I just spent 1 month in asia on a great holiday where I had a lot of positive experiences, explored the culture, enjoyed the food, the sun, the beach.. it was truly a great journey.

So then came the day when I had to head back home.
I knew that it took 30mins from the airport to the hotel when I arrived. So this time, I calculated 60min time to get from my hotel to the airport, just in case there was any traffic or any unforseen circumstances.
Everything had been organized for me – a car was there to pick me up, it was actually a big bus and not a taxi like before.
So i was in the car, and we were going through a lot of traffic and moving very slowly (40 km/h all the way!)
Even the motorcycles passed by us. So i started to question – will i make it to the airport on time?! well I never missed a flight before, so i thought, certainly that won’t happen today either.
Then i looked at the time and i was already supposed to be at the airport by then, but i was still stuck in traffic.
I told the driver „please go faster, otherwise I’ll miss my long-distance flight!“ he said „yes, yes“. He didn’t understand me at all. He didn’t even speak english. So it made no sense for me to try to make him understand that he should go faster (it wouldn’t have been possible anyway with that bus)
So finally I arrived at the airport and i exited the bus nervous and sweaty because I wasn’t sure if I could still make the flight.
I ran to the counter, but I couldn’t even see my flight on the list, nobody was there, so then I ran to the information point and they told me that the gate was already closed.
That hit me like a punch to the face.
My gate had been CLOSED.

And this was a pretty big deal because my money was coming to an end (since this was the end oft the trip), it’s not like it was no big deal and I could just buy a new ticket as easy as that.
So i was begging the lady at the information counter „can you do something, can you help me, the plane hasn’t even started so there must be a way for me to still get on ?! It’s still 35min before the plane starts!“
But she said „no Miss I’m sorry, the gate is closed and we can’t do anything to help you. You have to book a new flight.“
I told her that I didn’t have any more money, and that I really needed to get on this flight. But there was no chance for me.
So I had to start roaming on my phone (the airport wifi wasn’t working and I had to act quickly), I had to ignore the high costs for that, and simply look for another flight.
So i checked, but there was no other flights going out that day (it was already in the evening).
And since I had already been there for 1 month, my visa was about to expire, i wasnt even allowed to stay any longer! The punishment for staying after an expired visa is a 1 year restriction for entering the country, and obviously i didn’t want that because I was actually planning to go on another vacation at the end of the year.
So then my friend called me and said „hey go to bangkok you have a bigger chance there, they still have flights going out today“.
I checked and she was right, so I used my very last money to purchase a flight to bangkok.

So then I flew to bangkok, I sat down to eat (I was so nervous that I hadn’t eaten that day at all), and my friend actually bought a ticket home for me with her credit card. I was so thankful because she immediately helped me out and paid for that flight, which I couldn’t have afforded!
Then I went to the counter with my ticket number, confidently, trying to board the plane to get home.
And then the shock.
They told me it was not possible for me to board the flight.
My ticket had been declined because the name on the credit card didn’t match my name on my passport – so the airline company assumed fraud and declined the payment.
I thought this was some kind of joke – what was this supposed to mean !?
I already missed a flight today!
I told them the whole story but they didnt care, they simply said „please show your physical credit card“.
I told them its not possible to show the actual card to you, I didn’t have it because it’s my friend’s card. So I asked my friend to send a photo of the card, but they still didnt accept it – they didn’t even acccept a facetime call with her physically showing the card.
So it got later and later and I ended up missing the 2nd flight as well.
This was a total nightmare, i cried, but they weren’t moved at all. They didn’t let me go through.
I was extremely frustrated, didn’t have any appetite or thirst anymore, and even threw away the food i’d bought earlier.

So now I’m in a situation where I lost the money from the first flight, I lost my friend’s money because she couldn’t cancel the ticket in time to get her money back. And now i even got my friend into some trouble - of course I’ll repay her, but I just can’t right now.
So currently I’m at the airport, waiting here, and i dont know what to do.
I’m so desperate that I just sat down and started looking through instagram, trying to take my mind off this disaster.
So then, I noticed someone followed me on Instagram – an account called "SteemIt" .I didnt know what that was.
I looked at it because i didnt have anything else to do and watched the video . This really looked like an amazing platform - a social media coin? Getting rewarded for posting and sharing your experiences? This sounds awesome!
So then i thought okay, let’s just write my story down and tell you everthing about this disastrous day and post it on here. I have nothing else to lose anyway.

Now I still don’t know what to do, how to get home, or what to do about my visa. an update will follow. Please pray for me.

-----

Update: read part 2 of my story here

ashleybr