Panic moment of a rookie solo traveller

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on here. I try to write at least once a week however, I’ve been travelling during the last week so my schedule has been a little disrupted.

Anyway in my last post I mentioned how there was a little panic moment on the day of leaving Calella. It may not seem as much as a big deal to some but, believe me when your a rookie solo traveller in a foreign country, something small can seem so much bigger.

Moment of being woken up

It’s the day of leaving to travel back home and I’m suddenly woken by the sound of the hotel phone. I answer the phone, it’s reception telling me my bus is waiting outside. I had to ask the gentleman to repeat himself because I was thinking I misheard him. He repeats himself, this time I’m in a state of panic!! I’ve not had a shower, I’m not packed properly and I’m freaking out. I ask the gentleman to ask the driver to wait, and I was coming, in which he said he would. I quickly started to get dressed and pack up all my things and leave the hotel room.

I left the safe key!

I get to the hotel reception and try to check out. The receptionist doesn’t allow me to check out because I’ve not returned the safe key. I try to apologise and tell him the key is in the room in the door of the safe, I’m not bothered about getting my deposit back and I just need to get my shuttle bus.

The thing is my shuttle bus is not directly outside as the street is too narrow for the bus to wait. The bus is actually on the main road which is about a two-minute walk away.

The gentle man doesn’t understand me and begins to speak to me in Spanish But, I don’t understand him either. I figured he was telling me I had to go back to get the safe key. I did this But, it only made me panic more in case the bus left me.

Eventually I returned the safe key and was able to check out and leave.

The bus left me!

I ran down the street, got to the main road, there was no bus to be seen! If I thought I was in a panic before well, that was nothing compared to now!! I was shaking like a leaf and didn’t know what to do!

Now here’s the thing. My flight was at 9.15am, I was told my pick up was at 6am and i would be the last person to be collected. So, I’ve missed my pick up time, the airport is at least an hour away, I’ve only got 40 euros in cash which will not cut the taxi and will need to find a cash point. I was thinking an hour in a taxi! Wow! it’s going to be so expensive!

In my head I was going to miss my flight! I was beyond the feeling of anxiousness in fact, I’m pretty sure this was a moment of anxiety.

Although it was my fault, I still rang the transfer number hoping they could help me. I dial the number several times and I’m either cut off or it’s the wrong number! I take a few deep breaths and try once more and bingo! I get through! While explaining to lady what had happened, she starts to apologise to me and says she doesn’t know what happened and why the driver come to get me earlier. What!! I couldn’t believe it! Here’s me thinking it’s all my fault! Not only that, I’d been in that much of a panic I didn’t even think to check my phone for the time!! Haha

The lady tells me she’s going to contact the driver to see what happened. When she rang me back she told me the driver decided to collect me first but, when I wasn’t ready decided to collect the other travellers at different hotels Wait for it………He had already collected the others then forgot all about me! Luckily he wasn’t too far out and was able to come and collect me. Ahhhhh fewwww!!

Lesson learnt

Now I learnt a valuable lesson here! My mistake was I panicked. If I hadn’t of panicked I would have thought to check the time and spared myself from all that stress!

Advice: Things can go wrong whilst travelling, the best thing to do is stay calm. Staying calm will help you to be able to deal with the situation better, panicking is not going to help you. Panicking adds to the situation and does nothing but makes matters worse.

This is definitely what helped me in the end. As I calmed down and took a few deep breaths I was able to dial the transfer number correctly. It hadn’t been working as I had been dialling the number incorrectly due to my state of mind.

One Last Thing

It was probably a blessing it happened this way because I actually forgot to set my alarm clock!! I can’t even begin to imagine how that would have gone! Haha

Thanks for reading I really appreciate all the support from each and every one of you 🙂

Be sure to follow to read my next blog on my Solo Trip to Salou x