Chris and Jenna in Paris

It all started with a phone call last weekend. Chris Grimes-Goard was calling from the Canadian embassy in Barcelona. He had his passport stolen and needed references, I happily obliged and got a call later from the embassy. I understood the terrible situation, especially because it was 2 am in Vancouver and everyone was asleep except for me being 9 hours ahead. Chris and Jenna Vaughn are backpacking around Spain and Morocco. The leg to Morocco was canceled and they decided to visit Paris instead.

They stayed in a crumby hotel for two nights and then were going to stay with me for two nights. We had a great time going around Paris for five days. Some early mornings for me to trek into town, do touristy stuff and then rush back to "work". They then booked their return overnight train back to Barcelona as Chris' sister was meeting them there. They offered for me to tag along so I took them up on the offer immediately.

They left for the train Friday night and I was going to fly out Saturday morning because I couldn't leave the kids alone Friday afternoon. I went in for a shower after dinner and Mika yells upstairs and says my friends are back. This worried me... Their confirmation number didn't work, and the company wouldn't give them tickets. They had arrived very early for the train, went into the office to get tickets and they said no. They booked through "RENFE" the Spanish train company, and they don't share information with the French company SNCF so they didn't exist according to France so they returned to my house after hours of travel to and from the train station and arguing with the people. They haven't gotten a refund/return/credit yet but are going to try in Barcelona soon.

Plan B was to try and get the same flight as me in the morning. They were listed as 250 Euros! Ouch. I only paid 110 Euros for the same flight 4 days earlier. They didn't want to book and go Saturday morning and try and buy the tickets the day of. So we woke up at 5:45 in the morning to get the airport early to buy tickets for them or at least get on a standby list. Roadblock number 2 for them, the airline doesn't sell tickets for flights the day of. Crap!

We found a computer with internet, went on the website of the airline, booked tickets for them on the same flight as me for the 250 Euros and went back to the desk and they took the confirmation number. How stupid is that!

Oh yeah, i forgot to mention the fact that Chris' credit card was stolen, Jenna's was maxed out so the only person that had a card was me! I also don't have a big limit so I tried my parents card. That didn't work because it had been locked because I had booked my flight on it and visa thought it had been stolen. With time ticking down on the internet we payed for, I put a bunch of money on my credit card, then tried to charge the flight, and it worked! Apparently the bank of Ryan came through and allowed them to leave the country!

We all made it to Barcelona! Another three days of my visiting with Jenna and Chris in foreign countries, the Barcelona post is to come.

These two have faced some of the worst traveling problems I have ever heard of, although they will make great stories some day once they can laugh at them.

"The Manny"