?? I was going to travel being 17 years old. Crossing the Atlantic wasn't habitual to me; it was the longest trip I have ever made until that date. I was alone, practically speaking. I was going to spend my first days in Germany by my own with strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

?? Yo iba a viajar teniendo 17 a\u00f1os de edad. Cruzar el Atl\u00e1ntico no era habitual para m\u00ed; era el viaje m\u00e1s largo que hecho hasta el momento. Estaba s\u00f3lo, para efectos pr\u00e1cticos. Iba a pasar s\u00f3lo en Alemania durante mis primeros d\u00eda por mi cuenta con extra\u00f1os.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The airplane flight, the Crossing the Atlantic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

?? I started my trip on July 28, 2008. I have got on the KLM airline that left from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Here I had a little problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

??Empec\u00e9 mi viaje el el 28 de julio del 2008. Mi vuelo fue en la aerol\u00ednea KLM que sal\u00eda desde Guayaquil, Ecuador. Aqu\u00ed tuve un peque\u00f1o problema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

?? I obtained a 3-month visa from the German embassy. To travel to this country, you need to present a one-way ticket and a return ticket. Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t know such requirement. I did not have the return ticket because I was going to spend 1 year of exchange and it wasn\u2019t needed yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

??Obtuve de la embajada de Alemania una visa de 3 meses. Para viajar a este pa\u00eds, necesitas presentar un pasaje de ida y un pasaje de regreso. Lamentablemente, no conoc\u00eda ese requisito. Yo no ten\u00eda el pasaje de regreso porque yo me iba a ir 1 a\u00f1o de intercambio y no hac\u00eda falta comprar todav\u00eda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No return-ticket? Get lost!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

?? But the counter workers did not let me pass. I explained that I had everything in order but they indicated that only tickets and passport are valid for travel. What could I do? I couldn't call my parents since they bought the ticket. Back then, I didn't take my cell phone to Germany because I didn't have one hahaha. The one that I had, I gave it back to my parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

??Pero los trabajadores del mostrador no me permitieron pasar. Les expliqu\u00e9 que ten\u00eda todo en regla pero indicaron que s\u00f3lo los pasajes y el pasaporte son v\u00e1lidos para viajar. \u00bfQu\u00e9 pod\u00eda hacer? No pod\u00eda llamar a mis padres ya que ellos compraron el pasaje. En ese entonces, no llev\u00e9 mi celular a Alemania porque no ten\u00eda uno jajaja. El que ten\u00eda, lo devolv\u00ed a mis padres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

?? I opened my bags just in case there was a return plane ‘reservation'. I felt the worst, as if something was preventing me from going to the Old World.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

?? Abr\u00ed mis maletas por si acaso existiera una ‘reserva' de avi\u00f3n de regreso. Sent\u00eda lo peor, como si algo me impidiera ir al Viejo Mundo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n