Having been to Europe on a couple other occasions, I was pretty anxious to get back for another go. Luckily some good friends were planning a trip to visit their family in Macedonia and asked if I’d be interested in heading out to see them and where their family lives.

The decision was a pretty easy one and a few weeks after the conversation I found myself buying the plane tickets – three weeks, June 17 – July 7, LAX to Athens, Greece.

Flying into the capital of Greece would be less expensive and give me the opportunity to visit the mainland of a country whose history I had been teaching to 6th graders for a couple years.

Though I was visiting friends for a portion of the trip, the majority of time was going to be spent by myself, an experience I hadn’t had while traveling before. While the Greek Islands were fairly alluring, I decided that those should wait until I had someone else to enjoy them with.

In the weeks leading up to my departure date I noticed that my credit card had never been charged for the airfare, but had been for the travel insurance. After several emails and calls with the ticketing company, they assured me that the ticket was issued and that I had been charged.

I never was charged.