April 2012
After 3 years of knowing this marvelous person, she is getting married, and I have the chance to witness it.
Malak helped us plan the flights and the hotel. The visa was very hard to get, her family helped us more than we can thank! After a denial and an appealing we finally got the visa a week before departure.
Since the airline didn't fly from Spain, Sergio decided to fly from Paris, I was flying from Dusseldorf and we were meeting in Istambul, to do a transfer to the next plane to Beirut.
Everything seemed to be going rather well, the dress was ready, the bags were packed, everything done!
So Sergio had a flight with Vueling, that was moved two weeks before the travel date, so it was not longer good for his connection, then he booked one with Ryanair at 6 am, going to Beauvais, and then he had to go to Orly to get the Pegasus flight. At 5.30 am I received a call from Sergio: the flight had been cancelled!, a strike from the air controllers in France had forced the airlines to cancel all flights to Paris!!!!!. Then we had to think what to do, after many questions and many hard decisions,we re-booked the Vueling flight, that arrived at 2 pm at Orly, praying so that the Pegasus flight (that was leaving at 2.05) was late. We payed 250 euros for this booking (the Ryanair flight was 30 euros..., and the original Vueling booking was 50)
At some point I received a call from Pegasus, telling me that the flight from Paris was delayed, and therefore, Sergio could not catch the connection in Istambul (I booked the tickets, so I received all the information on his flight). When I told Sergio about this, he told me that his Vueling flight was also cancelled! So we called Pegasus, and a very helpful man called Jim (We love you Jim!!!!) and he tried to change the whole reservation for next day, thinking that Sergio could arrive to Paris before 2 pm on Wednesday. But before changing it, we decided to book first the flight from Valencia to Paris, and this proved to be hell. There were no available flights until Friday in the main airlines, no seats anywhere. Finally Sergio found one through Zurich, hat arrived to Paris at 11 pm on Tuesday, so apparently he could travel on Wednesday and only one day was lost. Buuut as much as Jim tried to help us (and all the money we spent in 40 minute phone calls to Turkey) he could not change the flight, because Sergio needed to 'check out' (have you ever heard about that? we haven't) So we realized that it was not possible online, and apparently only possible at the desk, and for obvious reasons, only the passenger can do the check out, so Sergio needed a Pegasus counter, only reachable when he could get to Paris.
I travelled to Beirut, with the friends from work that joined Malak for her wedding. You can imagine how unpleasant the trip was, thinking all the time about Sergio's problems.
We arrived at Beirut at 11 pm, and the Visa issue was fairly simple, thanks to Malak's family (I did have problems leaving Germany since they could not read Arabic, and therefore, could not be sure that I had a visa).
We were taken to the hotel, and checked in, and then went for a beer. Malak changed my booking to a better room, can she spoil me more?, I don't think she knows how much I appreciate her details!
We went for a beer, and back in the hotel I talked to Sergio, he was in Paris, but of course the Pegasus counters were closed, and they will only open at 11 am on Wednesday...
Next day we went on a city tour, with Malak as out tour guide. We went to the Promenade, to the Pigeon rocks, and we had an amazing unplanned boat trip, where we went under the rocks and inside dome natural caves. In the mean time, Sergio was trying to contact the airline and trying to 'check out', the girl in the counter could not check him out, so another phone call to Jim, and he finally managed to change the reservation! Sergio was going to fly on Wednesday!.
My day clearly changed from there. We went walking all over Downtown Beirut, and I believe it looks a lot like Colombia. I was impressed by the fact that an orthodox church was built next to a catholic one, next to a Mosque!, This is a beautiful example of freedom, in believing whatever you want as long as you respect others.
Many pictures and many steps later, we went back to the Promenade, where our guide left to take care of her wedding. We went for Lebanese lunch, looking in Lorenzo's guide for a clue on where to go, we found a place and followed, but it was closed, so an amazingly helpful and nice Lebanese woman gave us guidance on where to go, and we followed her recommendation. WE had a nice lunch, being Lorenzo the highlight because he ordered some pork feet, a very weird dish (that he didn't really liked)
In the night Anna and me joined Malak in her bachelorette party. It was a henna party, a lot of fun!, and me being as clumsy as I am, almost ruined my henna tattoo :(
In the middle of the night, Malak drove me to pick Sergio from the airport and we left him in the hotel, and we went back to her party. She drove us (Anna and me) back to the hotel later that night.
On the second day, we had a tour prepared! We went to the Harissa Virgen, to the Jeita Grotto and to Byblos. Incredible trip! Byblos is a very old city, actually an old age writer claimed that it was the oldest city, founded by Chronos! Layers and layers of archaeology lie there, telling histories of many invasions and reconstructions.
We found coloured chicks, just like the ones in Chiquinquira, but a very weird attraction to our European friends.
The Virgin is a beautiful monument, and the dressing code is very strict, I had to cover my shoulders and cleavage! (Not that I was showing so much). Finally the Jeitta Grotto, another demonstration of the magnificence of nature! We were not allowed to take pictures there, but it was beautiful and impressive!
Friday was the wedding, Sergio went on his own to see the city (since he missed the first day tour) and I went with Malak for hair and makeup. The wedding was great! We saw traditional dances and a perfect bride dancing and enjoying her wedding day!. She was looking amazing! the groom was great too!. The flowers, the venue, the dancers, everything was amazing!
On Saturday, we went walking around, again to the pigeon rocks, and to the sandy beaches next to them, we had natural juices in the Grand Cafe, which was totally worth it!, later we went for lunch, hamburgers in Roasted, very nice!
At night we went dancing to Buddha-Bar, drinking expensive Vodka and enjoying the music! what a night! a lot of fun!
On Sunday we went to another tour, this time to the Cedars. It was a long trip, we reached the mountain top and we got to see the cedars covered in snow, but with a very warm environment. We went also to Gibran house/museum and to an artificial lake. It was a relaxing trip.
Monday morning we flew back, to rest and go to work on the next day!
None of this had been possible without Malak's help, she made this trip perfect for us, and for that, and for her friendship, there are not enough thanking words!
