The unexpected pros and cons of travelling

Surprisingly, our flights from Seattle to Atlanta, Atlanta to Paris and Pairs to Beirut all went really well. Only the last flight was delayed and the 24 hours went by fairly quickly. We even ran into AKON as he shared our Atl – Paris & Paris – Beirut legs. We all agreed that that the media we are exposed to at home portray a lot of places, including Beirut, to be much worse than they really are while a few places such as Lagos, Nigeria are worse than anyone could ever imagine. He will be putting on a concert here in Beirut and seems to prefer performing in “places that most people don’t go.”

Our first frustration occurred in Paris when we were going through a security check point and the screeners called the police after scanning my carry-on back pack. They showed me the screen and asked what was in my bag. I pointed out what each thing was – camera, Nintendo DS, iPod, etc and the police responded with, “we do not believe you.” Uhhhhh, ok, whatever… They proceeded to use their bomb detection equipment on my belongings and took my boarding pass. They eventually asked me to take my Nintendo out of its cute little pink case. Even after I showed them what it was one fellow responded, “Don’t tell me what it is.” Eventually they decided to let me through. Have they never seriously seen a Nintendo before???

Our next frustration began when we showed up at our hotel where we made a reservation last week. Unfortunately, the manager did not have a room for us! He called his friend to take us to his hotel for a night and then we would return to our original hotel the following morning. We walked over the hotel and took a look. We entered a building that was dark, run down, dirty and not the kind of place we’d like to stay. Then we saw the room… BLEH!!! The room was nasty with dirty sheets and blankets, dirty floors, hard beds, doors with frosted glass rather than a solid door and it was inconveniently located at the entrance where it was very noisy. Good thing we brought our sleep sheets! They are something you hope you don’t have to use but are glad you have them if you do! There is a shared bathroom down the hall that it is BYOTP and apparently a toilet seat is on order? I know January and Carrie can understand this sort of establishment, but I’m pretty sure it is beyond most people’s comprehension.

We said we did not want the room and went back to our first hotel so we could call around and find another room somewhere else. Little did we know it is Lebanon’s version of Easter here and EVERY HOTEL in every price range is completed booked.

After frantically getting ready for a trip for days and even weeks, getting picked up to go to the airport at 3am, being en route for 24 hours and ending up completely exhausted just wanting to shower and sleep it is very discouraging to have to stay in a place where you don’t want to make physical contact with anything. But, these are the unexpected cons of traveling and there is nothing to do other than try to make the best of it.

We checked in, went for a walk, had dinner and a few beers to expedite our crashing at our hotel (sound familiar January?).

We’ve slept enough and now TJ and I are both awake (it’s almost 4am) and are waiting for morning so we can get out of here and start exploring Beirut.

Today should be a better day!!