by Tommy
my spanish isnt that great but i could gather that he was in the business of distributing cocaine. i didnt believe him.
“I went to Europe for a month with a friend, but i really didn’t have enough money to go. I flew over on a Delta buddy pass because i couldn’t afford a real ticket – a savings of $800. I knew i would have trouble flying back from europe on stand-by in the height of the season, and my uncle told me to be prepared to sleep in an airport. i thought he was half-joking, until I was told to sit with the other standbys; there were like 40 people and i was near the bottom of the list, so i wasn’t leaving any time soon. i finished all my books the first day. that night i found a whole community of international airport dwellers and slept in their camp.
The next few days just got weirder and weider. there was a spanish guy trying to bum money to make a phone call to mexico. i sent him off. as big as AMS is he kept finding me and bumming smokes off me. my spanish isnt that great but i could gather that he was in the business of distributing cocaine. i didnt believe him. he told me he needed a euro to make this call and told me someone would wire money into his account as soon as he called. finally im sick of him bothering me, so i give him a euro. he was also stranded in AMS. this wound up being my best investment ever because i didnt see him for the rest of that day.
my caravan was gone that night but i found another kid flying on a buddy pass with a bottle of jaeger.
i dont get on the plane again–getting nervous. midday, out of nowhere the spanish dude walks up and furtively shows me his wallet. i dont know if that drug stuff was true, but he had at least ten 50 euro bills in there. he felt indebtted to me and bought tons of beer and smokes. it was pretty tight.
the weather there was perfect and i spent a lot of time outside. on the 4th day, i saw one cabby call another cabby a paki and they got into a huge brawl. this was tite because then at least twenty other cabbies jump out of their cars and jump into the brawl. i guarantee you’ve never seen a better brawl anywhere, not even in a movie. the cute little dutch police came over and calmed them all down, which was cool.
then my last night in AMS i meet these beautiful girls from Ukraine. they are coming back from the caribbean. they were really cool. me and my spanish friend gave them beers and they tell stories, i dont believe how much they said they “partied,” so they bust out a digital camera to show me. they were “partying” exclusively with old men. they were very naked in many of the pictures and i got the general impression they were prostitutes, which was cool. i wasn’t trying to talk to some pros but my spanish friend was as i was the only translator i got to learn that they would have him if he paid. but he choked, and that was that.
i loved AMS cause it was so busy and had such interesting people there, but i wanted to get home. lots of other standbys were buying tickets for $1500. i called my mom who put 50 into my acct, and told me my uncle said to try and fly out of Brussels.
i took a train to brussels, had a belgian waffle, took a whore’s bath, and finally got some sleep after being up for 5 days. BRU is a ton calmer than AMS. I slept like a baby in the catholic (that’s mine) prayer room. and flew out the next day.
i was stressed during my stay cause i was broke and tired of europe. i couldn’t afford the luggage lockers or good food or trains back to the city to do anything. but if i’d known how cheap the airport/hostel was i would have done that from the git-go and saved tons.
your site is cool as hell, it’s cool that so many people have experinced sleeping in airports. it is the best way to travel.”