how we got from poland to spain. otherwise known as: “yeah…about that…” (part 1)

{we had no idea when took this photo, below, the kind of, um, ‘adventures’ we were in for….}

i’d like to begin by saying that, as a person who has spent the better part of 2008-present traveling/living abroad, i feel i have a slight obligation to stress that while, yes, at times, international travel is a walk in the park (sometimes, literally), it is also quite often a nightmare – a real, live nightmare.  things will happen which you never in a million years would have expected to happen.  you might find yourself sitting on a train next to a drunk, knife-wielding man, who is intent on mumbling in slurred, incoherent italian 5 inches from your ear.  you might wake up on an overnight train (different from the aforementioned train, might i add) and realize that your belongings, while once wedged between your sleeping body and the wall, are now mysteriously nowhere to be found.  you might fall madly in love with a young, handsome, charming austrian heir who turns out to be….well, that’s a really long story – too long for this post.  the point is: you never know what to expect while traveling abroad.  you might have the best day of your life followed by the absolute worst.  i suppose this is a universal truth – no one knows what’s going to happen to them when they wake up to start the day – but the main difference is when you’re traveling abroad and your plans go very, very wrong…well, it’s a lot more stressful, a lot more confusing, and a lot more frightening. 

and so begins the story of caroline’s and my journey from poland to spain.

but this is just the prologue.  you’ll have to wait to hear the rest.