Travelling to Belgrade

Well….I’m not really sure where to start.

I will start with my trip here. I left Vancouver at 8am on Friday morning and boarded my plane to Toronto. Unfortunately, as this is not an official FIFA tournament, I was not flying 1st class. What a difference, and at this point, completely worth the additional cost, as long as someone else is paying the bill!  I arrived in Toronto at 3:20pm and went to my new gate to board my flight to Dusseldorf, Germany. I meet Silvu Petrescu in Toronto (FIFA referee from Canada), and we travelled the rest of the way together. It was so great to have a travel buddy, especially someone who is 6’4 and about 200lbs….he’s my travel bodyguard! The flight to Germany was 7.5 hours long. On the flight I watched “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Last Chance Harvey”. Both were “mediums”…not that great but OK. I tried to sleep, but only managed about an hour.

We arrived in Dusseldorf at 6:30am and had to wait for our flight at 12pm. The hard thing was, because we were so early, nobody seemed to know where we were suppose to go to get our tickets for our flight to Belgrade. We spent about 3 hours walking around, asking people, staring at the flight board, and hoping that there was a flight to Belgrade at 12pm. Our airline was JAT…whatever that is, and nobody had heard of it. Finally, around 9am, our flight information came up on the board and told us which counter we had to go to. That was soooo exciting because it gave us something to do. So…we did it….we walked right over to that counter, which was still closed, and we stood there! First ones in line! We stood on that spot for an hour, until someone came. We checked in and got our boarding passes and went to find our gate. Once we got to the gate, C41 we found out that our flight had been postponed until 1:40pm, another 2 hours to wait. Then they changed the gate 3 times…C41…C35….C40. That was actually pretty funny to watch….everytime the gate was changed, someone would come back and tell their friend, who would just stand up and leave. This created some confusion amongst the others who would then scramble around, trying to figure out what was going on. Once they figured it out, a loud yelling discussion would ensue, which was followed by everyone getting up and leaving. Silvu and I were always the last to clue in, because this was all in Serbian so we had no idea what was happening. It was actually very funny. Especially because this process happened 3 times!

Finally at almost 2 pm, after sitting in the airport for 8 hours, we boarded our flight to Belgrade. Thankfully the flight was only 2 hours long, and we arrived in Belgrade just after 4pm. When you consider the time change of 9 hours, which made it 7am in Vancouver, I had been travelling for almost 24 hours. It was a long day!

Once we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by 2 members of the organizing committee who quickly whisked us through customs, and to get our luggage. Now, as you know, I have not had the greatest luck on my last 2 trips with my luggage. On the first one, my bags were lost on the way there, and on the second, my bags were lost on the way back. So, as I stood there waiting for my bag, I was fully expecting for it NOT to come. But it did! So excited! What a great start to the tournament!

We next went to the Athletes Village to get our accreditation and uniform package from Team Canada, and then we were off to our hotel. Actually, let me put hotel like this….”hotel”. Now, I know I have been a bit spoiled in the past, and I am from a fabulous country, but this is definitely a huge stretch for me. It is almost like we are staying in a dormitory that allows smoking in its rooms. There are 2 single beds in each room, and a 10 inch screen TV that may, or may not work, depending on the day. The one bonus is that there is free wireless internet, but only if you are on the second floor at the front, or in the lobby. I, of course, am on the second floor at the back. My roommate is from South Africa, and has yet to arrive, although someone said today, that she may not be coming. I have no idea, and neither does anyone else.

I know that people think that being an international referee is glamorous, but I can definitely tell you, that is not always the case. This is going to be a very interesting experience…probably a lot more like an adventure than anything else. I will keep you posted.