Viewing the Alps from the Sky

I walked out of the apartment in the middle of the night. I know doing such things implies "shadyness", but I just couldn't tell the cake eating monster that I wouldn't be there over the weekend. I wanted her to be disappointed that she couldn't order me around any longer ... in the apartment I am paying 650 euros a month for!!! ::moment of silence for regaining of composure::

So my friend Nicole wanted to go to the Winter Olympics this weekend. I was hesitant but decided to go along with the idea. It sounded cheap, so why not. Airplane tickets were supposed to be around 50 euros. However, Nicole forgot to factor in taxes. So tickets ended up being 150 euros which is still not a bad price. Then comes the hotel horror. Nicole was convinced that there would be plenty of hotels available for our stay if we stayed in Milan rather than in Turin (where the Olympics are being held). What I didn't know is that she did not check any of this out. Much to our dismay, there were no cheap hotels remaining in Milan. And by cheap, I'm talking under 100 euros a night. The only ones left were these fancy 4 and 5 star hotels which cost a bundle. I wanted to back out. I figured that forfeiting 150 euros on plane tickets is much better than spending an additional whole lot more on a hotel. (Word to the wise, NEVER book a flight before booking a hotel, or at least before making sure there is enough room at various inns. Hotels are much easier to cancel if the flight doesn't work out.) Nicole really wanted me to come as she did not want to go to Italy by herself. Understandable. She knows I am not made of diamonds. Therefore, because her parents were understandably concerned for her welfare and were aware of my monetary situation, they offered to pay for a nice hotel. Rock on if they really want to do such a thing.

**Random side note to anyone reading this: If your parents paid for your college education, I hope you know how incredibly blessed you are. At my program, I am surrounded by kids who think nothing of putting their 300 euro shoe purchases on their parents' credit cards. These are also the same kids who complain about not having enough money. My question: Enough money for what? So you can buy the Taj Malhal? Might I remind us all, including myself, that there is an enormous about of people in this world who live on less than $2 a day.

I booked the cheapest hotel I could find in Milan. I won't disclose how much, but let's just say it was over 250. So now we had a flight and a hotel. Things are great. The flight is with RyanAir. A cheap service that gets you where you need to go. However, as we found out, the airport is an hour outside of Paris. grr. Three hours before all flights, the airport runs a bus service from Paris to the Paris-Beauvais airport. This means our bus departs at 5:30.

The Metro doesn’t start until 5 and it would have been impossible to get to the bus stop before 5:30. So Nicole and I took the night bus. It took us three hours!!! So VERY long story short, that is why I left the apartment in the middle of the night. The rest of the adventures to come ….