Misson: Find Missing Parents

written May 23:

The day before my family left Chicago, I found out that I would have a four-day weekend on their first weekend in Europe. Thursday, May 15th, is San Isidro Day and it’s a holiday in Madrid. I would have worked on Friday but all my students decided to cancel classes so they can enjoy a long weekend as well. For this reason, Elaine and I decided we needed to take advantage of my time off and do some traveling. We had three choices: 1. Go to Granada and see the Alhambra, 2. Go to Morocco, and 3. Meet the parents in Lisbon. We wanted to get out of the country so we scratched off Granada. We preferred Morocco over Lisbon, but we kept hesitating. The airfare was not so cheap and we would only be there for a day. But the thought of going to Morocco and shopping in the souk for Moroccan slipper and head scarves was really tempting. We were so indecisive that by Wednesday night, when we absolutely had to decide, the tickets to Marrakech increased to an unreasonable level. Thus, to Lisbon we go.

But before going, we wanted to make sure our parents knew we were meeting them. I got a bunk SIM card for my Aunt’s phone, so I couldn’t call her on it. We called the hotel the bus tour had set up for them, but the hotel said there was no one of that name. They said the tour had arrived, but our parents are not in the hotel. Our parents and aunt were officially missing in Europe. Freak out begins!

It was already 8:30 PM and the bus for Lisbon was leaving at 11 PM. Elaine and I would have to leave my house before 10 to give us enough time to buy tickets and get dinner. I was freaking out. We didn’t have tickets to and from Lisbon; we couldn’t decide how to get home (by plane or by bus again); we didn’t have a place to stay; and we knew absolutely nothing about Lisbon or know any Portuguese. We decided we would just figure out everything when we get there. My mind was so all over the place that I didn’t know where to start. I was packing furiously, hoping that everything would be okay and that we would somehow find my parents. Elaine had to calm me down. This is how I know I’m old. Five years ago, I wouldn’t have thought about anything and just got on with it knowing I don’t have a concrete plan. This time, I was hysterical!

Luckily we did make it to our bus on time and even had a few minutes to spare to buy sandwiches to eat on the bus. It was surprisingly packed, packed with shady ass people! We were of course in the back of the bus and surrounded by 90% men who just stared as we got on. The bus ticket provides each passenger with an assigned seat. We were assigned separate seats, across the aisle from each other. Someone was occupying Elaine’s seat. While figuring out what was going on, all of the passengers around us started talking loud and in Portuguese. We were very confused. One man started speaking English and said that no one is following the assigned seats and we can sit anywhere. At this point, I was getting nervous. I wanted to make sure we sit together. I wasn’t going to spend 7 hours on a bus constantly wondering about the shady person next to me. So I asked the same guy if he could take one of our seats so Elaine and I can sit together (no one was next to him). He rudely responded with, “NO! I want to be alone!” I wanted to punch him! Fortunately, another guy was nice enough to move and someone eventually sat next to the douchebag!

The whole time I was too nervous to sleep. Everyone was talking and laughing and we couldn’t understand them. We were pretty sure they were talking about us; Elaine saw the woman behind us not so discreetly point at us. When I did fall asleep I slept with my arms tightly around my bag. I was also still thinking about my parents’ whereabouts. My sister in Chicago and my Aunt in Germany got involved and were also looking for them.

We arrived in Lisbon at 5:30 AM, too early for the Metro and too early to do some parent searching. So we sat inside the bus station waiting for the sun to rise and for people to wake up. By about 6:30, the Metro opened up. We were hoping to take the Metro to our parent’s supposed hotel (just to make sure again they really aren’t there), but of course there was no tourist information booth/office open and we had no map. The Metro map didn’t help at all. So we took a cab, knowing it would drop us off at the exact place. Luckily, it was just a 5 Euro cab ride.

At the hotel, I asked the front desk and again the answer was, No your parents are not here. I was starting to be nervous again when he said, “Half of the tour is here and the other half in another hotel. If you wait for another hour, we will be doing a wake up call for the tour guide and we’ll ask him which hotel.” He was nice enough to let us wait in the lobby. As we waited, we also called another hotel that was listed on the tour info. They were also not there.

An hour later, the front desk guy told me the hotel where my parents were staying. He said, “Do you know where that is?” Ummm no. “Follow me,” he said. We walked right outside the hotel door, he pointed up to a building across the street and said, “right there!”

All I could think of was, Oh My freaking God! Right across the fucking street! So Elaine and I hopped over to the other hotel, and asked the front desk guy the same question we’ve asked ten different times, “We’re looking for our parents; Are they in this hotel?” The man, liked everyone else, tried not to laugh at such a ridiculous question and politely gave us their room number. We went up to their room and knocked on the door. It was so nice to see their surprised faces on the other side of the door.

Whew! Mission accomplished!