Of course my parents planned to fly to Europe on the first day that flights were canceled because of the ash cloud. I woke up Thursday morning and saw the news about the eruption and that airports in Ireland and England were closed. I immediately emailed my parents the story and said 'I hope this won't be a problem for your flight' in a mostly joking kind of way. My dad wrote back that German airports were still open and he didn't think it would be a problem.
That afternoon, I was getting so excited for their arrival and came home from my classes and packed all of my stuff to meet them in Berlin.
Jason and I went out to drinks with some friends in the evening, preparing to take our bus early the next AM to Berlin. Heading home from drinks, excited for the weekend, I got a phone call from my mom.
Flight's canceled.
What a let down. Add to that, my parents were in the middle of their 3 hour drive to Denver. It's not like they can quickly turn around and go home and wait for news about flights. So they continued to Denver, hoping they might be able to get on a flight the next day.
Jason and I woke up early the next morning to catch our bus to Berlin, hoping the same thing. Unfortunately, as we all know by now, that was not the case. So Jason and I had a weekend in Berlin and my parents headed back home and changed their travel plans.
On the bright side, Berlin was wonderful. We had perfect weather and had an amazing time walking and cycling around the city, enjoying beers at sidewalk cafes and lounging in the Tiergarten park. Just lovely. Only thing that could have made it better is if my parents were able to join us.
So for the new plans, Mom and Dad will fly to Berlin this Thursday (keep your fingers crossed!!) and spend the weekend there before heading to Prague on Monday. Also on Thursday, Jason's mom will arrive to Frankfurt, where Jason will join her. They will travel to visit Jason's cousins on an Air Force base in Germany, then head to Munich and Salzburg before heading back to Prague next Wednesday. I had plans to join them, but alas, things have changed. And I'm not too keen on the idea of hoping back on a 5 hour bus to Berlin for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, so I think I'll have a relaxing weekend here by myself.
Now the big news is that our parents will all be here in Prague at the same time and will finally get to meet each other for the first time! Next weekend we will all head down to the famous Czech town of Cesky Krumlov for a little countryside fun and 'bonding time' I suppose.
So, changes are ok. All around a little disappointing that things haven't worked out how we planned, but I'm confident that this time around things will be better and it will be a fantastic trip!
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