Bye bye Barcelona

I have left Barcelona for good - at least this summer. With two suitcases and a good share of Murphy's law.

The night before I left, I hosted a little farewell BBQ for Marissa, Marcelle and Shweta, and we obviously sat out on the terrace and chatted until late. With no packing done. In the end it was 1 a.m. when I finally started turning my room upside down, trying not to forget bank papers, passport, mobile chargers and all other important things I would need for the next two months. I even managed to ignore the 28°C in my room and pack some warm clothes for Iceland. And went to sleep for two hours at the break of dawn.

First I didn't hear my alarm clock until I suddenly realized I had to leave and jumped out of bed - late. On the way to the airport traffic was heavier than expected and dark clouds loomed over Barcelona. At least I wouldn't have to regret leaving brilliant sunshine and summer behind, I thought. I still made it on time and check-in was smooth, despite my 39kgs of luggage. Long live LH and their frequent traveler cards. However, when I arrived at the gate for boarding there was no activity to be seen - not even a plane. Never a good sign. And indeed we left over an hour late.

Approaching Frankfurt, air traffic control put us into the holding pattern and I started to worry about my connecting flight to Nuremberg. Fortunately that one was late too and I made the connection - my luggage was less fortunate and stayed behind in Frankfurt. When it finally arrived eight hours later, my suitcase wouldn't open despite the correct number in the lock, and I had to spend an hour trying all secret short-cuts I could find on the internet (seriously, there are forums dedicated to this, and it seems to be perfectly normal for suitcases to single-handedly change their combinations). Still no luck, so in the end I couldn't avoid trying all numbers from 000 to 999. The suitcase eventually flipped open at 580... Good thing it doesn't have a 4-digit number lock.

And now I'm happy to be back home with my parents, delicious German bread and all my CDs. Yet this won't last long as I'll hop in my parents' car tomorrow morning and we'll hit the road to Hungary for my granddad's 80th birthday. Time to repack my suitcase; will try to prevent Murphy's law from creeping in this time.