By “my,” I mean Diana’s new fiancee, Eric. We all love proposal stories, and this one is quite epic. Eric’s not a blogger, so this is his first post anywhere. I welcome my new guest blogger Eric, and here is his side to Diana’s European Extravaganza (see previous two posts). Like I’d alluded to in the first post, sometimes it all comes together…in Europe.
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After a long week in Scotland for work I was looking forward to a week in Spain with Diana. Scotland was unusually sunny and beautiful during the week due to a high pressure area that loomed over United Kingdom creating the nice weather, which is very unusual. April 15, 2010 was the day ash spewed by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano quieted the skies of Europe. I knew that getting down to Barcelona would be no ordinary trip since I had a flight out of Scotland that evening to London and the next morning leaving London to Barcelona to meet up with Diana … Eric’s Amazing Race Begins.

Our meetings ended in the afternoon and after hearing that all Scottish airports were closed my coworkers and I decided it would be better to be farther from the epicenter of the ash and we’d have more luck at a major airport like London Heathrow. So I drove 9 straight hours to get to London so I can make my 7 AM flight the next day. That evening the news reported that flight cancellations migrated to the busiest airport in Europe, London. After speaking with the Spanish Airlines Iberia they rebooked me on a Sunday morning flight. When Diana arrived in Barcelona I told her the bad news. I could tell she was pretty sad but the whole day she was pretty calm about the situation even though that meant that I wouldn’t be there for the start of our vacation.

With the volcano still erupting I didn’t have much hope that flights would resume so I looked into alternative means of transportation. Without airports there are only a few means to get off of the island. Friday morning I checked out of the hotel determined that I was going to get something that day to travel down to Spain. Most of the day was spent in long ques (British term for lines) visiting two bus stations, two train stations, and rental car companies. The earliest they could get me out was Monday & Tuesday to Spain. I declined the offers because deep down I was hoping my flight would open up because on Monday we had a side trip to Seville, but looking back I should have taken those alternatives at least as backup. That was one of the low points of my journey; I wanted to see Diana badly, was missing out on our vacation, was homeless, and felt defeated. Hotels were impossible to find because of all the stranded passengers. Luckily, the hotel I had just checked out of just had a cancellation right before I called, so I went back and got the same room I’d checked out of. So I headed back to downtown London, had a nice dinner with my other stuck coworkers, and then retired defeated to my hotel at Heathrow. I realized, like thousands of other people did, that being stranded on an island leaves you with limited choices to get off of it. I knew I had to do whatever it takes to get down to Spain to give her a “special surprise”. I felt bad that Diana had to spend the first day of our vacation apart, but at least she got to experience the 5 star W Flagship hotel.

Saturday morning I was re-energized and determined. I was headed to the Eurostar train station to see if I can get a train to Barcelona or at least to Paris. Knowing the ticket office opened at 5 AM I headed to the Subway station at that time. 10 steps out of the door I remembered the Eurostar employee telling an irate passenger that they weren’t letting any more passengers in the lines for the ticket office and that they open at 5 AM or they can buy it online. So I had a gut feeling to look. To my surprise they had availability on a 7 AM train (which was too early for me to get to the train station) and a 2 PM train. When I was in the middle of booking I hit refresh and to an even greater surprise they added a 9 AM train to Paris. It was a clear sign that they added this train just for me (haha) and I’d be a fool not to take it. Looked like I was going to the romantic city of Paris, France … alone.

I called and woke up Diana and told her I was able to get a ticket to Paris, her favorite city. While on the train I was determined to go to the bus stations, train stations and car rental companies to do whatever it took to get from Paris to Spain. While I was in transit to Paris she felt so sad I was homeless in London she booked me a room at a hotel next to the Paris Nord Train Station. That was a nice surprise because I needed a home base to work out of and it would have been one less thing for me to stress over. At that time I felt fortunate that Diana was also looking out for me; she was my “lifeline” on my amazing race.

After dropping off my bags I went to the train station and stood in line for 2 hours; I got to the counter and already this French lady seemed annoyed. I asked about the earliest ticket to Barcelona and she rolled her eyes and sighed. She pounded on her keyboard a few times and chatted with her coworker next to her, ignoring my request for trains to Barcelona. Too bad I couldn’t speak French because I had a feeling she was talking mad shit about me. After 10 minutes of making me wait and doing nothing on the computer I asked for the third time and she said the earliest booking they had was Thursday. I seriously wanted to complain and yell at her but that would have done no good. So I picked up my notebook and what little sanity I had left. I didn’t believe a word she said so instead of standing back in line to get another teller’s opinion, I snuck to the counter at the end and stood behind the people who were being helped. The young man who was assisting them seemed really helpful. After getting to the counter he spent the same 10 minutes with me and in those 10 minutes he was typing away and found me multiple options. The earliest he could get me out was on Tuesday night, arriving in Spain on Wednesday. I was relieved and booked that train. I told Diana the good news and she was happy that I had some conformed way to get to her.

Feeling pretty good I accomplished something I decided to head to the bus station to see what they have to offer, I had nothing to lose. The line was longer than the Nile River and would have taken me three hours to get to a teller. So there was an end teller booth next to a lot of people standing around waiting to check in for their bus. I am not proud of this, but I snuck behind the people in line at the end teller. This gentleman was able to get me a 15 hour bus ride to Barcelona leaving Monday afternoon and arriving Tuesday morning. Of course I took it because it meant I would see Diana a day earlier. On the way back I treated myself to a nice dinner because I now had two ways to get to Barcelona. While I was doing all of this Diana spent the whole day in the business center at her hotel helping me book a hotel and looking online for options to get me down to see her, also options to her to get to me. I told her to go sightsee and enjoy Barcelona but all she could think about was me.

I felt relieved so the next day, I was able to finally relax and enjoy a free day in Paris. I spent the day sightseeing and enjoying the busy city of Paris; too bad it was Sunday and most of the places were closed. I had an afternoon bus ride on Monday which I wasn’t looking forward to. Seeing how crazy the bus station was I knew it would be an adventure. So on Monday, I headed to the station early and it was just as busy as a few days before. There were two lines, one to buy tickets and the other to check in for your bus. I didn’t realize that even though the check in desk said ‘to Rome’ everyone was standing in line for Barcelona and two other locations which had a check in at 2:00 PM. Fearing that I might get stuck in the check in line I snuck to the front and waited for it to open. When the registration booth opened the water gates flooded. People were pushing, yelling in different languages and shoving to check in. Since I was in the front I was able to get in and out quickly. So on my way to the buses.

When you check in you get a bus number. Mine was 8, so that means you go to stall 8. I went to stall 8 and a bus to Lisbon pulled in. We all asked him if his bus was going to Barcelona and he kept saying nope, Lisbon. So we were all confused. A bus pulled into slot #9 saying it was going to 3 locations and one of them was Barcelona so everyone started rushing for that bus thinking there was a mix up. Well other people start showing up with ticket number 9 for Barcelona, so about 20 people were totally confused. Then the #8 bus to Lisbon pulled away and the right #8 to Barcelona pulled in. We were all relieved that we were getting on the right bus. I didn’t want anyone sitting next to me if I could help it so I resorted to some tricky measures so people would pass up the seat next to me. I sat on the aisle seat so they would have to get past me, I put my backpack on the other seat, I pretended I was saving it for someone else, and I even started coughing pretending like I was sick. There were only 4 extra seats on the bus, so I was lucky that the seat next to me was empty. So my 16 hour journey to Barcelona began. Even though the bus AC didn’t work all the time, there was a group of chatting Spanish people, there was a baby crying off and on, and I was on very uncomfortable seats, I didn’t mind because I had my Nintendo DS, had my noise canceling headsets, and most importantly was finally on my way to see Diana.

I arrived to Barcelona Bus Station at 6 AM. Diana had already sent me instructions on how to get from the bus station to the hotel via the subway. I got off at the subway station and looked for the hotel. It was early in the morning and kind of sketchy. I finally saw the hotel and then I heard these clanking sounds on the pebblestone streets of La Ramba. I saw Diana in the distance running to me; that moment was the happiest moment of my entire trip. We hugged for a long time on the dirty streets of La Rambla. Now our vacation could officially begin.

Even though Diana had already spent 4 days in Barcelona she didn’t do much sightseeing. She mainly spent them trying to help me get down to see her. The next few days we spent seeing the sites of Barcelona and enjoying tapas and Sangria all day. The last two days we decided to forego our reservations at a place downtown and stay at the five star W on the beaches of Barcelona (where Diana had stayed alone). It was perfect because we could relax and lounge around enjoying the state-of-the-art facilities and hotel.
One of the most enjoyable moments we had was on Wednesday, April 21st. We took the gondola up to the mountains of Montjuic. Up on the mountains above Barcelona there is a Spanish fort with canons which I got to stand on, it also had an amazing view of the city below. There was also the Olympic stadium which hosted the 1992 Olympics, which we snuck into. And at the top was the National Palace, a beautiful building with fountains around it. We sat at the top and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with a Chinese person playing the Spanish Guitar and watched the sunset go down while enjoying the music.

Thursday, April 22nd we had a nice dinner on the beach having tapas and a pitcher of Sangria. So we walked back to the hotel along the beach. Of course I brought my digital SLR and tripod to get some nice shots of the hotel. While we were walking back I told her we should walk along the water so I could get a nice angle of the W Hotel in the background. The hotel was right next to the pier where cruiseships come into port to visit Barcelona. So I set up my tripod and camera and took a few shots, I had the ring in my pocket and was about to propose. Next thing I knew, fireworks were going off right behind our hotel. The fireworks were for the cruiseships about to depart to the Mediterranean. It was perfect. I took a few pictures and then got down on one knee and proposed to her. I was so caught up in the moment I couldn’t remember if she said yes, all I remember was how happy she looked and the tears of joy.

In those 4 days of stressful travel, extra money spent, and lost vacation time, we realized a few things. There were signs pointing me in the direction of Spain. For instance, in London when a hotel reservation opened up just before I called, the added Eurostar train to Paris, and opportunities for me to cut in line or jump in front of others.

Throughout the whole crisis neither of us freaked out, got upset, or complained. It was like coach Wooden in his coaching years at UCLA. We worked as an efficient team, never questioning the other person’s decision, always looking out for each other, always communicating, had persistence to see each other, and passion to be with each other. We won’t have 10 NCAA championships but no doubt we will have a dynasty.

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*wiping tear away*
Ahem. Well, I’ve now learned that I would’ve hated Eric when I was a kid, cuz…line-cutter! But desperate times call for desperate measures. I’m honored Diana and Eric chose to memorialize their momentous vacation to guest-post on my blog. I’m excited for them, and happy for my college roommie-slash-non-biological-sister for finding a great guy — one who brings her to peace, to joy, to crazy European vacations; one who gets her, balances her and complements her personality, and who’s a Bruin. 😉 That last one’s an extra happy bonus. Congratulations, Diana & Eric!
(All photos courtesy of Eric)