How it was supposed to go...

My bus isn't until 3am so I spend a large part of the evening drinking coffee & finally uploading my large cache of photos. I leave the hostel just in time to catch the last night bus, which will bring me just outside of Terminal 1 at the airport. That gives me about an hour to wait before catching the overnight bus to Barcelona. Nearly 12 hours later, I make my way to the hostel just as check in begins. I settle in, do a load of laundry, shower and nap. I wake up refreshed and ready to watch the Olympics opening ceremony over tapas y cafe con leche. THAT'S how it was SUPPOSED to go.
But I am still at the airport..in Nice..in France. I made it to Terminal 1 by 2am. Bus didn't leave until 3:15. True there weren't as many people as I was anticipating but I did spy a couple of people dozing near the door with backpacks by their side. And even though I was standing under a door with a stenciled picture of a bus and the same words that were on my bus ticket "Gare Routiere" in big block letters next to it, apparently, I was supposed to be across the street.
I really have to learn French.
So now it's 18 hours later and I'm still in this airport but now with a reservation on the 10:55pm to Barcelona which costs more than double what the bus cost. To be exact, because of a
Wifi/computer glitch, I have 3 reservations for this flight and as many charges to my debit card. I spent the afternoon practicing the phrase "si vous plait, je ne parle Francaise, parle vous Anglais" before being transferred to someone else and getting to practice some more bad French.
I am surprisingly non-homicidal.
I have had lesser deviations throw me on this trip. Maybe it's the fact that I've been working on my tan for the past 4 days or the utter absurdity of it all or maybe I am settling into the unpredictability of this trip. The best laid plans...what can go wrong inevitably will...the only constant is change...
I've had my moments today. After spending over an hour on the phone trying to sort out my reservation only to be told not to worry and they would cancel my reservation when they found it...(but how would they find it and let me know when they didn't take any info from me?)...I made a beeline for the newspaper stand and comforted myself with a can of Pringles & some Malteasers. But I got back up, dusted the crumbs of my chest and went back to the phones. Nothing has been settled. But I am here. And I have a seat. And I will get to Barcelona & probably spend some time at the airport there. It's been a long day and a hard day and it's not over. But I am here. And I'm not grumpy or angry or twisted up from the inside out. And that is a gift. It wasn't how it was supposed to go but it was a good day nonetheless.