So it basically all started when a friend told me he'd found cheap flights to Gothenburg for a weekend. When I asked him how cheap, he replied with a number I'd been dreading - only a quarter of what Hugo and I'd been paying every single other visit between us.
I had also just found out that as per the Italian way, nobody had told me of the upcoming week off lessons.
I duly whinged to Hugo about these two facts and he planted that little tiny idea in my head that I could come out sooner than originally planned.
It was a Sunday night, and I'd booked to fly out the coming Friday. So we checked on the website and lo and behold there was a cheap flight available for the following afternoon.
I clicked on 'book'.
Nothing happened.
I clicked again.
Nothing.
In my state of feeling very much like this was the first ever truly spontaneous thing I'd ever done in my life ever I agreed with Hugo that I'd get up at 5:30 the next morning, travel the 3 hours it takes to get to Milan airport and buy my flight there and then.
Obviously my stomach was turning and churning so much I hardly got any sleep, but the next morning, before sunrise I headed for Milan.
I got to the ticket office. I bought the ticket. It couldn't have been simpler! And so I got on the flight.
Two hours, a hop, skip and a bus ride later Hugo met me at the station and we began to spend the eight beautiful days we now had, together.
We filled our days with concerts (Mahler, Britten, Sibelius, Mozart), zoos, shopping, vintage, cafés, bars, friends, sushi, burgers, sunshine, nature, lakes, picnics, parades, buses, trams and trains, scrabble, worms, connect 4, lazy afternoons, and tonnes of arguments about how to chop onions correctly.
And when it was time for me to get back on the plane to go home, I was heartbroken to have to leave it all and him behind, just as I felt we were both finally getting a chance to really get to enjoy Gothenburg in all its splendour.
Hugo took me back to the airport, where I would check into my flight (hopefully without a problem as I'd been worrying all week about 'that ticket I booked that I didn't end up using...'). He went for a wander as I tried to tackle the self-service machines.
"No Booking Registered" it said to me.
No... booking... registered??
I started to panic. Scanned everything through again, including my passport which told the machine I'd be flying via Amsterdam that day but no more than that.
With no sign of Hugo anywhere, I scuttled nervously over to the ticket desk to sort things out.
The kind Swedish woman behind the desk pleasantly informed me that I "would not be allowed to board the flight as your booking has been cancelled. If you'd like to fly today you need to buy a brand new ticket. That's what happens if you don't get your outbound flight."
In a teary-eyed mess, I tracked Hugo down, who gave me a hug and steered me towards the ticket offices. We asked for a ticket for the flight. They told me it'd be £500. I cried. Full on cried.
We were directed to the nearby ticket office for SAS airlines and then asked the same question.
The woman smiled sympathetically, asked if I was under 25 so that I could qualify for "youth prices" then printed me out a ticket for an extremely reasonable price.
With a different flight booked and 3 more hours to spare, we hopped on the bus back into town, grabbed lunch and a coffee and said goodbye for the second time that day.
I was very ill when I returned home. I'm putting it down to stress.
As a bonus, my bike was stolen.
So here's the lesson:
BE SPONTANEOUS!
It's fun! That week I spent with Hugo was the best week I've had all year.
But. Don't be too spontaneous...
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