.” Phew. I almost had a heart attack when she gave that estimate. “Next.” It was our turn. As we were buying our tickets, she told us out train left at 10:40. According to our watches, it was well after 10:40. “What?” Andrew asked. “Tonight?” “No, this morning” she responded. Confusion. It dawned on me that there must have been a time change. Ooohhh. We had 20 minutes until our next train departed. I had to use the lady’s room where I had my first experience of peeing in a hole in the ground. I can check that off my list of things I wanted to do…. Not. I then hurried to meet Andrew and bought some eats at the store then got on our new train. As I was searching for an empty compartment, I saw one with a girl who I recognized from the train station. I decided to sit with her which turned out to be a pleasant couple of hours. We also had a Serbian man who was around 30 join us. Jess, the girl, was from Australia but she had been living in Bulgaria for several months. The 4 of us discussed politics and the Serbian gave us his view and short history of Serbia. Very interesting. Unfortunately, he was only going to the next little village, but Jess rode to Zagreb, Croatia with us. We still had scary men come in and ask for our passports, but it was not quite as intimidating because this train was WAY better than our previous one. Once we crossed into Croatia, I could observe that Croatia was more normal than Serbia. Houses were erect with people present and children playing in yards. Not everything was broken and there seemed to be civilization. Layers of stressed seemed to be shedding off the closer we got to Germany. We arrived in Zagreb later that evening and had a couple of hours until our next train, which I might add, took us directly to Munich! Yah!!! I was very anxious to get back to Germany. As Andrew and I were sitting, a man came up and asked us if we spoke English. Turns out he was from the States as well and commented on our politeness and manners. Hmm, I did not we were exhibiting such qualities but I guess we’ll take what we can get! We chatted with him for a while before he had to take off. We still had an hour before our next train would depart… the clock was ticking.

Fugitive Diaries: Day 9 Part I

We awoke in our rundown hotel room hustled our bustles to get to the train station. We had tried to look for train schedules online but there was nothing to be found. We arrived at the train station and went directly to the international ticket counter. The problem was that the seat behind counter was currently absent. There happened to be this man who I would estimate to be in his late fifties early sixties, with long gray hair in a ponytail, tan weathered face, and a sweet cane/walking stick, came up to me and asked me where I was from. Turns out at one point in his life, he had lived in Leavenworth, Washington! He had been traveling around Europe for a very long time and was trying to get to Albania to take a ferry to Italy to get to Greece. Andrew had gone to information and they summoned an attendant to issue our tickets. We let this gentlemen go before us and he asked how to get to Albania. Very bluntly, she informed him that NO trains go to Albania, but he could take a bus. Albania is full of drug lords and human traffickers. No one in their right mind would want to go there, but apparently he did. After he got the information he wanted it was our turn. "Umm… we need to get to Germany". The ticket lady with her thick Greece accent, “No.” “Farthest you can go is to Belgrade, then you buy new ticket to Germany.” Andrew and I looked at each other and just shrugged our shoulders, “Perfect. 2 please.” As she is penning our tickets, we look at each other for the second time and both ask the question, “Where is Belgrade?” We were both pretty sure that it was in Serbia but I wouldn’t have exactly bet my life on it. I then asked her what time we would be arriving in Belgrade and she said 6. Our train left at 5 so we had a couple of hours to kill.



We then sat at a tall table and I pulled our my Europe map of railways I keep in my bag. Correctamungo ---- Belgrade is in Serbia. Gold star in geography for Nicole and Andrew. Yessss. After about an hour or so we got quite bored. I decided to make up a game. It was a contest with only 1 goal --- Eye contact. The person who makes eye contact with the most people won. Oh man, this game was hilarious…. And slightly awkward. Once I got tired at staring at strangers we had discovered that Goody’s, a fast food chain in the train station, had free wi-fi. Which was quite handy… except for when our computers died. I was able to find some outlets at another table so we migrated there.



I might add in that prior to this, we did not know where in Germany we were going. We thought about staying in Munich or Regensburg, but had never made a final decision. Kelley offered her humble abode which I voted for. Andrew didn't really care so that was our new plan. At this point in our trip, I was quite relieved for 3 reasons. #1. We were going back to Germany. #2. Once we got back to Germany, we were heading back to the States. #3. The time we would have to wait to get to the states, we would be staying somewhere normal with someone I knew, which alleviated loads of anxiety. Phew. I really do enjoying staying in hostels and meeting new people, but it can get exhausting.



After we had settled into our new location, I spent my time of reading the news, facebook stalking people, and getting in touch with the parentals to tell them our plan so they would know we were not dead… yet. The time came for us to board our train. These were not the kind of trains we had ridden in Germany. Theses were old school trains, graffitied and rusted. While walking down the narrow hallway on the right while searching for an empty compartment on the left, I became very aware of my surroundings and felt very uneasy. Andrew and I were able to successfully take over a whole compartment to ourselves and spread out our stuff so no one would sit with us. There were 3 seats on both sides of the compartment and Andrew sat on the far left on the right side, and I sat on the middle seat on the right side. These seats were made of faded, dirtied maroon fabric. Just like our carpet at the hotel in Thessaloniki, these seats had questionable stains on the fabric. The walls were pealing and rusting. We had a single garbage attached to the wall that I didn’t even want to touch to open it. Home sweet home for the next 13 hours. On the walls were pictures in plastic cases of destinations in the Balkans. Belgrade just so happened to be the destination in the right case. But it was not Belgrade, Serbia. It was Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Wow. They are about 10 years out of date. When the train first took off, Drew and I looked at each other and started to discuss Serbia. To be quite honest, the only thing we really knew about Serbia was Milosevic. A war criminal who practiced genocidal techniques. Not quite positive thoughts of Serbia. It had been only a decade since NATO had bombed them. Yah!



As we crossed the line into Macedonia, an officer came and ripped open our door demanding our passports. As we handed them to him, he informed, in his thick accent, that we could pick them up at the police station. I was in utter shock that I could not quite get out the words to ask him where this “police station” was. When traveling, your passport was your identity and I was NOT comfortable with this man taking my identity. I could just imagine them looking at our record and seeing that we were in Europe for longer than the law said we could But it was not like these countries were in the European Union so I did not know what would happen. My life did flash before my eyes and a scene appeared in which Andrew and I were in interrogation rooms, being yelled at with spit falling upon our faces, and being squeezed for answers. Answers to what I am not sure... just answers. After traveling at the 10 MPH this train seemed to cruise at, we stopped in a small location and guards could be viewed from the right side of the train. We had been parked there for about 30 minutes and we started to become anxious. What in the world were we doing? I could see people getting on and off the train, which is quite unusual. I then walked out of our compartment and looked at the window. Police Station. Andrew and I then ran out of the train to go retrieve our passports. The lady who was returning them was handing them out by country. There happened to be three Americans on this train and Andrew and I took up 2 of those slots. She tried to give us the third passport and I tried to explain that we didn’t know who that person was. She didn’t understand. Finally we just shook our heads and walked away. I figured she would figure it out. We then got back on our train and hid in our compartment. Once again, out door slid open and we were presented with paperwork we needed to fill out. Once this was done, the guard came back to pick them up and then pointed at Andrew and then the outside of his compartment. I was next. Once we were aligned outside of our door with the rest of the passengers on the train, several other guards brought a dog into every room to sniff for what I would guess to be drugs. Sketch. That is one of the most uncomfortable situations I have ever been in my life. My padre had always told me his stories from Russia and that was all I could think about. GGGrrreat. Whenever I am in an airport or any high security place, I always think about those movies where a criminal slips something in someone’s bag or luggage to smuggle it across boundaries. As the dog came into our compartment, I was sooo nervous because somehow I knew that I would be that person where someone had put something in my bag. Thankfully this was not the case and the puppy dog did not find anything. Stupid movies, implanting fake scenarios into my head. As the guards passed through us another passenger pointed at us and then back at the compartment signaling that we could go back in. After about another hour or so, our train finally began to move once again

Fugitive Diaries: Day 8

Day 8’s mission. Get to Thessaloniki. We woke up and headed to the bus station which was closed. Every time we go to that blasted station it is either closed, or it is open and no one is there! But they did have a schedule on the window which informed us that our bus left at 15:15. Fabulous. That meant we had 5 hours to kill. We went to our regular café and spent some time there. Then I just went to a bench overlooking the Gulf, “people watched”, ate the biggest donut of my life, and read my book. At one point, I jumped off a wall onto a stone bench where I almost landed on a snake! I screamed bloody murder. Andrew was still at the café so only the storekeepers heard me. I flipping despise snakes. Thankfully it just slithered away in a crack between the bench and the wall. I am pretty sure that I did feel my heart skip a beat. Note to self: look before I jump. As 15:00 got closer, we decided to re-locate closer to the bus station. We bought some popsicles because it was super duper hot outside, and a Lamborghini pulled up. Whoa baby! Look at that thing. Then a man in a fancy suit strolled out with his stylin sunglasses. Andrew: He is SOO a leader of the Mob. We then continued to make up this big extravagant story about this unknown character as he made his rounds through the restaurants. As this story continued on, a man who works at the bus station finally came and sold us our tickets. Saweet. Finally got our tickets. I then went to throw away my popsicle wrapper away (and I got a tattoo with it!... YES!!!) and returned to my previous spot. I looked at Andrew and the ticket in his hand and I almost had another heart attack… WHERE IS MY TICKET! My brain was processing in incalculable rates. I then realized I threw my ticket away with my wrappers.... crap! I ran across the street to dig through the rubbish to find my ticket. Phew. Andrew just looked at me with an “I can’t believe you just did that” look. Hey! At least I remembered where I put it! Chuckles. Our bus then came and the ticket master told me a town where we had to make a transfer. Okie dokie. We were on the bus, step 1 down.


We had no idea how long this bus ride was but we learned from a nice Greek man that it would take more than 5 hours. Time to get comfy. Once again the Greek landscape was spectacular. Andrew listened to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack while I listened to Mamma Mia. There were multiple stops along the way and one seemed to be running long so Andrew decided to go and grab some food real fast. I had a Jeff de’ja’vu in Regensburg on the way to Nuremberg. As he was in the store many different scenarios were running through my mind and I was trying to decide what I would do it the bus left him. As the bus driver boarded the bus and started the engine, Andrew came sprinting like a mad man out of the store and onto the bus right before the door closed. Phew. I gave him a look to which he had no response for. 2 words: Close Call. With the food he had purchased, he also bought a bottle of milk. Andrew loves milk and can pound it like no other. He twisted off the cap and had the expression of a little kid with a lollipop. He took one giant swig and his face spread with pain. This is yogurt! It looks like milk.. but it does NOT taste or smell like it. In small words in English, it says fermented milk. Fermented milk?! Who does that? He was really torked and it was hilarious. We then were stuck in some sort of traffic and didn’t get into Thessaloniki until between 22:00-23:00. Hmmm. Alright. Well I had an address of a hotel that I found on the internet that was really close to the train station, so we got a cab and headed toward there.

The Rex, with its neon lights flashing on what looked to be an abandoned building, our hotel. It was one of those things that really wasn’t funny at all.. but you had to laugh. We decided it looked like a disguised brothel. We walked in the entrance to a shabby looking office where the man gave us our room key. We were already scared. We rode the elevator up to the third floor and entered our room…302. By far, the worst place we have EVER stayed in. I wouldn’t say I was legitimately scared… but definitely uneasy. Andrew and I then decided to make some videos of our sketch hotel room and went to check out the bathrooms and shower. I decided that hell would freeze over before I took a shower there. I wouldn’t even touch the floor without my shoes on and made seldom movements. There were some unidentified substances on the carpet, and I would prefer them to be unidentified. Like most of the hostels/hotels in Greece, we had a tv where we watched part of the Green Mile. But it was too serious so we broke out The Office. I have officially become addicted to that show. I had always watched it after Bones, but was never watched it religiously. Before we went to sleep, I decided to barricade the door with chairs and other objects so if an intruder was to break in, at least I would hear him. Haha. Andrew just shook his head at me. It was time for bed in which I slept horribly. The next morning’s agenda was to head to the train station to on our first leg to get back to Germany!

Yes, I was scared. Chuckles.

We knew that we had been safe in Delphi because "they" did not know where we were located. If anyone wants to leave Greece by train, they must go to Thessaloniki so we had to be prepared for any encounters that lay in our future. We made some contacts with the Mob Man in Delphi. He gave us some contacts through Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia  just in case we needed reinforcements, he ensured us our safety. We'll see if he will follow through with his promises.

Fugitive Diaries: Day 7

We once again woke up in our comfortable little hotel room to a morning of sunshine. Our plan for the day was to see the ruins of Apollo and Athena. We started the short walk to the ruins from our hotel room and ended at our destination: the Sanctuary of Apollo. While taking in these ruins and observing all of the treasuries, the only thing I could think of is how so many people dedicated their lives to the wrong god(s); effort, money, and sacrifice were given to these frauds. It was quite a dismal thought. There was a Greek tour guide with a Texas Longhorns had that was giving a tour to 2 oldish Americans. Since we did not have a tour guide, we decided to talk this small group and listen in. I think they might have become suspicious... but they never said anything. Just as we were beginning to leave, a hoard or tourists just began to flood the entrance. Thank God we missed those people! We left just in the nick of time.

Fanny Pack! & Matching Chinese Tourists

But while walking to the Sanctuary of Athena, we passed a little store that said they had hamburgers. Andrew was excited and wanted to eat there on the way back, I didn’t really care what we are so I was game. On the way back, we stopped at the restaurant but no hamburgers. One thing we have learned in Greece, SIGNS LIE. It is SOOO disappointing. Instead we just ate a sandwich and Andrew bought a 3 Euro tiny glass of orange juice. Chuckles, sucker. On the way back we passed this giant store where the only product they have is slushies! Slushies, slushies everywhere! All sorts of flavors of yummy goodness. Just the sight of them convinced me. Once I purchased my mango slushy, I looked and there was a peach slushy with champagne! I was SOOO mad that I had missed that one! I almost wanted to buy another one but they were a little on the pricy side so I didn’t. But I did grumble about it for the next ten minutes. We then decided to do a little souvenir shopping. In one store, there were these 2 old men who owned it and they would stand behind you and read everything that is on the product outloud. Thank you very much for reading that because I was incapable! One of the funniest times was when I was looking at a shirt and he ripped it out of my hand and pointed to the tag, “Made in Greece and NOT China!” Chuckles, it was hilarious. Andrew and I split off and were going to meet at our hotel. As I was walking down the street all of these people kept saying hi to me, which I thought was kind of strange. Finally one young gentleman was standing outside his store and said, “Do you know why everyone is saying hi to you?” My response was, “Ummm. No.” With a big smile on his face, “Because you’re cute!” With a nervous smile I chuckled and said thanks and bee-lined for our hotel. Stupid freaking Andrew, where is my husband when I need him. I mean that’s mildly flattering and all but I guess I’m not very good at accepting those complements. Once Andrew got back we went out to a local shop and ate some gyros and watched many episodes of the Office. Tomorrow = Thessaloniki!

Fugitive Diaries: Day 6

View from our balcony in the morning light

I awoke with the sense of being refreshed and ready for the day. I spent some time out in our balcony eating my Honey Nut Cheerios and taking in the view. It was a little chilly outside so I decided to wear pants. They felt foreign because I had been wearing shorts everyday. It took me a while to get Andrew up, but he eventually began to stir. We set out with the an objective of seeing the ruins. Andrew wanted to see the Throne of Apollo which was quite a hike. Delphi is a little tiny village which reminded me of Cinque Terre. It is terraced on a cliffside which gives a climber a workout! We first began to ascend the stairs and I already felt the burn. Talk about out of shape, phew! We decided that we should probably start stretching. We got higher and higher until all that was in front of us was a mountain. Not entirely a mountain, more so the foothills of mountains. They had paths cut out in the soil which we began to follow. We saw a tree and guessed that it was a date tree. Wrong-o! It was an almond tree. These nuts would be a pain to get out of their shells! I will no longer why they are so expensive. Note to self: not ripe almonds DO NOT taste very good.

Almonds

I haven't tied my sweatshirt around my waist since I was 10.

Sanctuary of Athena

We continued on our path to reach a gate that was locked. The normal response would be to turn around. No, no, no not Andrew. His response, “Well, its only about 6 feet tall.” No way Jose! Delphi has been going smoothly and I do not want to mess up our mojo. Locks don’t stop Andrew! We did see a trail that went upwards so we decided to take that and see where it leads. It was quite a hike but we were able to see some fantastic scenery. As we began to climb the cliffside, a spectacular view of the Gulf of Corinth came into sight. Thousands of twisted olive trees could be seen for as far as the eye could see. As the distance between us and Delphi grew, the only thing we could here was the buzzing of the bees. And oh man, these were everywhere. Not the scary hornets, but the friendly honey and bumblebees! We also came across a couple foundations of what we suspect to be houses. We doubt that they could be that ancient.

It was nice to be able to go at our pace and stop and observe our surroundings. We also were able to see a bird’s eye view of the Sanctuary of Apollo. We had not quite anticipated the degree of the hike we were taking, and I had only brought my water bottle. Talk about being parched. We kept passing water cisterns in which Andrew was trying to break into but came out being thirstier than he was in the first place. While he did this I laid down and took a little nap. Everyday this past week I have taken a nap and I can honesty say that I have grown accustomed to this habit. It is very soothing and relaxing to lay outside and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.

We kept hiking up but had no idea what our destination was. We had climbed over the first foothill and kept on going. We ended up at some rural Greek farm. Andrew kept commenting on how he felt like Frodo. The first thing he is going to do when we get home is watch Return of the King. Chuckles. What a nerd. We were growing tired and decided to turn around. On our way down we saw another turtle! Turtle hunting! This little guy was way more playful than the one we saw in Athens. After some time we eventually made it back to Delphi. By this time it was well after 17:00 so we went back to our hostel, got cleaned up, and went to a café for some homemade ice-cream! I felt like I earned 2 scoops because I just burned a bagillion calories on our multi-kilometer hike. We then went to the supermarket to buy some more milk to finish off our cheerios and peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches. We once again ate on our little balcony and proceeded to watch So I Married an Ax Murder. Tomorrow’s agenda entails touring the Sanctuary of Apollo & Athena.

Luckily we had no encounter with our adversaries. Fortunately, they are not quite in the athletic shape that we are in, and were unable to trail us up the mountain. Our guard has not been let down and we are ready for any enemies we might stumble across in the near future.

Our updated plans are to head to Thessaloniki on Friday with the hopes of catching a train on Saturday to Germany! The airports are expected to be up and running on Thursday, but there are loads of pepole who are trying to get flights. Therefore, we opt to take the train. Plus Athens is crazy and I don't want to have to deal with that. Not sure exactly where we are going or staying once we get to Germany, but as long as we are in that country I will be at ease!