Marta Pardo Arcones wanted to go to Krakow and this is what happened. She got stuck at Eindhoven airport and met some scary hobos in Dortmund.
The idea was to go to Krakow. I got up on Wednesday at 8 in the morning, took a shower, got dressed and had breakfast. My friends and I walked to Groningen Noord station to take the train to Eindhoven airport. All went well.
The clock ticked and ticked, we started to panic
At the airport we lined up in a huge queue of people who waited to pass security control. Time passed and the queue did not move. The clock ticked and ticked, we started to panic. Our flight was due to leave at three o’clock, and we would not be in time to catch it. And we did not, indeed.
We missed our plane. Outraged we went and complained at the airport service desk. We demanded our money back or change the flight. The people of the service desk told us to file a claim and of course, we could take another flight, which was bound to leave three days later.
What if this is a sign that we don’t get to Poland at all?
Eindhoven airport, 18:00 p.m. The only solution left was to go to Dortmund (Germany) where we could catch a flight to Katowice at 8 o’clock in the morning. Katowice is only one hour by bus from Krakow. Somewhere in the back of my head a voice said: ‘What if this is a sign that we don’t get to Poland at all? What if this is an omen for something bad that’s going to happen?’ We decided to go to Dortmund.
I got up at five, my hands were frozen, but our hearts warmed up
Dortmund train station was full of homeless people and there was a bad atmosphere. We still had eight hours before our flight left. I felt insecure, hungry and I didn’t want to sleep on the airport floor, but my eye-lids thought otherwise.
I got up at five. My hands were frozen, but our hearts warmed up quickly. The security checkpoint was nearby. We were finally going to catch our plane. And so we did.
We spent three days in Krakow. I really loved the city and we had a lot of fun. But somehow I think I will remember the journey longer than its destination.
Foto (Krakow’s Love Bridge): Marta Pardo Arcones
