Check Your Itinerary

Always.

More than a week before your flight earns bonus points.

The fact is, sometimes you'll find yourself on an island in the middle of the Amazon with no internet and not be able to check last-minute like you were planning.

Yeah, you guessed it...that's what happened to me.

So here's the story:

When we got to Manaus, we heard that the hotel we were staying at (on an island in the middle of the Amazon) would have wireless internet.  So we took off, and I figured I'd just re-check my itinerary right before we left for the airport, even though I was pretty sure my flight was around 4pm on Friday, which was perfect since the group was planning to arrive around noon, leaving me plenty of time to check in, etc.

Then our hotel didn't have wireless.  Or internet at all, for that matter.

But I thought, who cares?  I'll just pull up my flight info at the airport, no sense stressing about it right now.  The only other stuff I needed internet for was blogging, emailing, etc, and it was actually really nice to get a total break from that.

Then Thursday night I realized that the hotel people were letting us borrow the computer behind the desk if we needed it.  I decided to be responsible and check my flight info!  I log in to my email, pull up my itinerary, and see the departure time:  1:00am.  Date?  August 3.  As in, the morning of August 3.  1am instead of 4pm.  So then I start thinking, "Hmm...shoot.  That means my flight leaves in like 5 hours..."

Then I found Vanessa, who sympathized, but said that there was nothing we could do since there was no boat on the island.  No point stressing at that point, so I went back to the party, and enjoyed my last night with the group from Recife.

Next day, I got to the airport and had them change my flight.  Luckily, even though I had technically already missed 2 flights, they still counted those flights towards the cost of my new one, so I only had to pay $100 (yeah, it sounds like a lot, but not bad all things considered.  Plus one of the other girls in my group had to change her flight and had to pay $500!  So I was counting my blessings :)

The flight they booked me on left about 20 minutes after I bought the ticket, so I basically ran threw security and got in line just as the plane was boarding.  Whew.

Next problem:
I didn't know how to get home from the airport.  I had emailed Kaitlyn and Geovana so they would know I wasn't arriving at my originally scheduled time, and that I would be in touch when I could.  But then my flight came so quickly I didn't have time to email them again.

During my layover in Brasilia, I used my extensive knowledge of Portuguese to get help with the internet (HA, just kidding...about the extensive part; I really did use Portuguese!), and finally was able to message Kaitlyn my arrival info, along with a note saying if they couldn't pick me up then (my flight got in a little after midnight), she should send me the address so I could take a taxi.

Well, I got off the plane in Florianópolis, and no one was there.  Sadly, there was also no internet.  So... I figured I was supposed to take a taxi, but didn't know where I was going.  Ha.

After standing around looking like a stupid American for quite some time, I decided that I shouldn't sleep in the airport, so I got a taxi and told them to take me to our university, since I knew we lived super close.

The cab driver pulled up to UDESC and since I still had no clue where to go, and he said it wasn't safe for me to sit there by myself, I had him take me to a close hotel.  The hotel was $150 a night!  I didn't want to stay there, but didn't have any choice...until I realized the hotel had wifi!  So the nice man behind the desk let me borrow their wifi to find my address.  At which point I caught another cab back to my apartment that I had basically been parked in front of earlier. *sigh*

All things considered, I was pretty proud of myself for getting myself through all those situations by myself.  I was proud of myself for not panicking, and for being brave enough to use my Portuguese (yeah, I'd already been in Brazil for over a month and still super nervous about that...).  AND I was proud---and surprised---to realize that I COULD speak Portuguese enough to get through it!  Talk about a learning experience!  I think Heavenly Father maybe let that happen so that I would be forced to talk, and realize it wasn't as scary as I thought.  It's made everything else so much easier since then!

I didn't die, I only got sort of lost, and I learned something!  I think that makes this experience a winner!

Wasn't that a fun story?  :)