Never again

Last Summer I received a grant to assist a microbiology congress in Barcelona. When I arrived at the residence that the organization commitee had arranged for us I met a lot of young interesting people. Soon, we all got close and spent the days assisting conferences and the nights going to pubs and discos. Last day, four of us assisted at a gala dinner to celebrate the end of the congress. Going out that night wasn't in my plans because I knew I would have to leave at 5:30 am to go to the airport. But I couldn't disappoint my new friends the last night. We had a great time talking, dancing and drinking until we agreed to go back to the residence. It was already 5 am so I called for a taxi, caught my bag and gave my party partners a big hug. The way in the taxi wasn't nice because I was so tired, the air inside was too warm and the car driver, even though he was sympathetic, he was very talkative too and I only could think of sleeping. When we got the airport and I felt the fresh air outside the car, I felt alive again. I passed the luggage control and looked for a screen to see my flight gate. It still took twenty minutes to assign the gate number to my flight. It was in that moment when I made the terrible mistake. I was tired, so I sat on the floor with my back against the wall. I guess I was so comfortable because I fell asleep and didn't wake up until seven o'clock. When I opened my eyes I knew something bad was happening but It took around thirty seconds to realize that my flight was gone. I think a normal person would have got mad or angry or nervous, but I'm a very calm person and I was hungry, so I decided to go for a coffee and a chocolate muffin. Once the caffeine started to do its job, I went to an airport window to try to get a new free flight with the same company. There were two men and I chose the one with the bigger smile. I told him about my situation, I prefered to tell him the truth because I'm not a good liar and I thought that my story was as stupid as believable. And It was! He was half way to feeling sorry for me and half way to laughing in my face. He told me that when it was a passenger's fault, they weren't obligated to give them a new flight. However he asked me for my phone number and said that If the next flight to my city had an empty seat, he would call me. I stayed at the airport, I didn't have enough money to buy a new flight and I didn't want to ask anyone for it. Luckily, the man kept his promise and five hours later I was flying home.

Never again

Last Summer I achieved a grant to assist a microbiology congress in Barcelona. When I arrived to the residence that the organization commitee had arranged for us I met a lot of young interesting people. Soon, all we got close and spent the days attending conferences and the nights going to pubs and discos. Last day, four of us attended a gala dinner to celebrate the end of the congress. Going out that night wasn't in my plans because I knew I would have to arrive at 5:30 am at the airport. But I couldn't disappoint my new friends on the last night. We had a great time talking, dancing and drinking until we agreed to go back to the residence. It was already 5 am so I called for a taxi, grabbed my bag and gave my party mates/friends a big hug. The taxi journey wasn't nice because I was so tired, the temperature inside was too warm and the car driver, even though he was nice, he was very talkative too and I only could think about sleeping. When we got to the airport and I felt the fresh air outside the car, I felt alive again. I passed the luggage control and looked for a screen to see my flight gate. It still took twenty minutes to assign the gate number to my flight. It was in that moment when I made a terrible mistake. I was tired, so I sat on the floor with my back against the wall. I guess I was so comfortable because I fell asleep and didn't wake up until seven o'clock. When I opened my eyes I knew something bad was happening but It took around thirty seconds to realize that my flight was gone. I think a normal person would get mad or angry or nervous, but I'm a very calm person and I was hungry, so I decided to go for a coffee and a chocolate muffin. Once the caffeine started to do its job, I went to an airport desk to try to get a new free flight with the same company. There were two men and I chose the one with the bigger smile. I told him about my situation, I prefered to tell him the truth because I'm not a good liar and I thought that my story was stupid but believable. And It was! He was half feeling sorry for me and half laughing in my face. He told me that when it was the passenger's fault, they weren't obliged to give them a new flight. However he asked me for my phone number and said that If the next flight to my city had a free/vacant seat, he would call me. I stayed at the airport, I didn't have enough money to buy a new flight and I didn't want to ask anybody for it. Luckily, the man kept his promise and five hours later I was flying home.