Juggling January
This month I figured it would be nice to highlight an event that happened to me while I was traveling in Europe. An event that shows the ‘ugly’ side of traveling. Don’t get me wrong, traveling is amazing and so rewarding, but not always is it rainbows and butterflies. This event was one that pushed me to my limit, but overcoming it made me much stronger as a person.
It began sometime in October when I left Germany to go to Scotland for a week. I left my travel partner back in Germany and it wasn’t until after I had already bought my roundtrip ticket that we decided it would be best to meet back up in Belgium so that we could fly to Lithuania for our work there. At the airport in Glasgow, everything seemed fine. I had booked a bus to pick me up from Frankfurt & would supposedly take me all the way to Brussels. Being exhausted after the plane ride & incredibly hungry, I walk outside the airport in Germany to wait for my bus.
Ten minutes went by, then thirty, then an hour passed — then two. I sat outside with other bewildered passengers just waiting on this bus to arrive. At this point, I was still trying my best to be optimistic. Things happen, people run late, it wasn’t a big deal. But then came the time when we had to transfer buses. This was something I wasn’t aware was going to be needed. The weather outside had worsened and it had been raining steadily for nearly the entire drive. When the bus dropped us off at the transfer station, I had been traveling for almost 16 hours without sleep. I stood outside in the pouring rain with my backpack and rain cover just praying that the bus would come quickly. But, with my luck (and perhaps bad karma?) I stood again for hours on end waiting for my bus to Brussels.
I remember so specifically standing outside in the cold rain and just crying. I was alone, I was wet, I was cold, I was hungry. All I wanted was the warmth of a bed that I no longer had. After waiting for this bus, I really considered going home to my family in Korea. It was so difficult for me to not be disappointed and discouraged about the entire situaiton. Eventually, of course, the bus did come. It dropped me off at the train station at 2 AM in Brussels so that I could take the train to the airport. However, the doors to the station didn’t open until 4 AM, so again I had to wait. Without a phone or any ways to contact my friend without Wifi, I had to assume that he would be able to meet me at the airport with no problems.
In the end, everything worked out & I’m so glad that they did. I was lucky enough to somehow find the strength and willpower to carry on. Looking back, I’m glad that I had this experience because it opened my eyes on a lot of the aspects of traveling. I wouldn’t be sitting in my hostel room in Thailand right now, appreciating the humidity and slow rainfall if I hadn’t persevered through those hours in Europe. You can’t have a rainbow without the rain.
