It was only when we were about to jump on the metro to get to the airport when something didn’t seem right. Why was my phone stating 10:20 AM? Since my phone was still in Toronto time, that would mean it was 4:20 PM Barcelona time! This meant we had less than an hour to catch our flight to Rome!

That’s when the adrenaline started pumping! No time to dwell on the “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??” question; Shiv and I did what we do best. We made decisions, stayed calm, and when we got to the airport RAN as though we were being chased by a pack of hungry wolves!

Shiv was very calm despite knowing that we were cutting it tight and after attempting to figure out how to take the train to the airport (the automated systems do not have an English option!) we shelled out the extra money for a cab.

At the airport, we found out that we had missed the luggage check-in. We knew we would run into a few issues with security though. It was now 8 minutes after 5 when we made it to the security line but the gates closed at 5!

As expected the bottle of hairspray and balm that keeps Shiv’s hair Pantene Pro-V commercial ready (although she uses Garnier Fructis) were flagged. As the security officer proceeded to read the ingredients, we advised him to just throw out the products. Taking a divide and conquer approach, Shiv ran ahead to find out our gate number as I helped the security officer along in examining the liquid products. Side observation: how and why would reading the ingredients list help? We could have had ketchup in that hairspray bottle, or anything else for that matter!

Hopeful, but yet very anxious, that we wouldn’t miss our flight, I jammed the bag back together and found Shiv, where we made our final dash to the gates.

Fortunately for us, another group of equally dishevelled and out of breath individuals were also trying to get on the flight (it was now 20 minutes past the official closure time of the gates). We were able to make our flight, but because of our tardiness, we had to pay a penalty of 40 Euros for a gate check-in of our baggage. Looks like we’ve already thrown our budget out the window!

So how late were we for this flight? So late that when we boarded, the entire front row clapped at our arrival!

Anyway, here’s a closing thought. Two years ago I read this book on how to be happy. In this book it asked you to pay attention to the number of times in a day where you would blame external factors on the outcomes you experienced. In doing this, how could you ever be happy because you’re not taking accountability for your own outcomes? While we could point to a few things for our mad dash, the biggest being an inaccurate clock at the bar, but ultimately our mini marathon was a result of our own missteps and one we will learn from. We were fortunate to run into individuals who could tell we were rushed and were willing to accommodate us despite our own shortcomings.

For that, despite the extra 60 Euros spent, it was a great lesson learned! And now Shiv and I can join the ranks of THOSE people: the ones dashing madly through the airport, in a rush to catch a flight.

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With six other cities left to visit in six days, be sure to tune in to Part Three of Europe on the Fly with Shiv and Lil to find out what adventure awaits the ladies at their next destinations!

– Kiana Amirpour