The $200 Taxi Ride & An Almost Missed Flight

$200.

Two hundred dollars.

How would you feel if getting to the airport, 20 minutes away, cost $200.

When you are about to miss your flight, your anxiety is through the roof and then this happens on top. It doesn't feel nice. 

There were were having the best day ever at the Harry Potter studio. 

See. Happy. Laugter. Joy.

That all changed. 

Our taxi was supposed to come at 4. Our plane left  at 6:30. We had to be at our gate at 6. It was supposed to take 29 min to get to the airport but then we heard rumor it could take an hour bc of construction. 

At 4:10 we called and were told the taxi was twenty minutes behind. 

Okay we were a little nervous but we could still make this work. 

4:20 we are getting really nervous. 

4:30 we call back and he's apparently ten minutes away. 

4:40 we go ask the HP people to call us a new taxi with a new service.

Problem is we already paid the first taxi online.

The new taxi comes at 4:50 and will now cost 35 pounds. By the way the GBP exchange rate is robbery.

We tell the taxi man to step on it. 

Traffic.

Panic.

I'm laughing.

Mikele is crying.

We are practicing deep breathing. 

The man is driving so slow.

There is traffic.

5:30 get to the airport. 

Hand the man the card.

He doesn't take cards. 

Okay except his card clearly shows a visa sign on it. 

We have no cash. We have no time for this. 

Can we pay in euro? It's 75 euro. How does that make any sense?! 

Mikele and I head into the airport to try and figure out where we will need Togo and get I to lines. We are literally running through the freezing cold pulling the girls luggage and we can't figure out how to get inside the airport. 

Finally in.

Turns out that the taxi girls gave the man the 35 euros + 35 pounds which they did over the phone on a credit card. 

What!? Plus the money we already paid the first company. What? 

It was cray cray. 

We were so worried about the flight though so we ran to check in their bags. Which didn't need to be checked in and there was no line.

Hurried to find the gate but no gates were posted anywhere because they don't so that. 

There is one general area and then right before you go they call your flight and you stand in a line at your gate. 

And lucky for us there was no one in security. 

We got so lucky. 

But then we realized how much we paid for the taxi and we wanted to cry.

BS not going to take it. So Paige gets on her skype phone and starts calling companies. We got the rip off lying taxi guy company to refund the over pay and the company that didn't show up is going to refund us hopefully. 

Thank goodness.

I want to spend my money on cheese tasting and fondue not on lame taxis. 

But in the end:

We are on the plane.

45 minutes and we will be in Amsterdam. 

This is plane 32 this year. 

And I'm risking no Dramamine. 

Here we go.