first timer here…. traveling to Europe that is. i left on 10/19/23 with a one-way ticket. freshly free of some shackles and with the new ability to actually work from anywhere, and vacation at the same time — it couldnt not have happened at a better time. it was to be a direct flight from SNA to Atlanta via Delta with an hour layover, and then straight to Dublin via Air France. how long i was going to be gone was unknown — this trip was out of the blue and not planned. all i knew was that i had to find me again, and i just needed to get the fuxk out of where i had been — rock bottom. ill probably get into that later with my ramblings, and perhaps journal enough to write a book on my life — but for now, people just want to hear about and look at all the pictures from my trip.
a little interlude if you will.. to set the scene…
i bought my one-way aeroplane ticket on 9/21/23 for $540. after i purchased my ticket, i was informed that i should check my passport to make sure it didnt expire within 3months of travel due to the fact that some countries may not let you in. fuxk me — i check my passport and it expires 11/11/23. story of my life. i am a professional procrastinator. i start looking up online how to get an expedited passport. go to the California passport site — and they state it takes 10-12 weeks normally to receive. i shit myself. i come across fedex using a 3rd party and they say 4-6 weeks and itll cost $450. then i read the reviews about going this route — the reviews are terrible — “waste of money” “didnt get my passport in time” “all they do is send a person to the local passport facility and do the process for you — its not magic”. well — the last comment got my hamster rolling along in his wheel. i wait a week — to decide if im just gonna eat the cost of the plane ticket and try again later when i have my shit together. my friend Kevin text me that he is stoaked to show me Dublin (he and his wife Leonie, the dutchess of Dublin, had been on their own EuroTrip for 2 months, and i was gonna catch them on the tail end of their trip). i tell him my issue and he tells me to go get my passport — he knows people that have done it and “it worked out” (Kevin ‘knows’ a lot of thing). i find the phone number for the Passport facility in Los Angeles — as it was the closest to me in Orange County. i called up the number and after fumbling around their IVR for a bit, i was greeted by a nice lady on the phone and asked her what the hell i should do. she told me that since i had not applied yet, and my travel was within a month, i must wait until 2 weeks before my flight, then call back and make an appointment. uuuuh — did i just get out procrastinated? i ask if this is typical and she assures me with a “yes” and ask me if i have any other questions. i say “nope” and hang up the call after thanking her.
so, now i am sitting there with a one-way ticket to Dublin, an expiring passport (i didnt even think of that shit) and wondering what i should do for the next 2 weeks as i prepare for a miserable failure and all this hype i started building up by telling people i was gonna go to Euroland. i figure, i will just hold off on any other accommadations until i see if i can actually get an appointment — this is California after all — with 39.24m people in the state and about 20m living in Southern California with the only other passport facilities being in San Francisco, or San Diego — ill surely get an appointment — no one else could have fuxked up this as bad. as anyone else who is me would do, i carry on with life as normal, acting like everything is fine and dont have this giant bundle of anxiety just chillin on my shoulders — waiting for a fire.
i end up getting an appointment on Monday, 10/16/23 — im supposed to fuxking fly out on 10/19/23. im like there no way this shit is happening. my appointment is set for 9am in LA. i am a morain. i leave my place in Southern Orange County at 7am — i get to the Passport Angency at 945am. there is a mile lone line. im fuxked. i get in line and just sit there cussing at myself. how could i be this fuxking dumb. the line takes about an hour and a half to get through. constantly moving in between hot ass sun and cold ass cement shade. as im standing in line, an older hawaiian lookin dude is chattin up a 22 year old austrailian model. im annoyed at the conversation and put my wireless Beats in. fuxk those things by the way; i dont know how many times they fell out of my ears — money grabbing gabmit. SO, i finally get up to the security gate at the Passport Agency — this shit is gnarlier than any customs or airport security ive ever been through. shoes, belts, eyeballs — errthing had to be checked. i was ready to just get naked and walk through. i pass through the security check with a winners grin. we were then instructed to walk down this narrow hallway with arrows on the floor that instructed you which way forward to go to your proper destination. this lead us straight for about 3 mins, then a sharp turn right, then another fuxking line that queued everyone up to show their appointment confirmation and necessary documents (expiring passport, state license, renewal application, proof of travel). this ends up working out a bit better than the DMV. they have their shit together at the Passport Agency. within 15minutes, i am called up to window 18. the woman at the counter was very pleasant and told me to come back on Wednesday, 10/18/23, to pick up my passport. holy fuxk. WINNNING.
i leave the Passport Agency at 1pm, and it takes me a glorious 2 hours to get home in LA traffic on the 405. i hate traffic. i decide i need a helicopter. when i get home, i text Kevin that i am for sure coming and ask him which hotel he is staying at in Dublin. He text me back that he and Leonie are staying at the Grand Canal Hotel — sounds fancy to me. i check out the Gand Canal Hotel online and they dont have any rooms available for 10/19-10/24. at 300+ a night, i am kind of relieved — dont need to spend that much on a hotel room i dont plan on spending any time in. i start looking for hotels on the the Grand Canel, which is fed in from the River Liffey, and i come across the Mespil Hotel and its about 250 a night, and only its only 1km from the Grand Canel Hotel. perfect — i am american — i dont know what the fuxk a km is. so, 1km is about .62 mile. even better — about a 7 minute walk for this old dog. i book the hotel. i am set. i have my plane ticket and first 5 days in Dublin set. i figure i should check out where i should go once Kevin, Leonie and i depart from Ireland. i decide i am going to go to Amsterdam next. i have always heard great things about the city and i was definitely intrigued by the land of lawlessness, er, decriminalization. i book my flight on RyanAir for $61 from Dublin to Amsterdam on 10/24 @ 15:25. i also say fuck it to getting a hotel — i am going to try hostel life. i had heard from a friend the Flying Pig in Downtown Amsterdam was a great hostel to stay at. now, i dont know what the fuck happened, and i dont appreciate that Europe starts their calendar dates on Monday, instead of Sunday like the USA, but i fuxking booked the wrong days. i booked 10/23-10/25. great — and of course, i was so confident in my booking, i chose the no refund booking. ill eat a day for my stupidity. the hostel only cost ~$58 a night for a 4 bed mixed dorm. i figure once i am in Amsterdam, and stay at the hostel, ill figure out if i want to stay more nights and just book it then. i am set for the first week of my trip in Europe. i feel a sense of relief. i am fuxking doing this.
i spend the next couple of hours making sure i have everything i need for my trip. i have a 40L Osprey backpack that i have used for camping and bikepacking trips. this will be the only bag i pack and carry-on for the first leg of my trip. i find out the only thing i am missing is a power converter for all the different electrical inputs standards that are throughout Europe and a rain jacket. i jump on amazon and buy a Columbia rain jacket and a power converter that should fit all inputs for the countries i am in visiting — and with primetime, itll show up the following day. i begin to pack my bag — i decide i will only bring 7 days worth of clothes — 3 pairs of pants, 7 pairs of socks and underwear, 7 shirts, a hoodie and sweatshirt, and a long sleeve collared shirt. i throw my laptop and charger in the bag and my toiletries. everything fits in the bag — it weighs about 30-40 pounds, or about 20kg for the euros.
as soon as we got on the tarmac, the pilot got on the intercom to inform us all that our flight was going to be delayed due to an issue in the air traffic control tower — i assume the controller was on cocaine or ran out of cocaine. this caused us to arrive at Atlanta 45 minutes later, and by the time i made it the connecting terminal, my flight to Dublin had already departed — this was my first time ever missing a flight and foreshadow to the rest of my adventures in Euroland.
in Atlanta, i called Delta’s direct service line, and after about 15 minutes waiting for someone on hold, i was informed that there were no other flights i could be put on to Dublin, and i would have to wait til the following day at 8pm to catch the flight to Dublin. i did not have to pay for the missed flight as it was out of everyones control, however, i would have to pay for my own hotel for the night as it wasnt ‘directly’ Delta’s fault. i spoke with the service representative who told me the best option was to go to https://www.roomstorm.com, and would recieve a discounted price. i ended up booking a room at the Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Altanta Airport in College Park, GA. i was able to be picked up by a hotel provided shuttle at the airport. while waiting for the shuttle, i smoked a smoke, and started looking for a place to grab food nearby. within 15 minutes, our hotel van came flying into the pickup zone, brumppping over the speed bumps — all of us waiting for the the van just kinda looked at each other with raised brows. a 40 something year old woman came out to meet us and i quickly snapped, “my kind of driver”. we all had a little laugh, loaded our stuff into the van, and away we went. she was very kind and offered all of us candy she had picked up while shopping for halloween. we all politely declined (STRANGER DANGER) and she continued on withour trip without saying a word.
now, the Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Altanta Airport in College Park, GA was not bad. it was a hotel; right off the freeway <5 miles from the airport. our lovely shuttle driver droppped us off at the lobby and we all rolled out of the van and headed to the reception front counter. i was the first to the counter and was greeeted by a male, probably in his late 30s or early 40s, and i would say was from Africa or the Middle East, he was very pleasant, and as soon as he looked up my booking he said, ‘Roomstar. huh? Your flight get cancelled?”‘ i said ‘Yep, and they pawned me off to that website and that website sent me to you,’ He laughed, as did i, as it intended, and
