My Trip to Sarajevo

I left Philadelphia at 10am on June 18th and was scheduled to arrive in Sarajevo at 4pm on June 19th.  Few things went according to plan.  I had booked my flights through webjet which I would not recommend anyone ever using.  On my paper I was to be on a Canadian Airline flight but when they checked I was somehow on an Austrian Airline flight.  The only problem is Austrian Airlines doesn't fly out of Philadelphia.  So the people at the counter check in made a bunch of calls and over an hour later I was on the Canadian Airlines flight to Toronto.  The only problem was I would have to recheck-in in Toronto and go through security and customs and all of that.  Then, instead of my luggage going straight through to Sarajevo I would have to claim my bags in Vienna, my second stop, and recheck them. Of course if I go and claim my bags, while I don't have to wait in line to check in I still would have to go through customs.

So I get to Toronto and go to check in.  I had a 6 hour lay over and was told I could only check in 2 hours before my flight.  So I ate at a Subway and then just did some work.  When the time came I rechecked in and then just waited in the terminal doing some more work.  As I was about to board the plane I was asked to step aside so they could check my bags.  I figured no problem.  All the guy did was pick it up and he says it is to heavy and I would have to check it.  I said everyone else has a bag the same size as mine, and he said yeah, but mine was to heavy.  So I took some stuff out and stuffed it in my laptop bag.  They told me my bag would meet me in Sarajevo.  I said I was supposed to claim the rest of my bags in Vienna.  They asked me why and I said it is because everything got messed up with my first flight.  He said, well all I know is this one will be in Sarajevo.

So I get on the plane and we take off on time.  I am crammed into the middle seat in the middle aisle, first row in the economy class.  So for the next 8 hours I got to look at a wall 2 and a half feet in front of me.  We had those little TV's and I looked at the TV guide and thought, wow they have some good movies and shows to watch.  This won't be bad.  Oh how wrong.  I watched Dodge Ball and then that was it.  Most of the other movies and shows never played.  They also showed the newer Wizard of Oz movie, which the girl next to me watched 3 times.  I was getting annoyed.  Even though I couldn't hear it I got tired of every time I tried to look around I would see that movie, and it always seemed to be at the same part.

I brought my Kindle so I could read but since I was so uncomfortable I couldn't read.  I was also tired but couldn't sleep.  When we finally arrived in Vienna I wandered around lost for a little while until I could find the baggage claim.  I waited and my bags never came out.  I just hoped this meant that they were going straight through to Sarajevo.  So I went back through customs and found the gate I would be leaving from and figured I would just wait there for 4 hours.  I got a little hungry and bought a pretzel and a coke.  I don't know what type of pretzel this was but it tasted a bit weird, a little bitter.  So I just drank my coke.  What was nice about this airport is they had couches so I took a little nap.  Then I woke up to find that my flight would be delayed 40 minutes.  Not the worse thing but I was tired and wanted to shower.

So eventually I got on my last flight that took me here to Sarajevo.  I got off and was very tired and there were long lines where you have to get your passport stamped except for one line.  I walked over there and apparently it is only for diplomats.  I was asked if I was a diplomat and I asked if that matters.  She said she didn't care so she stamped my passport.  I then waited for my bags and luckily they all showed up.  I put them on two carts and pushed them outside and found a cab and gave him a note with the name of the hotel.

As I was putting on my seat-belt he laughed and said I didn't need it because this is a free country.  About 10 seconds later I was glad I put it on because cabbies drive crazy.  We get to the hotel and he drops me off about 50 yards from the entrance.  So I had to drag all 5 bags with me and just dropped them in the lobby of the hotel.  The guy at the desk says they probably won't all fit in my room and to just store them under the steps.  Seemed a little sketchy but what could I do.  I get to my room and it is like 95 degrees outside, I am tired and sweaty and I have no AC.  So I took a shower and rather than go to sleep I take another cab to meet the people I was going to be kind of living with.

When I was in Vienna I realized my cell phone no longer worked.  I got to the apartment and then thought, how am I going to call them for them to let me in because you need a key to get into the apartment building.  I was standing there just looking at the building and a girl comes out with a bag of trash so I just slipped in.  I knocked on the apartment and the people I knew let me in.  They said they weren't expecting me for another day or two.  I said I thought I would just stop by to let them know I was in the city.  They said well, if you are here why don't we just go get your bags and then you can move in now.  So we drove back over, got my bags, and then went back to the apartment and I settled in and fell asleep.

So there were some hassles with my trip but I made it here and moved in just fine.